His Convenient Husband by J.L. Langley
Series: Innamorati #1
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publication Date: September 4, 2009
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Genres: M/M
Pages: 134
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Series Rating:
A temporary arrangement? Don't bet the ranch on it.
Innamorati, Book 1
At the tender age of seven, newly orphaned Micah Jiminez lost everything and got lucky. The Delany family opened their hearts and their home, treated him like one of their own. One Delany in particular, though, became more than a brother to Micah. The handsome and protective Tucker is the man to whom he wants to give his love.
But after a single passionate night together, Tucker rebuffs him and hightails it to Dallas to pursue his dreams. Leaving Micah to pick up the pieces of his broken heart and feeling like a fool.The impending death of the Delany patriarch brings an unsavory relative out of the woodwork, threatening Micah's beloved adopted family. They're going to need all hands in the fight to keep The Bar D from being pulled out from under them all including Tucker. Micah steels himself to convince the man he can't forget to come home.
To his everlasting surprise, it's Tucker who comes up with the perfect solution: a marriage of convenience to Micah. His gut tells him Tucker's motivation involves nothing more than saving the ranch. Now he just has to convince his fragile heart.
This title has been revised and expanded by more than 10,000 words from its original published version.
This review was originally posted on January 9, 2010.
The blurb tells us a lot about what’s going on so I won’t go into too much detail. Micah, who’s had a thing for Tucker for most of his life, goes to Tucker because he’s in a bad spot. The Bar D is in financial trouble and Tucker’s grandad, owner of the ranch, is dying. Micah needs Tucker to look over the will that Micah found to see if anything can be done about saving the ranch from the hands of the oldest son, Duncan. Tucker decides to help the ranch out by marrying Micah. You see in the will it says that the first person to marry gets the ranch – even if the marriage is between two men. The marriage only has to be legal somewhere not necessarily in Texas, which is where the story takes place.
I think this story was a bit old school in the fact that the marriage was of convenience. I didn’t mind that so much as I minded the fact that Tucker thought of it and acted on it so quickly. I realize that time was a wastin’ but it happened so fast I was a bit surprised.
At first I thought that Tucker was a complete bastard. The way he was treating his current man-interest was a bit shocking but I soon came to see that it was his way of dealing with men that he truly didn’t want to get too involved with because he still had a thing for Micah – even though he wouldn’t admit to it. He changed his tune once he was back on the ranch and became a much nicer guy. A bit stifling for Micah but with good intentions.
I enjoyed Micah’s character’s strength. He did what needed to be done around the ranch and the Delaney men listened to him. When Tucker came back to the ranch and tried to take over a bit I was happy to see that Micah stood up for himself.
That said, I wish that the story had been a bit longer. I would have liked to have seen a bit more time taken in making the decisions that were made and maybe delving into a few more characters a little deeper but what was there, I liked. I understand this is an extended version of a shorter story that was previously published. Maybe I can hope for an even more extended version? lol I won’t hold my breath. 🙂
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
I generally like this author a lot but this one didn't work very well for me. I didn't hate it, but didn't love it. I thought the way Tucker treated him with all the big secrets and not talking about stuff was very disrespectful and then as long as you did it out of love, it was okay and could all be forgiven. Ummm, no. You'd think Noah was 12 year's old.
I also thought his logic was slightly flawed as to why he left Noah. "So he could find another guy." Umm. Where exactly would a gay guy living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere Texas find a huge dating pool? LOL He was screwed buddy and not in a good way.
Hmmm, guess maybe I did have bigger issues with it than I thought.
I do like a good marriage of convenience plot line when done right. and I like this author too. But big secrets/misunderstandings are hot buttons for me. hmmm.
I have this on my ereader, but I think it's going down the pile a bit, because there are definitely things that are going to piss me off about it. 🙂
It was a 3.5 read for me also. Nice, but could have been longer!
Hmmm, I'm intrigued but the issues raised have me hesitating. Perhaps another book by this author first?
Tam – I think it was more bothersome for you than it was for me. Yes, it got old fast but Micah definitely knew how to take care of the ranch – just not himself/his health so much.
Sula – The marriage itself just happened so fast. And the fact that Tucker was the one who wanted to go for it threw me – since he was the one that left Micah in the first place.
Chris – It's a very quick read so maybe you can get to it on your lunch one day. 🙂
Maija – Definitely! 🙂
Orannia – Oh definitely try My Fair Captain and the With or Without Series – both really good!
I had a few issues with this book, Tracy. It didn't quite work for me. Tucker just didn't convince me when it came to his treatment of Noah. Also, Noah had been taking care of the ranch all that time and all of the sudden he was treated almost as a kid again (not a man), that bothered me.
The whole thing with Tucker's fast decision on the marriage bugged me too. He left Noah (for no good reason, really), and then out of the blue they're married… I didn't buy the whole thing. 🙁
Thanks for this – I was on the fence about it but I do like JL's stuff oh so much! 😛
So notes – thank you Tracy 🙂
Hilcia – I can see that. As I said, had this been a longer book and had gotten a little more into the characters I think I would have liked it a whole lot better.
Ames – I really like Langley too – she's one of my favorites.
Orannia – You're welcome. 🙂
A m/m marriage of convenience? That's a little difficult to swallow, no?
Tracy, let me just say thank you for reviewing this one. I've been on the fence about buying and was having a hard time (after having read the excerpt) pulling the trigger, so to speak.
Now I can move it waaay down there because those issues you mentioned would drive me bananas…
Great review, btw…
Heidenkind – yep, it was just so category. lol
Marthawarner – Thank you! Yes, I wish this was longer just so that I could have delved into the characters more. I think the shorter format was a detriment to the story, unfortunately.