Majestic Maine, Book 1
From the publisher:
A shy woman. Her outdoorsy crush. And the bet that could bring them together…or implode spectacularly.
Nell Delaney will do almost anything for her parents and her two sisters. But enter a marriage of convenience to save the family’s coffee shop? Too far. So Nell and her sisters strike a deal: whoever hasn’t found love in thirty days has to step up to take one for the team. The good news? Nell knows the perfect guy to fall in love with. The bad news? She’s going to have to pretend she likes the outdoors…a lot.
Adventure guide Grant Williams knows immediately that Nell is not exactly Little Miss Outdoorsy. She’s a walking natural disaster―an amazingly adorable disaster. And whoa, their chemistry is unbelievable. Everything between them is so perfect, he’s not even a little bit shocked when he starts thinking of forever…
Right up until he catches the town gossiping about the Delaney sisters’ bargain and realizes she’s just using him to win a bet. His family’s unreliable reputation means he can’t just dump one of the town’s sweethearts. No, she needs to dump him. If she’s going to pretend to be the perfect doting bride, well, he’ll just pretend to be the worst bachelor on the market.
Let the games begin…
Each book in the Majestic, Maine series is a STANDALONE:
1. First Bride to Fall
2. Second Bride Down
https://amzn.to/3ArEyNf
The premise of this series is a bit farfetched, but it’s such a good romance that it didn’t matter. Three sisters are told by their parents that the only way to save their family business and home is for one of them to marry the son of their former business partner who screwed them over. So the three girls decide whoever isn’t married or engaged within 30 days will have to be the bride.
Nell is the oldest of the sisters, and she has always taken care of her siblings to the point where she still makes them lunch! These women are all adults, in fact Nell is pushing 30 so she really needs to take a step back. She has always prioritized taking care of her family and friends over herself, but she doesn’t want to the bride of anyone except Grant. The only problem is Grant doesn’t know she’s alive.
Grant was a couple of years ahead of Nell in high school, and a popular, well liked boy who always had a girlfriend. Nell was a bit of a loner with typical high school low self esteem. They both still live in this small town in Maine, but she works for the family coffee business, and he owns an outdoor adventure store and guide business. With the clock ticking, Nell decides it’s now or never. She signs up for a “moderate” hike with Grant and arrives late and inappropriately dressed for the hike. But there is definite chemistry between them.
When Nell’s fear of heights throws her into a panic, Grant stays behind to help her down. But then she lands badly and twists her ankle, the skies open up and they are in a deluge which wipes out the bridge and the road back. Luckily, Grant has a fishing cabin nearby, so he helps her get there to dry off and wait out the storm. Since they can’t get back until the bridge and road is repaired, they get to spend the night together; Grant takes the couch and gives Nell the bed. He takes good care of her sprained ankle, makes her dinner, and really makes her feel special.
The next morning, Grant decides to see if he can get through on the back road, and by clearing a fallen tree, he makes it back to town to her family’s cafe. He is truly smitten and wants to surprise Nell with her favorite coffee and breakfast pastry. But while he’s there, her sisters let slip the bet and somehow think he and Nell are engaged. Instead, he is enraged by hides it well. He cooks up a plan to act like a Neanderthal so that Nell will break up with him. Instead, she realizes that something’s up, Grant is not the same man she has loved from afar all these years.
They manage to really piss each other off and Nell quickly plans to become the bride to save her family. I was so involved with this romance that I couldn’t put the book down and was totally invested in their happily ever after. I imagine the other two books in this trilogy will be about the other sisters, and I am looking forward to their stories.
7/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
FIRST BRIDE TO FALL by Ginny Baird. Entangled: Amara (June 28, 2022). ISBN: 978-1649372109. 352p.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 