Reviews

Marriage of Inconvenience by Penny Reid

smithrachaelynn's review against another edition

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4.0

This book is just so great. I enjoyed it so much. I loved watching the relationship progress. I thought it was really cool to see a couple work out their sexual issues with such grace. Instead of both of them getting defensive and embarrassed, they were willing to try and be open with each other. I thought that was very admirable.

yodamom's review against another edition

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5.0

All wrapped up, the couples are happy sated and have wonderful lives. ~Sigh~ I enjoyed all their stories but loved the ones that tied to the Winston brothers the most. I have a thing for those southern boys what can I say.
Kat, the mysterious knitter, she has always been aloof in the group. She has good reason, her parents, oye they are, well it's not good. Tiny Satan, one of her only available family members is just so ARGUH ! Holy shitake this girl has been on the hard pointy side of the rock and a hard place. If you've read along with the series you have seen hints of her lusty feelings for Dan the Security Man, and maybe some of his for her. Do either of them act on them? Hahahahha, no. Oh you wait now, Little Satan does something helpful for once, it's dastardly and underhanded but brings the two together to finally face those feelings. It may be the only good things he's ever done. :D Dan is Smoking hot, Kat is burning for some lovin' but they can't get past first base, why ? Read the book. All I've told you is the tame easy part of the story. Later in the story the whole gang comes together and it's a beautiful thing to read.

jmill525's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

geetanjali19's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

2.75

dr_amy_k_west's review against another edition

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

2.5

Penny Reid is a go to for enjoyable, smart, romance. Expected to enjoy another character from Knitting in the City. Especially hoped to see a smart take on the reversal of the billionaire trope. Was disappointed on all fronts. Too long and despite it's length still managed to keep the characters at arms length. FMC's mental health which was crucial to the plot felt one-dimensional and  preachy. 

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zaza_bdp's review against another edition

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4.0

3.75 ⭐

Eh bien voilà, la série des tricoteuses de Penny Reid se termine avec ce tome, et c'est marrant, parce que j'ai lu le premier à sa sortie en ... 2013 (punaise que le temps passe vite !) et au final, j'ai été vraiment surprise de constater que dans l'univers de cette série, il ne se passe que deux ans (si je ne dis pas de bêtises) entre le 1er et le dernier tome, dingue non !

Ce tome est donc consacré à la très discrète Kat et au ténébreux Dan "le mec de la sécurité". Pour préserver Kat des manigances de son abominable cousin, cette dernière va devoir se faire passer la bague au doigt, et elle pourra compter sur l'aide de Dan, toujours prêt à se rendre disponible quand on a besoin de lui, sachant que là, il n'est pas complètement désintéressé ... ^^ Mariage pas si blanc que ça et proximité forcée donc, sur fonds de péripéties liées à l'affreux cousin et découverte progressive de l'un et de l'autre sont au menu de ce roman.

On est dans le registre du slow burn, et je dois dire que j'ai vraiment été séduite par la douceur et la gentillesse de Dan. J'ai beaucoup aimé son attitude envers Kat, même s'il ne la comprend pas toujours. Kat est un personnage complexe, elle a tellement été marquée par ce qu'elle a vécu quand elle était plus jeune et par son "héritage familial" qu'elle a bien du mal à s'ouvrir aux autres, et à porter sur elle-même un regard bienveillant. Cela donne lieu à des malentendus entre elle et Dan, qui ont parfois du mal de communiquer. Elle a besoin de temps pour (se) faire confiance, et cette progression lente de la relation amoureuse est tout à fait logique, bien que parfois frustrante.

Côté intrigue, on a quand même quelques passages rocambolesque voire tirés par les cheveux, mais c'est le côté déjanté de Penny Reid qui s'exprime là. Entre les bâtons que Caleb met dans les roues de Kat pour lui pourrir la vie, les plans échafaudés par Dan & Kat pour lui échapper, les embrouilles causées par le frère de Dan et d'autres petites choses, il se passe plein de trucs dans ce roman, ça part parfois dans plein de directions, et tout n'est pas forcément bouclé à la fin de façon satisfaisante à mon goût. J'ai trouvé qu'il y avait parfois des longueurs, et j'ai parfois été frustrée par l'avancée de la romance entre les deux héros, mais je comprends leurs raisons, à l'un comme l'autre, et puis c'est aussi le jeu en matière de slow burn, d'autant plus quand l'un des personnages a un vécu aussi complexe.

J'ai retrouvé avec grand plaisir tous les amis des héros, qui font tous front pour aider Kat et Dan, ils forment à eux tous une belle famille qu'ils se sont choisis et sont prêts à tout lâcher pour se venir mutuellement en aide, ce que j'ai vraiment trouvé encore plus touchant dans ce tome que dans les précédents. J'ai également beaucoup apprécié la maman de Dan, qui est une vraie perle, et quand je vois sa gentillesse et cette façon qu'elle a de prendre soin de Kat, je me dis en voyant Dan que la pomme n'est pas tombée loin de l'arbre ...

C'est un tome qui me laisse au final un sentiment doux-amer, je crois que j'ai un petit pincement au coeur à l'idée d'avoir terminé cette série, que j'ai pourtant laissé traîner bien trop longtemps dans ma PAL, et de quitter ces personnages auxquels je me suis attachée depuis si longtemps. Penny Reid a définitivement une plume à part, avec son côté geek et loufoque sur les bords, j'aime le fait qu'elle offre une voix différente, qui sorte des sentiers souvent bien trop calibrés de la romance contemporaine, sans compter qu'elle a un humour qui me plaît bien, avec ce petit côté pince-sans-rire. Quoiqu'il en soit, malgré les petites frustrations que j'ai pu éprouver au cours de ma lecture, j'ai passé un bon moment de lecture et je trouve que c'est une belle fin pour cette série !

isitcake's review against another edition

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lighthearted

2.0

I've only read ~3 others in the series, out of order. The knitting friend group doesn't add anything to this story besides being her contacts and if you've read the other books its the name drops. I know who Quinn and Janie are, and Sandra & Alex, aka the important ones, but I didn't know Steven nor Dan and I only vaguely remember Kathleen aka Kat. 

Kat is a billionaire pharmaceutical heiress and her cousin Caleb wants to have her committed to a mental asylum so that he can take over her fortune and company. Her dad has Alzheimer's and her mom was committed for schizophrenia when Kat was ~5? 15?. After that Kat went on a wild streak where she dropped out of school, lived on the streets, did tons of drugs and sex. But she's cleaned up now, moved from Boston to Chicago, works as an admin in the same building as Quinn's company which I guess Dan is partner of. Kat's lawyer Eugene suggests a plan for her to get married because legally her spouse would get guardianship of any assets were something to happen to Kat.

At first Kat goes to her gay friend Steven but he tells her to go to Dan who she's had a crush on for 2.5 years but there was a mishap in Vegas.
The entire book turns out to be a big miscommunication. Kat got really drunk in Vegas and woke up in bed with Dan, both in just underwear. She assumed she fell into her old pattern and had sex drunk again. Feeling bad she admits to Dan how she "has a bad history of monogamy" which is a really weird way to phrase her history and Dan misinterprets to mean she practices polyamory. Because of this he knows he can never have a relationship with Kat, he woudn't want to share, so he distances himself. Kat misinterprets this as Dan judging her for her past. After they have their marriage of convenience it still takes until nearly 35% into the book for this to finally come out because this is one of those insanely frustrating books where the characters keep missing each other or are so tongue tied they can't talk about anything important. Extremely frustrating. I ended up skimming HUGE portions of this book because its just filler fluff.

The other thing I disliked was having Kat have sexual performance anxiety. This is a real thing but Dan reacts soooooo weird to it. I thought there would be more caring scenes with him helping her but idk this book is badly written and Dan avoids her because he "can't control himself around her" which again Kat kind of misinterprets. When she finally does orgasm she tells Dan she loves him and he brushes it off saying she's confused. Again, more miscommunication. She thinks she can't trust him, he doesn't trust nor believe her.

Then Dan gets kidnapped by his gangster brother Seamus (who I guess kidnapped Janie in book 1) and Kat pays the ransom. Turns out Caleb hired him, Seamus recorded it to help them but also took Kat's money. Caleb had been CEO but he was doing shady shit with generic drug patents. Kat and her friends uncover the details and its enough to have him ousted as CEO. In the epilogue 15 years later she and Dan have 3 kids and the knitting group is still going strong, now with their children involved.

alicebme's review against another edition

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4-a good ending to the series. Now that it’s over, I guess I liked the Fiona/Greg prequel, the Sandra/Alex, and Kat/Dan the best. The Winston brothers weren’t my thing, so I didn’t read that spin-off series.

meowmeowkitty_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Very cute and endearing, much like the rest of the series. The best couple