GRR Reviews Reluctantly Married (The Married Series B by Victorine E. Lieske

Reluctantly Married is a romantic comedy that pits two radio co-hosts ambushed into dating each other despite on-air hostility that is good for ratings. What's good about this is the slow revelations and a grand gesture that managed to wrap up EVERYTHING in one swift stroke, with a bit of convenient timing, of course.

Megan Holloway and her morning show co-host Adam Warner are mortal enemies, even though Adam is a total hunk. He's always goading her on air, but it brought in the ratings, and she reluctantly let the behavior continue. Until one day a relationship expert came on and on-air ambushed Adam into admitting he had feelings for Megan and basically dared Megan to go out with Adam on a date... live-streamed. The date turned into a viral dating show where Adam and Megan alternate between insults and dares, then kisses and make out sessions. As Megan found herself falling for Adam, their producer came with important news... ABC wanted to offer them their own show... a DATING show, the faux reality where they have to get married at the end, with promises of 100K to each person and maybe a real chance to host something bigger. She knew the relationship expert is fake, and Adam was acting. What she didn't know was Adam had fallen for her for real, just as she fell for him...

The romance is clean, and funny as any sitcom, with no cheap laughs except near the end of the grand gesture (you know it's coming). This was like the 3rd or 4th novel I've read with a similar premise (radio co-hosts that are hostile on-air end up falling for each other) but I'd say this was the best among them.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Radio co-hosts that verbally spar on air were forced to confront their real feelings for each other when opportunity called...

Tropes: co-workers, reality show, fake engagement, disguise

Overall Rating: 5/5