Married by Mistake - Abby Gaines
A friend of mine recently pointed out that he's tired of watching anything other than scifi thriller movies because everything else (read chic flicks or anything essentially with romance) is just "brainwashing." That because of those movies he's expected to be this perfect arrangement of guyness that movie dudes present. Or otherwise that he'll go along doing what he's doing and then suddenly through some strange sequence if events experience an epiphany that he's happier being another way with the perfect girl for him. But mostly, he said, those movies lied to him too, that finding and keeping love would be easy; that he should change.

I jumped at his statement, quick to assert that I enjoy lighthearted movies with neat endings (read: chic flicks) for just those very virtues: I have my own problems, plus there's starving children somewhere, I don't always want to watch some fictional movie that makes me cry.

But he really got me thinking, do those movies - and, really, do these books - slowly but surely start to subtly change how I view love and how relationships work? Have I become too doe-eyed and naive as to what it all entails? Do I really think some ordinary joe Prince Charming will fall madly in love with me and spend the rest of his life trying to convince me that we are meant to be together?

So I determined to look at things differently on the chance this was the case. And tbh, I have gotten tired of the same old story. And yet, somehow, this book got through my barriers. And boy oh boy, woo-ee.

This book is: Absolutely super fantastic. A little slow going at first in the sense that there wasn't a lot of action *wink wink nudge nudge* if you know what I mean ;-). But still good all the same. And then it just all WHOOSHED. You know, sorta meaning "it all came together" but not so much that as certain characters had their scheduled epiphanies at the appropriate moments in the book la-de-da. But still,swoon, this book was so well written that it didn't matter how predictable it all was; all that mattered was, geez is he gonna sweep her with adoration or what?! Basically, I'm in love with this book for now.

I rate a book based on how it makes me feel once I've turned the last page. So, yep, I felt 5-worthy.