What do you think?
Rate this book
An Inconvenient Wife
Brandi Yeats wants gold—Olympic gold, but she needs a new ice dancing partner. One man is available, but he's totally wrong for her, and he's the wrong nationality. Marriage is the only way they can compete for the same team. So what's a girl to do when her dreams are on the line? What she won't do is have an affair with the broody, but far too attractive, Russian, even if he is her husband.
Nikolai Petronof is willing to do anything to skate with a strong competitor like Brandi—even trap himself in a lie he can't get out of. Everyone warns him not to mix fire and ice, but he can't help himself. That is until he's caught in a hands-off marriage of convenience that is far too inconvenient...
Nikolai Petronof is willing to do anything to skate with a strong competitor like Brandi—even trap himself in a lie he can't get out of. Everyone warns him not to mix fire and ice, but he can't help himself. That is until he's caught in a hands-off marriage of convenience that is far too inconvenient...
254 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 24, 2013
4 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Katy Madison
28 books61 followersKaty Madison has always loved stories. As a child she was always lugging a book around. At the age of eight, after
Katy Madison having gone through over a hundred Nancy Drew mysteries, all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books—at least twice—and many others including her full weekly allotment of library books, Katy went to her mother and begged for a new book to read. Her frustrated mother handed her a romance novel. Katy fell in love with the romance genre. She quickly found where her mother hid the rest and began sneaking them out to read. She cut her eye teeth on books by Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart, not to mention dozens of Barbara Cartland’s. With a nod to great Gothic novels like Jane Eyre and Rebecca, Katy offers up her gothic romance Tainted by Temptation.
Katy Madison having gone through over a hundred Nancy Drew mysteries, all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books—at least twice—and many others including her full weekly allotment of library books, Katy went to her mother and begged for a new book to read. Her frustrated mother handed her a romance novel. Katy fell in love with the romance genre. She quickly found where her mother hid the rest and began sneaking them out to read. She cut her eye teeth on books by Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart, not to mention dozens of Barbara Cartland’s. With a nod to great Gothic novels like Jane Eyre and Rebecca, Katy offers up her gothic romance Tainted by Temptation.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Read
July 9, 2024General mixed feelings for this book. Leaving no rating as I’m unsure about it.
But I will say, I loved Nikolai and the nickname Brandoosha. Nikolai is my new dream man.
But I will say, I loved Nikolai and the nickname Brandoosha. Nikolai is my new dream man.
May 11, 2017
I came across this book purely by fluke. After reading the Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Marina Zapata, I was craving for a marriage of convenience where there the hero and heroine fall in love. Well, my hopes were high and I was excited to read this book. And boy, it did not let me down.
This is my first book by Madison. The writing and plot line was great in this book. I love the third person point of view , but switching between the two characters. Brandi and Nikolas are great characters. The way Madison wrote the POV demonstrated that they were well developed and how there was a ton of angst.
The characters are awesome in this book. Nikolas is my new book boyfriend. He is sweet, caring, and just about perfect. I love the way he cares for Brandi and attempts to care for her. When we read his thoughts, you can literally see how good at heart he is. He is considerate and never pushes Brandi. Nikolas has flaws, but they make him better. His patience and trust makes him a great hero. I also love his attempts to woo Brandi. Poor guy. He is stuck with his limited English and attempts to do so, which he successfully does. Brandi is another amazing character. I love her spunk. She is feisty and takes no crap from people. Plus, she is incredibly hardworking. I love that she does not bully people and is kind. When her previous partner quits, she does not go on a rampage. She is sweet and thoughtful. I love her stubbornness. Most authors make their heroines so stubborn that it gets extremely annoying. Madison makes Brandi's quirks and personality traits make her an awesome person.
I love the romance in the book. Of course, why would this even be a marriage of convenience if there is no romance? I love the chemistry and the slow pace love between Nikolas and Brandi. There is tension and both of them have feelings for each other. What is hilarious and awesome is that both of them try to suppress their feelings thinking that the other doesn't have feelings. The moments with them alone is incredibly sweet. They were an old married couple before they even got married, which is funny because they weren't even aware.
My first read of Madison's book really set the bar high. I enjoyed her characters and the writing. There wasn't any major issues and this book left me really happy and rooting for the couple. Therefore, this book will receive five stars.
This is my first book by Madison. The writing and plot line was great in this book. I love the third person point of view , but switching between the two characters. Brandi and Nikolas are great characters. The way Madison wrote the POV demonstrated that they were well developed and how there was a ton of angst.
The characters are awesome in this book. Nikolas is my new book boyfriend. He is sweet, caring, and just about perfect. I love the way he cares for Brandi and attempts to care for her. When we read his thoughts, you can literally see how good at heart he is. He is considerate and never pushes Brandi. Nikolas has flaws, but they make him better. His patience and trust makes him a great hero. I also love his attempts to woo Brandi. Poor guy. He is stuck with his limited English and attempts to do so, which he successfully does. Brandi is another amazing character. I love her spunk. She is feisty and takes no crap from people. Plus, she is incredibly hardworking. I love that she does not bully people and is kind. When her previous partner quits, she does not go on a rampage. She is sweet and thoughtful. I love her stubbornness. Most authors make their heroines so stubborn that it gets extremely annoying. Madison makes Brandi's quirks and personality traits make her an awesome person.
I love the romance in the book. Of course, why would this even be a marriage of convenience if there is no romance? I love the chemistry and the slow pace love between Nikolas and Brandi. There is tension and both of them have feelings for each other. What is hilarious and awesome is that both of them try to suppress their feelings thinking that the other doesn't have feelings. The moments with them alone is incredibly sweet. They were an old married couple before they even got married, which is funny because they weren't even aware.
My first read of Madison's book really set the bar high. I enjoyed her characters and the writing. There wasn't any major issues and this book left me really happy and rooting for the couple. Therefore, this book will receive five stars.
November 25, 2013
I really loved this story!! The characters were so realistic with their insecurities and assumptions, and so very likable. I loved Nickolai's vulnerability by not knowing much English but I also loved his strengths and positive attitude. I loved how caring and protective he was of Brandi, too, even before he realized he loved her. Terrific sweet read!
October 28, 2022
Well, I'm bummed out. I spent about 5 bucks to read this on my Kindle. I thought it was going to be a light romance with enemies to lovers plot line with a cute dash of language barrier problems. Or maybe I was just hoping for a less detailed version of From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata. Although to be fair I'm not sure when this book was published in regards to Zapatas.
Anyway, this book didn't do it for me. For multiple reasons. First let me say that this is the first book I'm reading from this author and have no idea what her background is. And I understood that not everyone has the same experiences even if they have similar lives. So when I say that I didn't enjoy the main female lead; Brandi's, view on Russia I don't mean to sound hateful or imply that the author has underlying racism problems since she wrote the book.
What I am going to say is that as someone who is in a interracial marriage; Mexican (husband) and American (me) I have been through a lot of the same cultural struggles that Brandi and Nikolai ( main male lead) go through. And I found that Brandi has little to no tolerance for Nikolai's culture. She makes endless comments about him not learning English fast enough, she doesn't like his sparse apartment, claiming it's so small and embarrassing. She bad mouths him and his homeland multiple times, to the point where Nikolai starts saying things like "I want to be American only" trying to get her to like him more by becoming an American man.
It was incredibly frustrating and hurtful to watch the female lead be so disrespectful to a whole culture of people and it made the book come off as almost a hate crime. Like America was the ONLY way to live a happy life. And I understand that the author had Brandi do little things to equal them out but it was to little to late... learning a few key phrases doesn't make you understand a whole culture and life style.
The next thing I didn't enjoy was Brandi herself. Not only her opinions on Russia but on her lack of brain cells and willingness to work with and not against Nikolai. She pushed and fought with the guy over every little thing. All the way till the end, endless fighting. She was childish and immature. Everything had to go her way or she would freak out and it would affect their skating. Which was the whole point of being together. And don't even get me started on what she did while at the Park towards the end of the story. Absolutely a shitty and selfish person.
The thing that saved this book for me, the reason I didn't instantly DNF it was because of Nikolai. Dude was sweet and passionate. I loved how even through his broken English he was willing to try and make Brandi understand him as best he could. He was a great male lead and I'm bummed out he was paired with someone as unworthy as Brandi.
As for the romance in this book...I'm going to say there was none. Their was no romance, but their was a lot of lust. In fact I would argue that even at the end of the book the characters don't really love each other as much as them finally just giving in to their sexual desires. The whole time the characters were taking about how they wanted to sleep with the other person and it wasn't till the last two chapters that any of them brought up love.
Overall this just wasn't for me. And I'm not sure I would recommend it to other romance readers. And I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a interracial couple. Hopefully this is just a one off for this author.
Anyway, this book didn't do it for me. For multiple reasons. First let me say that this is the first book I'm reading from this author and have no idea what her background is. And I understood that not everyone has the same experiences even if they have similar lives. So when I say that I didn't enjoy the main female lead; Brandi's, view on Russia I don't mean to sound hateful or imply that the author has underlying racism problems since she wrote the book.
What I am going to say is that as someone who is in a interracial marriage; Mexican (husband) and American (me) I have been through a lot of the same cultural struggles that Brandi and Nikolai ( main male lead) go through. And I found that Brandi has little to no tolerance for Nikolai's culture. She makes endless comments about him not learning English fast enough, she doesn't like his sparse apartment, claiming it's so small and embarrassing. She bad mouths him and his homeland multiple times, to the point where Nikolai starts saying things like "I want to be American only" trying to get her to like him more by becoming an American man.
It was incredibly frustrating and hurtful to watch the female lead be so disrespectful to a whole culture of people and it made the book come off as almost a hate crime. Like America was the ONLY way to live a happy life. And I understand that the author had Brandi do little things to equal them out but it was to little to late... learning a few key phrases doesn't make you understand a whole culture and life style.
The next thing I didn't enjoy was Brandi herself. Not only her opinions on Russia but on her lack of brain cells and willingness to work with and not against Nikolai. She pushed and fought with the guy over every little thing. All the way till the end, endless fighting. She was childish and immature. Everything had to go her way or she would freak out and it would affect their skating. Which was the whole point of being together. And don't even get me started on what she did while at the Park towards the end of the story. Absolutely a shitty and selfish person.
The thing that saved this book for me, the reason I didn't instantly DNF it was because of Nikolai. Dude was sweet and passionate. I loved how even through his broken English he was willing to try and make Brandi understand him as best he could. He was a great male lead and I'm bummed out he was paired with someone as unworthy as Brandi.
As for the romance in this book...I'm going to say there was none. Their was no romance, but their was a lot of lust. In fact I would argue that even at the end of the book the characters don't really love each other as much as them finally just giving in to their sexual desires. The whole time the characters were taking about how they wanted to sleep with the other person and it wasn't till the last two chapters that any of them brought up love.
Overall this just wasn't for me. And I'm not sure I would recommend it to other romance readers. And I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a interracial couple. Hopefully this is just a one off for this author.
December 9, 2019
I had access to roughly half of the story and that half did not impress me enough to buy the whole copy. I approximately gathered the ending from reviews and I am not willing to invest time and money in finishing.
I ventured into it because I am a big fan of ice dancing and this is the only romance novel I've found with that particular skating sport. The beginning was promising, but it became obvious as the story progressed, that the characters are bland and the arc is not really satisfying. There is the marriage of convenience trope thrown in for US citizenship and close proximity by living together in a small apartment. The secondary characters are appearing in and out but they have no personality. For example, when the coach and choreographer appears, the choreographer never says anything, there are only secondary clues about how he acts voiced by the main characters.
If you're a fan like me, read Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon instead, that novel has a couple competing in pairs, not ice dancing but is much better and also uses the fish out of water trope, but reversed (the heroine moving to Moscow).
P.S. My inner local patriot was screaming like a banshee at the faux pas of the writer using Budapest as a synonym to Bucharest. Please. Don’t. Do. That. Ever.
Budapest - capital of Hungary
Bucharest - capital of Romania
Huge difference that my Eastern European (Hungarian) heart cannot emphasize enough.
I ventured into it because I am a big fan of ice dancing and this is the only romance novel I've found with that particular skating sport. The beginning was promising, but it became obvious as the story progressed, that the characters are bland and the arc is not really satisfying. There is the marriage of convenience trope thrown in for US citizenship and close proximity by living together in a small apartment. The secondary characters are appearing in and out but they have no personality. For example, when the coach and choreographer appears, the choreographer never says anything, there are only secondary clues about how he acts voiced by the main characters.
If you're a fan like me, read Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon instead, that novel has a couple competing in pairs, not ice dancing but is much better and also uses the fish out of water trope, but reversed (the heroine moving to Moscow).
P.S. My inner local patriot was screaming like a banshee at the faux pas of the writer using Budapest as a synonym to Bucharest. Please. Don’t. Do. That. Ever.
Budapest - capital of Hungary
Bucharest - capital of Romania
Huge difference that my Eastern European (Hungarian) heart cannot emphasize enough.
December 19, 2020
3.5-ish. This wasn't a bad story and I enjoyed it for the most part, but the ending I thought, was rather abrupt. Yes, we hear them confirm , but it would have been nice to have an epilogue showcases one of those things. Like, them winning gold/silver/bronze at the Olympics. Or with a baby. Just something, nice and fulfilling. It sort of just ended mid-scene? I don't know. I just felt like it was missing an opportunity there. And after reading all their grueling work out and practice routines, it'd be nice to know if anything came of it! Just saying.
September 27, 2022
Fast enjoyable read. Steamy and engaging!
August 26, 2013
a sweet read. No real drama to speak of. could of been developed a bit better.
July 11, 2020
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews