Reviews

A Momentary Marriage by Candace Camp

robinwalter's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A better story than the first in the series, with a great blend of romance and mystery. I also enjoyed the way the leads stayed true to themselves even while growing closer.

bumblehui's review against another edition

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4.0

 I liked the mystery and both main characters were likable. 

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andra_mihaela_s's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

taisie22's review against another edition

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adventurous informative fast-paced

5.0

James De Vere is dying. Laura's father just died. He marries her so that the rest of his family won't inherit his money and estates. 
It's a great story. Laura is an intelligent and likable heroine, while James is closed-off and acerbic. I very much enjoyed it as they try to solve the mystery of James's illness and the rest of the story. I was kept guessing until the end. The romance is an enemies-to-lovers trope which I don't usually like but this one worked. The additional characters kept the story interesting without taking up too much space in the main plot. 

tessisreading2's review against another edition

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4.0

I can't really explain why I liked this book so much - it's a fairly straightforward romance and the plot devolves into utter ridiculousness (the villain is revealed in the last few pages and in the meantime the sheer number of assassination attempts the main characters survive defies belief), but I really loved it. I guess I just really enjoyed Laura and James, and also Camp's reluctance to go the tried-and-true jealousy route: the amount of angst each character does as they realize their marriage of convenience has become something more is somewhat minimal for this genre. It's just watching the two of them learn to be married (and, you know, not get murdered), which is very sweet. The marriage part. Not the murder part, which was fairly dumb.

agrace13's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

kreshishta's review

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3.0

momentary to forever

A cynical man changes his ways of thinking for love of a woman. And with a mystery to be solved. fun easy read.

rainelle_barrett's review against another edition

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5.0

I was surprised. I liked this book. The book had a nice flow to it that made me want to keep reading it. Note to myself, stay away from mercury. Lol

fi_c's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

**Most of my reviews contain detailed Content Warning/Trigger Warning (CW/TW) sections, which may include spoilers.  I have tried to mark them appropriately, but please use caution.** 

Audio (Gildart Jackson)

4.25/5

Summary: After finding doctor’s daughter, Laura, in desperate straits, James decides to offer her a marriage of convenience despite her previous association with his cousin and his own steadily worsening illness. As they become closer, his illness and his family cause problems.

Stats: HR-later Victorian, M/F, open door, part of a series but stands alone fine.

Notes: I quite enjoyed this - the couple is playful and banter-y, but it feels smooth and consistent. The mystery plot was fine - but felt like it took up too much of the overall story - I’d have liked the first half and illness plot to get a little more time. The sex was good, sometimes playful, sometimes intense. This is one of the rarer books where I feel like the preferred character was the MMC - the FMC genuinely complements his looks and character in conversations between the two, which struck me as unusual - usually these sorts of speeches are delivered by the MMC. The narration was smooth and quite well performed, though I didn’t love the specific choice for the MMC’s voice.

OTT and Spoilery Content Notes:
Infants/children (side characters), illness and chronic pain, death of parent (illness), financial troubles, general manhandling, FMC is solicited for sex, marriage of convenience, family estrangement/tension, a little “crazy” talk, fistfight, mentions of religion, medical care, caretaking, sick bed, death of sibling (brief mention, as a child), FMC kisses/intimately touches mmc while he is delirious, poisoning, carriage accident, sabotage, infidelity between parents/side characters, illegitimacy, FMC pushes mmc, mentions of infertility (side character), mentions of gambling, jealousy, mmc throws some things out of anger, FMC is held by the throat/choked/threatened, a very good dog who gets hurt but is okay, firearms, shooting, accidental death (fall), small age gap (30f, 34m)

cpd123's review

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.75