Review of The Marriage Proposal by Felix Brooks and Andrea Dalling

by Felix Brooks and Andrea Dalling

3 Stars

Can a fake marriage turn to true love?

CEO Noah runs a tight ship when it comes to business, but he made the ultimate workplace mistake: he dated his assistant. When the guy dumped him and quit his job, he left some important paperwork unresolved—namely, Noah’s visa extension. Now Noah’s got a week to get things in order, or he’ll have to leave the country.

Enter IT expert Dylan. Noah’s had a secret crush on him for months. Bone-meltingly handsome and wickedly smart, Dylan’s the only guy in the company who doesn’t kiss up to the boss. Marrying him will solve two problems at once: Noah will be able to stay in the country, and he’ll get to play house with the one guy he can’t get out of his system.

Dylan’s life is complicated enough without a marriage of convenience to the CEO. That can’t possibly end well, right? But the guy sure knows how to fill out a suit, and Dylan’s had more than one fantasy about what’s underneath it. Plus, Noah’s offering to throw a stack of money Dylan’s way. With his mom on the brink of losing her house due to medical bills, it’s an offer Dylan can’t refuse.

The two clash from the moment Dylan moves into the blond-haired, blue-eyed CEO’s mansion. Noah acts confident, but Dylan can see through his façade and isn’t about to back down. Will their differences lead to resentment and mistrust, or can these two opposites find their way to lasting love?

A one of our favorite tropes – marriage of convenience, sigh.  But a few story issues kept us from really loving this marriage for hire story.

Noah is a Canadian working as CEO of an American company, and soon finds out that his ex-hook-up assistant ‘forgot’ to file his visa extension.  So, he needs to find himself a willing husband, and why not ask they guy you’ve been crushing on – IT specialist and of your employees, Dylan.  Dylan needs money, his mother is struggling under medical bills and thinks selling her house and moving in with Dylan is a perfect idea.  So when Noah asks Dylan to marry him, it seems like a win for both; Noah gets his Visa and Dylan gets the money he needs. 

Let’s start with things we liked.  Dylan and Noah seem to work well together.  Dylan is a bit more of a strong personality, and with Noah’s CEO position he seems to need someone to take charge at home and in the bedroom.  And their bedroom time was hot, there was some serious chemistry between the two main characters. 

Now, what didn’t really work for us.  The story was predictable, other than an ex coming back to stir up trouble we missed the slow-burn of a marriage of convenience story.  Talking about slow-burn there wasn’t much it feels a bit like insta-love.  Yes, they had hooked up already at a Christmas Party and had a little office flirty happening, but once they were married; it seemed they slipped into this sweet, sickly love.  We get if it was lust, but they moved in and then were all lovely dovey, didn’t feel very believable to us. 

The Marriage Proposal starts off on a great foot, but think could have benefitted from a few more pages, a bit more development.  It is an average story, with average characters, but with a great twist on a fun marriage-of-convenience trope, I think it could have a great story.