Jack and I, we did everything backward. The day he lured me into his office-which was also the first day we met-he proposed. You’d think a guy who looked like him-a bit cold maybe, but still striking and very unattainable-would only ask the love of his life to marry him, right? You’d think he must be madly in love.Nope. It was me he asked. A complete stranger who had never even heard of him. A … of him. A stranger who had been dumped by her fiancé only weeks before. You’d think I’d laugh in his face, call him insane-and a few other names-then walk away as quickly as possible. Well…I did all those things except the walking away part.
It took him only minutes to talk me into a business deal…erm, I mean marriage, and only days for us to officially tie the knot. Happiest day of my life. Magical. Pop the champagne… Not. It was the worst day. Jack Hawthorne was nothing like what I’d imagined for myself.
I blamed him for my lapse in judgment. I blamed his eyes, the ocean blue eyes that looked straight into mine unapologetically, and that frown on his face I had no idea I would become so fascinated with in time.
It wasn’t long after he said I was the biggest mistake of his life that things started to change. No, he still didn’t talk much, but anyone can string a few words together. His actions spoke the loudest to me. And day after day my heart started to get a mind of its own.
One second he was no one. The next he became everything.
One second he was unattainable. The next he seemed to be completely mine.
One second I thought we were in love. The next it was still nothing but a lie.
After all, I was Rose and he was Jack. We were doomed from the very beginning with those names. Did you expect anything else?
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This book is a delicious slow burn! Talk about tension. A great read!
This book is just . . . wow. It was more than I expected. It involves two of my favorite tropes – fake relationship and slow-burn. Not to mention their names are Jack and Rose! Like from Titanic! Maise handled them, both tropes, extremely well. She also started the book off with the couple in the middle of their ceremony so there is a bit of an mysterious element about their backstories. Did I mention just how wonderful this book truly is? It’s great!
I suppose you all want a little bit of synopsis right? Of course you do!
Like I mentioned earlier, the book starts out in the middle of their ceremony. Rose is wondering if she is making the right decision marrying this beautifully indifferent man. Jack doesn’t seem to try to act like a happy newlywed and it makes Rose have some major doubts.
After all, I was Rose, and he was Jack. We were doomed from the very beginning with those names. You know… the Titanic and all that.
In the next chapter, the reader learns that Rose’s fiance left her unexpectedly after her uncle’s passing. That, ultimately, leads her to Jack who proposes their “business deal.” Things start to slowly unravel from there. Rose tries to build a friendship with Jack, while Jack has some skeletons in his closet. Secrets that he’s desperately trying to keep Rose from finding.
If I could find the courage to tell her one day and hope she’d still stay, things would have to change – drastically.
This is dual POV, so you will also get to read certain scenes from Jack’s point-of-view. I will say they are extremely interesting because, in my opinion, most of his chapters really contain the plot. Rose generally talks about just being confused about their relationship and how Jack is an uptight workaholic. She wants to know more about her mysterious husband and why he is the way he is. So when we get to read things from Jack’s perspective, we get to learn about him and why he is helping Rose.
This is my first book by Ella Maise, and it definitely won’t be my last. I am so glad this book put her on my radar because, if all her books are this good, I am in for a real treat!
5 stars!
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I couldn’t put this one down. It came so close to a 5-star rating (which I’m very stingy with!), but lost momentum at the end when the plot sort of devolved into a sex payoff. It was a slow burn, so I understand, but honestly, I was so enjoying the story that the sex kind of slowed the plot. Who knew???
2.5 Stars
1st book by this author and I’m thinking this might have been a Great read if it was about 100 or so pages shorter. Unnecessary fillers. It made it dragged without adding to the story.
The reason for the fake marriage was almost no reason at all. Pretty weak.
The tension between the characters was good. The relationship buildup was good.
Ah, lovely book. I enjoyed and savored it until the end. A slowburn as I like it.
Rose is a young woman with a dream: she wants to open her own coffee shop. When she was 9 her father died and she was taken in by her uncle and his family, even when they never really acknowledged her as kin. However, her uncle is prepared to lease her a place to open her coffee shop in New York for 2 years at reduced rent. When he dies, this leaves Rose without a location and her life savings. Enter Jack, attorney, who makes Rose an offer she can’t refuse. This includes being married for 2 years.
I liked Rose’s character. She was very open and optimistic. Loved reading about the plans and opening of her coffee shop. Jack is a mystery to her with his silent grumpiness. I loved the way Rose interacted with him. We do get dual POV but Jack’s side of the story is a bit mysterious. Why did he want to marry Rose? What is going on with Jack and Rose’s ex-fiancé?
The whole slow burn is done very very well and I totally loved it. Seeing Jack change, the delicious UST between them. Yummy. I wouldn’t mind catching up with Jack and Rose in another book or novella. They deserve something extra further in the future! (2019)
This book made it to my ‘best of 2019’ list!
I’m pretty torn in regards to my feelings on this one.
I LOVED some parts and really disliked some other parts.
Loved:
Jack when he was quiet, grumpy, broody and jealous of every dude who looked her way. Jack on the rare occasions he said something incredibly sweet (like the bit about being jealous of Owen for getting to spend the day with Rose).
Rose when she had two party conversations all by herself.
Disliked:
HOW INCREDIBLY LONG IT WAS. I do love a really fleshed out relationship. Really, I do. But damn…this could have been pared down.
The sex scenes. Or maybe, particularly, the talking in the sex scenes. They just really didn’t sit right with where my brain had these two characters.
In conclusion, I’m feeling just ‘yeah, okay, blah’ about it all. :/
So I know this book was out in May, and I want to say that I started it back then, but I didn’t. I started it about a week ago, and it took me that long to read it. Marriage for One is a slow burn that is really really long. Not that that is a bad thing, but with this book, I had to put it down and come back to it.
I enjoy a good marriage of convenience story, but this one was just too long for me.
Wow Jack and Rose keep taking me back to Titanic
Jack invites Rose to play his wife so they can each get what they want, he is very cold and distant but you know there is something burning underneath. Lovely story
I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.
Quickie marriage of convenience.
Sloooooooowwww Burn.
Amazing chemistry.
Surly, “grumpy” male lead.
Charming, quirky female match.
Excellent writing and story development.
This book was over 500 pages long and it felt like only 50. I was so completely absorbed in the romance, the banter, the silence. The story telling of Ella Maise, told from dual pov’s which was awesome too, made this book so perfectly pitched, from beginning to end, I just couldn’t put it down. Maise’s words and characters just crawled into my heart and stayed there for the entirety. All those pages of delicious, wonderful, trickling romance in one day. I was as sad when it was over as I was thrilled. I didn’t want it to end but absolutely adored how it played out. This is one I’ll re-read many times. It was just delightful and I’m so happy I happened across it.
Marriage for one was a wonderfully written story! I fell head over heels for Jack and Rose’s story! This is a marriage of convenience story, (I’m a sucker for those) it is a written so well that you are able to get to know both Jack and Rose’s individual stories before they met as well. If you haven’t picked up this book and you love a happy ever after ending, then pick this book up!
Llissa
~Llissasbookviews~ reading blog
~ I was given this book in exchange for an honest review~
First book by Ella Maise and she has me hooked. This book had All. The. Feels. The author draws you into this story and you fall completely in love with Jack and Rose. Just to watch two people that are opposites (personality and wealth) but also have so much in common (alone without family and friends). I can’t tell you how many times I had tears in my eyes or butterflies in my stomach or laughing out loud. This was such a great book. I can’t wait to read more of her work. I would definitely recommend this book.
My first book by Ella Maise. Wow! She blew me away. This was one of my top reads for the year. I absolutely loved this and I will be reading everything I can get my hands on from this author!
Rose and Jack. A marriage of convenience. Rose gets her coffee shop for two years. Jack gets…what? A building? Rose? These two are like vinegar and oil. But add a little spice and you have a delicious salad dressing. They work through the kinks of their fake marriage and it begins to not feel fake anymore. But all is not as it seems. Jack is hiding a secret. Rose’s ex and her cousins are out for revenge! Rose’s health is at risk! Can what they are beginning to feel survive what is thrown at them?
I couldn’t put this book down once I started it! You won’t be able to, either! And the epilogue, (sigh), it was perfect! FIVE AMAZING STARS!!
I don’t know if there is anything I didn’t enjoy about this book.
Marriage for One was one of those books that I just didn’t want to end.
Jack and Rose were charming and funny. I loved their banter and I loved the chemistry. I really enjoyed that it was a slow burn as well. Even though their relationship was not conventional, they didn’t just jump right into bed together.
I think that Ella Maise did a wonderful job writing this book, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
I must be having great luck with books nowadays, because I am enjoying everything I read lately.
This is my firts book by this author – although I’ve shelved some of her books in the past; so I didn’t know what to expect. The blurb (and the hot cover) allured me. I’m a sucker for the contracted marriage thrope, especially if the story is a slow burn type.
The POV is dual, because we have chapters from both of the main characters, which gives us a better insight into their minds as the story progresses. I liked that the author chose to give voice to both of them, because in slow burn novels it’s better to let the reader know understand what does each character think. This is because since the story is slow, it can happen that the reader may not “feel” the love that blooms between the characters. But of course it depends on the author too. Anyway, it was cool that we got both voices.
The story starts with Rose’s chapter, our main female protagonist. Her side of the story starts when she and the male protagonist, Jack, are getting married. Since the plot is about a contracted marriage, it’s a good solution to take the reader right into the moment when everything starts. Rose is having doubts about accepting this fake marriage, but we learn after a bit how come this proposition happened.
Rose is an easygoing woman who dreams of opening a coffee shop. She was setting everything up in order to do so, but the tragic death of her uncle changes her life, so she can’t get her hands on the shop she wanted to use for this purpose. Enter Jack, a handsome lawyer. He knows the terms of the will of Rose’s uncle, and takes the chance to get his hands of the property where she wanted to open her shop, since there’s a clause that states that her husband would get that place, and not her… And Rose can accompany him to parties related to his work and pose as his wife. In exchange, she’ll get the shop she likes for two years. He proposes to Rose just after he meets her, and everything goes from there. But… does Jack really wants to get married because he wants that shop?
As we begin our jour journey into the characters’ lives, we understand more of their personality.
Rose is an independent woman with a dream and she tries everything in order to accomplish it. At first she thinks her marriage is a mistake because she realizes that her husband is a grumpy man who barely talks and smiles, but as he tries to help her with setting up her shop and other small gestures, she thinks that he may not be that bad after all. Since theirs is a fake marriage, everything is confusing for her, because she can’t understand where truth starts and lies ends. Rose tries not to kid herself that something will blossom from this marriage, because she’s been hurt too much and doesn’t want to get linked to anybody and have her heart broken again. But there’s something about the controlled Jack that just attracts her, and soon she starts to think that maybe her convinctions were wrong.
Jack is the ever composed lawyer. He is handsome but expressionless, cold, and detached. He is not the type to fall in love easily, especially with Rose. Even though it’d be easy to love her, there is a reason why he asked her to marry him, so he tries hard to keep an unreadable face not to give anything away and to keep himself far from her. Despite the guilt he feels towards her, at some point he changes and opens his heart more, and it’s nice to see.
I really liked the story of Jack and Rose. The book is long and a lot of things happen, but I think these events are necessary to build up this couple. I liked that there was not insta-love or insta-lust with them and we got to see how they fell for each other and change.
A captivating story you can’t miss out on
This book is everything! A slow burn with all you could ever ask for as the author guides us through the enchanting and layered story of falling in love with the one who may not be perfect, but is still absolutely perfect for you. I loved the story, the wonderful main characters of Rose and Jack, the great side kicks who contributes so beautifully to the story, the journey and the perfect ending. It is elegantly written, with so much presence and emotion that you feel you’re in a movie. It flows so well, it’s captivating, kept me glued to the screen and I never wanted it to end. You can’t miss this book! This is a favourite for 2019 <3
Ella Maise is the only Author I would ever read Slow Burn Stories by. I go in with a prayer because the Good Lord knows I’m a slow Burn Hater, but all the worry stops by the first page. Ella knows how to write a story that captures you from the very first page. This book hands down deserves 10 Stars.
Jack Hawthorne and Rose Coleson meet under not so normal circumstances. It seems that Jack the cold hearted Bastard is taking advantage of Rose.
Rose who from the First page is being handed blows and shockers.
Jack for his selfish purposes wants to help but Jack is not so Black and White. He has layers beautiful, swoony layers. He isnt what he portrays at all.
Watching Rose and him in this unconventional relationship was very captivating. Watching him break fall for her, care for her and her break all his walls was So so spectacular.
I loved going on the journey of her finding Happiness and him winning her.
There was a personal Touch to this Ella. I remember you being sick with the same as Rose. So i knew it was personal and my heart broke for you through Rose. I pray that you had your own Jack to take care of you.
This book when it reached the heat boy oh Boy did Jack turn it on. They were on fire. Their chemistry was off the charts.
Grab this book sweet and beautifully written love story ladies. I promise Jack will have you eating put his palms…
Enjoy!!!!
Marriage For One wasn’t what I expected but then I went in blind. I saw the cover (yes, I’m one of those people) and I vaguely remembered a teaser I saw for it. Once I saw the author, I had to snag it. I had a blast with some of her previous books and knew I’d enjoy myself.
Marriage For One is drama and angst and some seriously questionable family members. Life has definitely not worked out for Rose the way she expected or planned. An epic curveball sends her to “The Land of Jack”- I was going to say Oz but…
This crazy plan and chaotic journey is the perfect redemption for their namesakes. Ella Maise proves the door was big enough or maybe her characters are just selfless instead of selfish. Either way, Marriage For One will have you asking for your own Jack.
With a Mr. Darcy vibe, this stoic possibly arrogant man will steal your heart one page at a time.
**ARC REVIEW**
This is an extremely slow burn read but I must say, Jack makes it extremely worth your while!!
Rose has been placed in an odd situation. After the loss of her uncle, she must find a way to keep the property they had agreed upon before his passing. For her new business venture that she was already fully invested in.
Jack is an attorney and has insight on Rose’s situation without her knowledge. He decides to roll the dice and give her an answer to her predicament that requires a marriage none other to Jack himself. There’s just one slight problem. Jack is holding back and after Rose agrees to this marriage contract she innocently starts falling in love with him. There’s just something at the cusp of destroying it all..
Jack is trying his best to keep the women he has fallen for, forever in his life. Until one fatal error and it all comes crashing down.
You will want to hate Jack for his broadness and selfishness but you will also fall in love with him because no matter how cold he wants to be, Rose always cracks at him. Until she finally cracks right into his heart.
I’m blown away! This was my first Ella Maise novel and I fell so deeply in love with her characters and their story. Rose and Jack were incredible characters.
From the moment Rose began her story I instantly felt everything she was feeling. Her nerves behind taking a step so big in order to fulfill her dream and trying to understand that man she’s taking that step with. Jack isn’t your average book boyfriend. Sure he’s gorgeous in a suit, but you won’t instantly swoon for him. He reminded me a lot of that character from the Bridget Jones Diary movies, Mark Darcy.
Jack is a serious man. Which is natural when raised by a family that doesn’t fiddle with things like emotions. But however stoney, he may appear on the outside, his emotions are swirling on the inside. He just doesn’t know how to show it.
Rose’s gift of gab makes up for Jack’s lack of and the two are an unexpected pair. Eventually Rose has him all figured out and starts to wriggle herself under all his armor. By the end, I was nearly in tears when Jack finally put words to those emotions – and I swooned, HARD!
I’ve read my fair share of fake marriage romances and Marriage For One far surpassed the others. The story was exquisitely beautiful and expertly delivered, leaving me wanting so much more from the characters. I didn’t want to say goodbye to them.
With this book, Ella Maise has a new fan.