Customer Reviews

Married By Mistake (Harlequin Large Print Super Romance)

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MARRIED BY MISTAKE by Abby Gaines
April 23, 2007


Rating **** (4 Stars)

This one almost qualifies as chick lit: Two friends decide to go on a reality show where the contestants are given the opportunity to propose to their unsuspecting mates on live television, and then if the answer is yes, they proceed to get married. It's a crazy scheme, but Casey Greene wants to get married. Her fiancé has been procrastinating about setting a date so she thought why not? They were planning on getting married anyway!

Well, "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry" as it was once said...
Casey's fiancé says NO on live television, while the other brides have their wishes come true, including Casey's friend Brodie-Ann.

Millionaire businessman Adam Carmichael, who had briefly met Casey backstage, is also one of the producers of the show (his cousin created the series) and feels a NO answer may be disastrous for the show. So, to save face he jumps into the limelight and proposes to Casey instead. A shocked Casey says "yes", and what was supposed to be a fake wedding to save the show turns out to be legit.

So, now they need to annul the marriage, but in the meantime they have to make it look "real" to the adoring public. Adam is one of Memphis's most eligible bachelors and so this marriage is pretty much on the radar of every woman in town, as well as the media, who will not leave the two alone. So, it's time for both to act as if they are in love... fortunately, the two feel a deep chemistry, but neither can imagine staying married to each other. It didn't make any sense, because the two had just met!

Casey and Adam make sure that the public thinks they are two happily married people, but the media has their ways of finding out a celebrity's deepest secrets. For the next few months Casey and Adam have to be very careful not to let it slip out that they are not the happy couple they are supposed to be. They find it easier to fake it the longer they get to know each other...

MARRIED BY MISTAKE was a different type of superromance, with a very light-hearted amusing tone that reminded me of a chick lit novel. And as with all superromances, there is a happy ending. It just takes a while for both Casey and Adam to realize that maybe the right two people did get married after all.

In Memphis, Casey Greene and her fiancé Joe are to marry on live TV as the highlight of this week's Kiss the Bride show. Joe got cold feet and failed to show up at the studio; ergo Casey is being jilted in front of a zillion viewers. Millionaire businessman and owner of the show Adam Carmichael wants to kill his cousin Henry for allowing this fiasco to occur just before the representatives from the sponsor New Visage Cosmetics arrive. To help her save face and to save his show, he offers to be the groom.

However, the most eligible bachelor in Tennessee is stunned after he exchanges I do on the show when he learns that his made for TV nuptials is legally binding. They agree to annul their marriage quietly, but the media and their family constantly matchmake them. As they fall in love with one another, will Casey or Adam step up and plead that they no longer want an annulment.

Using the reality theme concept, Abby Gaines writes a fun contemporary romantic romp. Casey and Adam are likable protagonists whose reasons for agreeing to marry on the show actually seem plausible; as does their reasoning for obtaining an annulment. Fans will enjoy this couple who fall in love inside the fishbowl of the media, the public and their family observing every misstep they take.

Harriet Klausner

Perfect for : Personal reading, take it on the plane, sneak it into your purse for those extra minutes you've got throughout the day, or cozy up in the corner of the couch with your favorite blanket and indulge yourself!

In a nutshell: From start to finish I LOVED this book, and I didn't want it to end. The book starts with the filming of a brand new reality show called Kiss the Bride, where brides are all dressed up and ready for their prospective husbands to propose, be officially married and head out on a dream honeymoon! After years of being engaged to Joe, Casey is tired of the ever-changing wedding date and has decided to take matters into her own hands - on tv. . . little does she know that Joe is going to have cold feet, leaving her standing alone in front of cameras, a tv audience, and viewers at home. In an attempt to help Casey and salvage the show, Memphis's most eligible bachelor, Adam Carmichael, is going to step in, propose AND marry her, all the while believing the wedding would be fake. Both Casey and Adam find out that the marriage is REAL, and decide to extend the charade until the marriage can be annulled. . . but can they keep things on a friendly basis during the month it will take to get an annulment, or will things heat up between the pair? I absolutely loved everything about this book. It was refreshing, the characters were well-written, the story moved along at a nice pace, and had a wonderfully happy ending.

Imagine my excitement when I visited the author's site and learned that she wrote extra scenes for the story covering the time between the last chapter and the epilogue!! If you have read the book and want to fill in the gaps, go here to read the extra scenes.

Extended Review:
Characters: Each of the characters added depth to the story. My favorites were Casey, who desperately needs to learn to say no and start living her own life, instead of living to help everyone else; Adam, she is trying so hard to help his business thrive; and Eloise, Adam's step-mother who ends up being one of the loveliest character's I've read in quite a while.

Story-Line: This was a fun, fast-paced romance that had plenty of obstacles as well as touching moments.

Readability: Easy to read and enjoy.

Overall: A quick read that will have you engrossed in the story from page one as sparks fly and lives are changed for better, or for worse!

Since there were so many positive reviews on here, I tried really hard to hang in there and assume it got better. In my opinion it just got worse with each chapter.

The plot is so contrived. I understand why they did the ceremony for the TV and even why that turned out to be surprisingly more legal than they thought - but why on earth would they have signed a marriage license for a fake wedding? There is also the bit about the H's inheritance. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough.

I also didn't really like either of the main characters, and I didn't think they treated each other in believable ways. And the language the author used felt way too formal for this genre. All around, I just couldn't get into this book.

I couldn't put the book down after reading. The characters were well depicted and each one exciting that made the plot intriguing. I really enjoyed this book. It was worth every penny.

I feel that variations on this theme have been made for ages. Girl likes big hot-shot, something happens and they have to pretend they are dating/in a relationship/married, they hate each other at first but then they like each other and the paparazzi are constantly hounding them no matter what. Or it could be just because I spent my summer watching Smiling Pasta (if you ever get the time, check it out on youtube with the English subs) which was pretty much the same plotline.
Still, I very much liked this book. It's such a sweet romance novel and you really get to see the main characters Adam and Casey develop.
A basic summary would be: Casey dupes her fiancee Joe into this TV show, Kiss the Bride, where the people get married in this quickie wedding. Casey has all of these family issues that causes her to want to get married ASAP, but Joe bails on her. To save this TV show, producer Adam marries Casey in what he believes is a fake marriage--but it turns out this is actually a real marriage. Adam and Casey now have to live with each other until they can get an annulment, but along the way, they find themselves actually caring for each other. This book is about their relationship, and my review does not do it justice.
You can actually read it for free from the publisher's website at [...]

Casey Greene is engaged to be married, but her fiancé, Joe Elliott, is dragging his feet. She has to get out of her current family situation and marriage would be the perfect opportunity. She tricks Joe into going on a live reality-TV show, Kiss the Bride. Instead of getting a proposal, she gets dumped at the altar.

Adam Carmichael, majority shareholder of Carmichael Broadcasting, stepped in as the fake groom in order to save the show. What he doesn't realize is their marriage is indeed legal. All was not lost though. Adam is in a legal battle with his family over his father's will, a stipulation to be more specific. It states that if Adam isn't married by age thirty-one, his shares of Carmichael Broadcasting will be passed on to his cousin. Staying married for a short time would be a win-win situation for them both. That is, if they don't fall in love with each other first.

Harlequin books have really come a long way. This contemporary romance was a fun, cute, page-turner of a read. I stayed up just to finish it.