We are introduced to our main characters in Las Vegas. Megan and Connor have been burned by relationships in the past and are looking for something different. After numerous dating failures, Megan has decided to swear off men and start her own family through artificial insemination. She is secure in her career and place in life, and doesn't need a man to start a family. Connor has been recently dumped by his long-time fiancee, yet another woman in a line long of lovers who just didn't fit within his life paradigm. He wants a relationship with a woman that is more business merger than the emotional mess normal courtships turn into in the end. Megan catches Connor's eye at a casino bar in Las Vegas as she's attempting to flee from her cousin's bachelorette party. She's feisty and confident, sure in herself and what she wants out of life; someone whose outlook on life, love, family, everything, seems to match up perfectly with his own. Intrigued, he whisks her away from the catty bridesmaids she was forced to hang out with and they hit the Strip. The next morning, Megan wakes up in Connor's hotel suite with a diamond ring on her finger and a new husband in her bed.
Sometime as the night wore on and the drinks piled up, both came to an agreement to solve both their problems in love: A marriage built on respect, admiration, and the complementary nature of their respective goals in life. But without love and all that sticky stuff that gets in the way. In a blur of Las Vegas lights and one too many martinis, Connor and Megan went to a wedding chapel and tied the knot. However, Megan doesn't remember any of this and it's Connor's job to try and convince his new bride how this arrangement will work for both of their goals in life. Slowly, Megan warms up to this new "alternative marriage" and the freedom Connor's wealthy lifestyle offers. And of course, when things start going well for the two, ugly pasts rear their heads, doubt and insecurities, Connor's and Megan's stubborn personalities, and that dreaded four letter word: LOVE all work together and might ruin everything.
This book was a cute contemporary romance and a quick read, as stated before. As I read the book, I had a funny feeling that the premise of the book would make a good Lifetime or made-for-TV-movie... then I realized I had seen this similar plot on a Hallmark Channel Original Movie a few months ago. Not that that turned me off to the book, but it was a funny coincidence. Mira Lyn Kelly did a good job building a love story around two people who found themselves in a very unlikely situation. The chemistry of Connor and Megan was electric, a fun mix of one-liners, flirting, and a real connection between the two. As their relationship grew over the course of the book, the reader found it to be well-written and surprisingly believable, and the sexual tension that built with each page kept me saying "I'll go to bed after one more chapter...". I highly enjoyed this book, having not read many contemporary romances (the ones on my bookshelves tend to have more vampires and demons in them). Harlequin has a new line of contemporary romances out now, called Kiss, this e-book was included in the promotion; I may have to go seek out others of this line as well as others from Kelly.
On my rating scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss) I give Waking Up Married a 6.5. It was good, quick and sexy read, though had the made-for-TV-movie vibe to it. I don't want that to be as negative as it sounds, I guess I'm trying to say that the premise isn't terribly original, but that's not all that bad?
Hmm. Yeah... I'm going to be quiet before I dig myself into a deeper hole.
