Review: Enjoyable
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2013
Making sacrifices for the ones we love isn't always easy, but sometimes it can be worthwhile if we open our hearts and minds to the future possibilities that may come our way.Daniel Christie has everything and nothing. He's inherited the running of one of Australia's largest family business empires, but his brothers have abandoned him and his beloved grandfather's health is rapidly failing. Melinda Green has lost her job and her fiancé. Facing long-term unemployment and mounting bills for herself and her invalid mother is taking its toll.Daniel needs a bride to grant his grandfather's dying wish. Plain Mel Green is strangely compelling and it's apparent she needs money to live on. A bargain is struck. An old man can die happy. Two hearts may yearn to change the terms of the bargain, but dare they take a chance on something more than a short-term contract for a marriage in name only?Joanne Hill has taken a tried and true plot and created a compelling read that held my attention with its premise of a hands-off marriage that becomes imperiled when fears over developing attraction and deeper emotions enter into a sterile living arrangement between two hastily married strangers.Mel is an every woman; loyal, likable, slightly insecure, and facing multiple personal setbacks. Daniel is handsome, rich, uptight, deeply private, and is feeling a loss of the tightly held control he likes to maintain in his personal and professional life. Although Daniel has Mel's background investigated before making his proposal, he knows relatively little about the woman he's asked to be his wife in name only. Likewise, Mel knows little of the wealthy Daniel except what minute details are occasionally bandied about in the news and what he slowly reveals to her trained eye as a former high school counselor with a psychology degree. Joanne Hill expertly times the release of the personal details of these married strangers and their realizations that they could be perfect for one another if they'd only allow themselves to believe in one another and forget the terms of their impersonal marriage contract.While an in name only marriage of convenience storyline is common enough, DANIEL'S BRIDE is peppered with subtle plot nuances that keep the pages turning and likeable secondary characters that help identify what makes the hero and heroine tick. I knew enough about these characters to know their motivations, but wished there were more about Daniel's background and what made him become such a private and guarded adult who always seemed to withhold himself from those he cares about.Aside from my unfulfilled curiosity about Daniel, I enjoyed this book and wouldn't hesitate to check out forthcoming works from the talented Joanne Hill.Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com