Their Altar Arrangement, written by Natalie Anderson, is the first book in the Mills & Boon/ Harlequin mini series The Convenient Wives Club.
Elodie Wallace is determined to prevent her little sister, Ashleigh, from marrying Ramon Fernandez at all costs, even if she has to marry him herself! After being manipulated into marriage by her domineering father she is determined not to have the same happen to her sister. It took Elodie years to rebuild her life and she manufactured a whole raunchy alternative narrative in order to do so. When she bursts in in the billionaire she doesn’t realise she has got the wrong Ramon. He is Juan Ramon Fernandez. The man her sister is engaged to (and Juan’s cousin) is called Jose Ramon Fernandez. Juan also needs a wife as the first of the two men to get married inherits an island - he wants to preserve it whilst his cousin wants to build on it. They agree to marry for a year and due to the chemistry between have fun. Juan will help her upgrade her escape room business and help . Elodie will be the one to break their marriage up, as she did with her first one.
I really enjoyed this novel and will reread it. I liked that Elodie was firmly in control and Juan was quite often put on the back foot and didn’t automatically get his own way. I felt that the setting way more contemporary and interesting than the formulaic teacher/ secretary etc trope as she is running her own escape room business and isn’t in desperate need for his money. Both characters have had turbulent childhoods which has shaped who they are. It is interesting to see how they grow develop and change throughout the novel. There is humour between the main characters and the book is well thought out in terms of pacing and storyline. All the loose ends are tied up and the minor characters - Juan’s aunt and Jose also get a final mention rather than just disappearing.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
