April's Fool

by Blanche Marriott

How can a wedding album start a tug-of-war between the bride and groom? When they aren’t really married and an April Fools joke goes awry.

In a moment of self-pity, April Vaillancourt, a graphic designer and all-around dreamer, creates a fake wedding album. She accidentally leaves it behind at a restaurant after a girls night out. Weeks later, when it turns up on the desk of the fake groom, he confronts her, and she’s faced with telling the truth or living a lie.

Michael Goode is a high-powered investment advisor on the threshold of becoming CEO. His neat and orderly bachelor life is jarred when April’s prank appears on his desk. Ready to take her to task for the brazen invasion of his privacy, he instead falls captive to her charms. Intrigued by her evasive tactics, he pursues her, but when he finds himself wanting to spend every minute with April, he begins to question his bachelor life. Could there be something better?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Clean Romance

196 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Blanche Marriott began writing romance novels in 1991 while balancing her career as a wood products manufacturing manager. She often joined the troops in the factory, working on sanders, drills, and saws. It gave her time to "talk" to the characters in her head and figure out what they would do next. In 2001 she switched careers and now works for a CPA firm as an accounting assistant, specializing in payroll.

She has completed 14 novels while staying active in 2 writing groups, serving on the Boards of Directors several times, and a number of conference committees. But the best part was the life-long friendships she's formed with so many writers, published and unpublished.

Her first published novel, KALEIDOSCOPE, won 2nd place in the 2003 WisRWA Write Touch Readers' Award for published authors. Her second book, WAY OUT WEST, won the prestigious New Jersey Romance Writers' 2003 Golden Leaf Award for Short Contemporary. WAY OUT WEST was also a finalist in the 2004 Virginia Romance Writers' HOLT Medallion Awards.

Her current novels are APRIL'S FOOL and HIS BROTHER'S BABY. She also has a non-fiction humor book, BORN TO BITCH, chronicling life's little annoyances.

Blanche lives in Rhode Island with her husband. She enjoys gardening, reading, and playing with her grandkids. You can visit her website, www.blanchemarriott.com, or email her at blanche@blanchemarriott.com, or follow her on Facebook (Blanche Marriott)

Reviews

[Rachel Sides · Rating 5 out of 5]

April's Fool is a fun read. It begins with an outlandish April fools joke that just gets crazier. I'd love to see it make into a romantic comedy. Loved it!

[Angie Hoxie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The purple prose of this book doesn't make up for the fact that the plot is ridiculous. The characters don't do anything to actually fall in love. The main female character is a workaholic that apparently has enough time on her hands to make an entire fake wedding PHOTO ALBUM. Then the male main character is not scared away by this but instead gets the dumb idea that a fake wedding will get him promoted. At least other books that do the fake wedding just do a fake engagement or actually get married. This book was just like, "Maybe if they act married his boss will just like believe it." There were loose plot points throughout the entire book-- what about the ex-boyfriend? wouldn't the boss be upset that the employee he considered a son didn't invite him to his wedding? why is 80 miles per hour fast?

The only thing I got out of this book is it takes place in Providence and I was in Providence while reading it. So there's that.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and sort of funny. Wished the time would have been put in to really set the scene and strengthen the characters. They had qualities that if there was more it woul easily show the bond and likeness between them. It was all very coincidentally. Showing how April saw Michael and how her crush aided in her April fool joke really could have made me fall more. Michael had great swoon qualities but it all happened in words and not feelings.

[Robert R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story

I enjoyed reading this story. Great characters and loved the build up, but I’m so use to a certain type of romance where love in enacted through action and that didn’t happen at all in this story. So definitely one for those who are into smut. But overall it had a lot of moments where my heard paused to see what would happen next.

[Litborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny romantic love story with a comic beginning and a heartwarming end. It turned out to be one of the books that I would have never expected to read or enjoy, it proved me wrong. I hope it becomes a movie.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really into chick-lit but this was cute. Seen several movies with this type of story line but this was cute all on it's own.

[vicki zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took an inordinately long time to get there...

...but it was a great romance. Could use some editing, (pro tip, 'pleasure' is all one word, not 'plea' 'sure' as it is EVERY time here.) And there were a few open-ended, unanswered questions (Where'd Stan go? How's about Tim and Shelly?)
But a few editing errors, and exaggerated lengthiness and missing info aside, this was really a great romance. I would read it again. (Well, I would skim over a lot of the needless parts, but would read it again.

[Ronnie Aichroth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I was in the mood for a simple romantic comedy and it was on sale. It's a very simple short romance. The characters were likeable but not very deep and the whole thing was predictable. It's short and sweet but I would have liked more plot, conflict, and characters who were more rounded out.

[Leigh Goldian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuuute!

I really liked this story! It was cute and romantic and frustrating, just the way a romance novel should be!

My only problem with it was that there were typos that were repeated throughout the entire book, which was distracting. Otherwise, bravo!

[Kari King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I found this book when it showed under recommended books. I am so glad that I decided to read it. I knew from the start, it was a book you had to open any spare time you have. I will look for more books from this author.

[Hector · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chicken soup in words

Great feel good romance.
Vibrant relatable characters, vivid imagery. Witty, fun with laugh out loud moments... entertaining to the last page. Would definitely recommend!

[Rebecca Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light and Clean Romance

I am a sucker for fake/contract marriage storyline, but I really like that this was a clean romance with storyline that was not over reaching and ridiculous (besides it being a fake marriage plot..hehe).

[Ilarae Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, slightly cheesy, and clean!

I started out reading a cute story which morphed into a clunky, cheesy, lie filled deception complete with a bad guy. The ending was satisfactory but rushed a bit to much.

[Linda J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never a fool

A pro




April has had major heartbreak and Michael is a confirmed bachelor. April's clever April Fools day prank takes these opposites on a wonderful adventure. Good, clean fun read.

[Samantha Donoghue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

Seriously loved this book! Read it in one night. Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story. And it was so well written. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

[Brittany Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhh

So cute and a very satisfying ending. I'd have loved to see further into their future but nonetheless, it was satisfying. Such a cute, sweet, clean story

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a short, flirty romance, this is the one to read! It had its humorous moments and its “Awww” moments. Fun quick read ... and a happy ending to boot!

[Katy liddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

April fools

Great book, felt the passion between the 2 main characters. What a wonderful ending!! Would recommend to girlfriends, mums, Nan’s...

[Samantha Kinnear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet romantic comedy. Could have maybe done with being a little longer to properly do some development of the characters and their relationship. But all round a sweet story and easy read.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

April’s Fool is a humorous novel by Blanche Marriott. It is a quick read and is just a fun book. I really enjoyed this book.
April Vaillancourt was the only unattached member of her girls’ group. She just returned from vacation and had an album to show them. She had taken some wedding photos she had found on Tim Houghton’s (her boss) computer and photo shopped her face into the bride’s and a gorgeous man who had attended the wedding was the face of her groom. This was done as a joke and she just hoped her friends would take it like that and not as a ruse for pity. They loved it and at some time during the evening, she lost track of it. When she called the restaurant they hadn’t seen it. She certainly hoped it wouldn’t come back to haunt her.
Michael Goode was an investor at Gellar Investments. In fact, he was the best and he really wanted the promotion to CEO when and if Howard Gellar ever retired. To this end, he worked day and night. According to Howard’s nephew and Michael’s pal, Kenny Gellar, there was only one thing that might keep him from getting the CEO position and that would be his unmarried state. It was too bad the wedding album that was delivered from the restaurant to Michael’s office wasn’t real. However, only he and Kenny, who was at the wedding, knew that it was false.
Michael sets out to make April pretend to be married to him just as long as it took to get the promotion. Although she had broken up with her boyfriend because he only wanted her to get ahead in business, she agreed. After all, she owed him something for creating the album. However, can she keep it a secret or will it get to be too much for her?

[Cara Desire · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure why that book has so many stars. I said it before and I will say it again: Fiction is a pile of acceptable nonsense. Meaning that it's a believable fake story well told- well-written.

Reason #1: A workaholic with too much free time on her hands. I could understand that April could have Photoshop herself as a bride in ONE photo. But she went ahead and did an entire ALBUM! Maybe she's a professional but I know how long it takes to Photoshop one picture and let alone an entire freaking album! She barely has time to even eat lunch- which defines how psychotic that girl must be. Michael was cool with it just because she's hot. In fact, he went ahead and added a pregnancy to it. All fake marriages need a fake pregnancy, right?

Reason #2: Whatever happened to April's pride... First, Michael asked her how desperate she was and she didn't react at all to that question. She moved on so quick that I had to go back and reread that sentence. I was more upset than the character. Second, imagine for a second that her sexy MILLIONAIRE fiance giving her an SUV while he's driving sports car. My friend, who, by the way, is not a millionaire, bought his employee a new car. He didn't buy her an SUV although she's a mother. He got her to the dealer to CHOOSE something within his budget. And this is real life, not fantasy.

Reason #3: Some facts were dangerously not so dangerous. EIGHTY miles per hour sounds really fast when you own a regular car. But when you drive sports cars? Not so much! Especially when you're purposely SPEEDING! I'm a woman (meaning that my safety bar is higher than most men) and 80 m/h would not be my limit if I were to speed (just assuming of course)

[Alysia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book from the library solely based on two things. One the cover is cute and it was small. LOL! I really wanted to read something short.
The plot is very familiar and I think there are several movies with the same premise. Woman pretends to be married to a man to fool her (married) friends. The man finds out and uses her and the fake marriage to impress his boss. But they seem to like each other and wham they are really hitting it off.
This book is very predictable. The storyline has no interesting twist and turns. There are no surprises and even the supporting characters fall into there cookie cutter roles. Mom is always talking about marriage and her old boyfriend. Co-worker is the only one to see things as they really are. And the boss is just a great guy that everyone likes. Done! I think I told you the whole story without saying the end. Of course it is a happily ever after.
There is nothing special about this book. Sorry!

[Chancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy free read from Amazon while I was sick. No deep plot, no character development. I read it in a span of 24hrs and I easily slept 15 of those hours.

[Paula Bothwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

PG - no sex, some kisses, but not descriptive. I don't remember any swearing.

This is the first book I've read by Blanche Marriott, and I really loved it! April is a nerdy (doesn't know she's a hottie) computer geek, so she's super smart and not easily manipulated. Michael, our H, is an investment guy who works in the building and for a company that hired April's company.

I thought the story-line was clever, and I loved the candor that April had in her interactions with others. She was exactly who she was and didn't change for anyone.

[Carla Cabrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a cute love story that I loved reading. It follows the typical fake fiance/wife plot. It is even a little funny. I thought April and Michael were very likable characters. I could feel the chemistry between then. I've read the book twice and can easily see me reading it again and again.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this fun frothy book. Traditional romcom material with great characters and a predictable storyline but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

An April fool's joke goes wrong and the two main characters pretend to be in a relationship in order to help a career. Full of mishaps and romance along the way, this book is well worth a read.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute story but very predictable from the start. A very easy read!

[Deb Mj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total fluff. Think G-rated Jennifer Crusie. But it was sweet, it was a quick read, and every so often, I just need something mindless and cute to take my mind off of some of the dark stuff I tend to read. This fit the bill.

[Judy Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a cute story, although very predictable how it would end, I still enjoyed reading it. Kept me interested and wanting to read more. I think this story would make a good Lifetime or Hallmark movie.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable but charming

A quick read with likeable characters and a tension that fleshed out the storyline. I recommend it for a rainy summer day or a day at the beach. It's entering enough but hardly a surprise.