Marriage: For Business or Pleasure? by Nicola Marsh

Marriage: For Business or Pleasure? by Nicola Marsh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was an enjoyable book about two people who had fallen in love as teens, but had gone their separate ways because of outside influences. However, ten years apart didn’t break their bond. When Brittany comes back to the small town in Australia where she and Nick grew up, it’s strictly for business. But she finds her feelings for Nick had only been suppressed, not vanished. She doesn’t want to be emotionally susceptible to the man who broke her heart. She’s worked hard in the past ten years to build a reputation and to climb the advertising ladder. A business relationship with her first love could help her significantly. She needs him to agree to allowing her to use his sugar cane farm to pitch as an advertising campaign so she can get her raise. He won’t do it unless she agrees to marry him, for business. When she finds out that she owes a debt to her abusive father, she agrees. However, the hard part is keeping those feelings at bay.

Although I’m not a big fan of the reunited lovers theme, Ms. Marsh handles it well. Also, I love seeing heroines who are successful in their careers, and financially independent, on equal to the heroes. Ms. Marsh did a great job of showing me who Nick was, revealing his emotional vulnerabilities in a way that I wish was done more often in the Harlequin Presents books. Instead of Brittany being the only one who seemed emotionally at risk, it was clear that Nick had a lot at stake on that level as well. I liked that Nick and Brittany had been friends since childhood, and their love grew out of their bond. It must have made their separation that much more painful. I appreciated that time was taken to show the rebuilding of Brittany and Nick’s relationship outside of the sexual aspect. That would have been way too easy to show them jumping into intimacy when they had to work to rebuild the trust between them that was lost when they parted.

This was a good, quick Saturday read, and I’m glad to know I have more of Nicola Marsh’s books in my tbr pile to read. She has a way with words and writes a very good romance.




View all my reviews