The day Canaan walked into her life was the day it imploded. And the only way to fix it? Marry him.
As heir to his family’s hotel empire, Canaan’s always expected to lead the company one day. What he doesn’t expect is the eleventh-hour clause in his father’s will—the one that requires him to marry before taking over the company.
After losing her father, all Lila has left in the world are her sister and their family’s charming, if crumbling, seaside inn. Grieving but determined, she throws herself headlong into restoring the inn to all its former glory.
But when Canaan’s company acquires Lila’s inn, their unexpected introduction is an unmitigated disaster—until Canaan offers a solution that could save—or destroy—them Marriage. Marrying gets him his company, so he can give Lila her inn. And they both agree—this is strictly a business arrangement.
Except their arrangement is thrown into chaos when an outside threat forces them to pretend their marriage of convenience is a true happily ever after; the longer they pretend, the less business-like it feels. Instead, what blooms between them feels dangerously like love.
Bekah Overbey is a Christian, wife, mother, and incorrigible homebody. A former English teacher, she spends her days chasing after her three wildlings and [generally unsuccessfully] trying to keep them out of mischief.
This is a regency romance written in modern times, trust me you will want to read it!
I feel in love with this book on the prologue alone. The story was well fleshed out with characters who had genuine emotions, interactions and connections. The relationship romantically and non romantically were well built by show and not tell.
I love the side characters so much I hope each one gets their own story! Jack is the lovable playboy who hopefully will get knocked down a peg or two by his love interest. Sophie is so sweet I hope she finds someone who be just as energetic and loving. I came around to Riley and hope his love interest will soften him up some more. I also hope any more of his background I feel like something deeper was hinted in story and now I need it.
Now to our Main characters. Canaan and Lila’s relationship is not sunshine and rainbows. Actually both are working through some serious emotions. I loved how each one was trying to show the other they cared, and at the same time protect their own hearts. The built walls that slowly crumble, that we get to see it all from dual POV is fantastic! Plus we get a “My wife” and “My Husband” line where they each are standing up for each other! Yes!
This is a heartfelt story, with uplifting side characters, and romantic relationship with some of the most entertaining fights! 😂 Go pick up this book!
Content: * Kiss only * Mention of more happing off page for a short paragraph * No foul language * Marriage of convenience * Talk of parental abandonment, parental death
I received this book as ARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own and not persuaded.
I’ve been struggling to put my feelings into words for this review because I absolutely loved this book, but there are many layers to my love for it, which makes words hard.
When Bekah Overbey announced this book, I was super excited because marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes, and because I loved her two previous books! Both are hilarious and heartwarming, and I felt really seen by her second book. So I knew ahead of time that I would love this book, but I wasn’t prepared for how this book would make me feel.
I laughed, I teared up, I absolutely loved the characters and seeing them fall in love with each other, and they are still living rent free in my head, even though it’s been a few weeks since I read their book. I also hurt for the characters and felt their pain, and I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted them to be happy and I wanted to see that happen.
I wouldn’t say this is a heavy book, because it isn’t! The writing is fun and funny, and there are deeper themes but they are perfectly balanced with humor and sweet characters. This is a story about hurting people though, and their journey to falling in love isn’t quick and easy. This book is beautifully human, raw, and real, and it is one that I wish I could read again for the first time.
Prepare to laugh, cry, and swoon as you read this wonderful story! I know I will need to reread it again in the future, because I adored it!
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
After enjoying both of Bekah’s first two books, I was so excited when she announced that her next book would have a marriage of convenience. It is my absolute favorite trope and I am always interested in seeing how an author makes it work in a contemporary setting. I have enjoyed her other books but I really think she found her stride in this one. I read it in two days because I kept wanting to get back to it when I had to put it down.
The meet cute between Canaan and Lila is the best. Lots of angry tension but oh how you can tell that something else is there under the surface. The pacing was great and the plot moved along in a believable pace. I loved the first kiss and when they finally acknowledged real feelings.
There is plenty of depth and growth for both Canaan and Lila as they work through wounds of the past. This book has a great cast of side characters that give a found family vibe in the end. If you love marriage of convenience, this book is definitely worth your time.
It is currently available in the KU library, for purchase as an ebook or paperback.
Y’all!! This book was so good!! This is my first book by this Author and I’m so glad I read it! There were so many amazing moments throughout. Personally I enjoyed all of Canaan + Lila’s fighting 🤭 You could literally FEEL the tension coming off of the pages during their arguments. The build up to the walls coming down was beautiful. This is a modern day marriage of convenience with a small town feel and amazing side characters. I am so looking forward to reading more books by this Author. Thank you, Bekah for this beautiful story! 🤍 Y’all give this one a chance!
•Content warning Child abandonment Grief / death of family member(s)
After reading Anything, Everything, I knew I had to pick up more of Bekah Overby'a books—and I’m so glad I did! 💕
This story about Lila and Canaan completely pulled me in. Both of them were blindsided after their father’s passing, and the way they came together—marrying each other and slowly, beautifully falling in love—was so heartfelt. 💍✨
One of my favorite parts was seeing how the town reacted—especially their 20% theory regarding Lila, and then how they eventually accepted Canaan. It made the love story feel even richer and more rewarding.
I’m officially hooked on Beka’s books and can’t wait to keep reading more
CONTENT -🤬: none -❤️: just kisses on page, implied intimacy between a married couple (but not fade-to-black) -⚠️: parental abandonment (past), death of a parent (past), grief (present)
I enjoyed this story! Both Lila and Canaan's fathers have passed away within the past year, and each left a surprise, of sorts, in their wills. Because of these surprises, Lila and Canaan come to an agreement—they'll get married so that she can keep her inn, and he can be back to being CEO of his company.
I really loved Canaan and Lila together. Their banter was fabulous! It was really beautiful to see them open up to each other. Lila helped soften Canaan, and he provided a sense of relief and safety for her.
I hope someday that Bekah gifts us with stories about Sophie and Jake because they were such lovely side characters. I adored the small town of Shelter Harbor and the found family that rallied around Lila and Sophie. I'd love to spend some more time there!
It wasn't five stars for me simply because it needed a proofread really badly. The small but frequent errors pulled me out of the story. I still recommend it though, particularly if typos/homophone errors aren't super noticeable to you.
Favorite Quotes: -We could never have been neutral to one another—we were pitted against each other from the start—but we're too similar, too stubborn, and hurt in the same ways, to truly hate one another. Everything about us feels like a powder keg. At any given moment, we're ready to rage at one another. Or catch fire in another way entirely. This connection feels incendiary. This kiss is a war, a dance, a surrender. Neither of us is in control—neither of us knows what we're fighting for.
-By the time she catches up to me, her hair's a tangled mess around her face, and her eyes are blazing. "For the record, I find you absolutely infuriating." She has her arms crossed, standing in front of my car door. I throw caution and self-preservation to the wind as I lean toward her, not stopping until I'm close enough to count every single strand of silky garnet hair dancing across her face. "That's funny," I whisper. "I feel the same way about you."
-"You're staring," Canaan points out. I yank my eyes from his hands to his face. "No, I'm not." He doesn't even bother calling out the lie. Instead, he says, "Do you want to give the sauce a stir?" The 'instead of staring at me like a creep' is implied.
Canaan and Lila... these 2 are both incredibly stubborn and not the best at expressing their feelings. So when they meet and there's an immediate attraction, the combination is an entertaining dance of flustered bickering.
"𝓘 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓶𝓪𝔂𝓫𝓮 𝔀𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓻𝓰𝓾𝓮."
I've never read a romcom with MCs that bicker and twist things around like these two. I really enjoyed it. All of that tension...so good. They're so drawn to each other, but too stubborn to admit it to themselves or each other. So they fight the attraction and each other instead.
After losing her dad, Lila finds out that her dad sold the Inn, which is her business and her home. After losing his dad, Canaan learns he cannot take over as CEO of the company until he is married. Since it was Canaan's company that bought Lila's inn, Canaan is in a position to preserve the inn and keep it under Lila's management so long as he can become CEO. The dilemma leads to the characters agreeing to a marriage of convenience. But, what starts as a business arrangement quickly turns into something more....something real. They find solace in one another, as well as a partnership.
This is a fun, bicker-packed, beautiful story of love, healing, and opening yourself up to help and to love. At 413 pages, it possibly could've been trimmed down a little (maybe to like 350 or 375 ish pages). However, with those extra pages, you get a good look at the MCs psyche and thoughts.
Lila's found family is a rowdy, fun group of people who love fiercely. As well as her sister. Canaan's brother, mom, and assistant are some other favorites of mine in the book, too.
I'm hoping for a second book about Lila's sister, Sophie, and what I hope is a budding romance with another character. If you read this, let me know who you want her to end up with🤭.
Read if you like: ◇found family ◇small town ◇billionaire ◇marriage of convenience ◇grumpy x sunshine ◇dual pov ◇touch her and die ◇closed door ◇he falls first ◇he takes care of her ◇ridiculously sweet endings🥰
This is a book I wish I could read for the first time again. And Bekah has become an autobuy author for me now!
I LOVED this book. It made me feel so many emotions - laughter, tears, flips in my stomach :). I love how it is a totally closed door book but Canaan and Lila had so much chemistry. I loved how they bickered, but also how he wanted to care for her. I loved the dynamic between Canaan and his brother Jake (and I really hope we get his book too!) and the found family. I love how there’s no third act breakup because of a miscommunication and I love how the last 20% of the book went.
I highlighted and bookmarked so many favourite parts that I know I’ll go back to to re-read.
I read this book as an intro to Bekah as an author after she asked me to read an ARC of her newest book coming out. Canaan and Lila fall into a fast marriage of necessity but it becomes so much more. I cried multiple times. The depth. The banter. The character evolutions. 🤯 I LOVE that the third act conflict never was between Canaan and Lila. I love that they were officially in love and real before the book was over and we got more story. The side characters were amazing and SO memorable. Some need stories NOW. Holy guacamole. 😍 The spice is closed door within a happy marriage.
This book! This book was just sooo good. I was hooked immediately. Just perfection. I can’t rave about it enough!!! Seriously, if you love marriage of convenience you absolutely have to read this book. The friendship, the love, the family ahhh so fantastic. This was one of those finish the Ebook and have to have the physical copy for my book trophy shelf situations. Ok I’m gonna stop rambling… maybe. Just get this book, I promise you will love it.
I just finished “Just Don’t Say Love,” the author’s third book, and it’s definitely her best one yet! I loved Canaan and Lila — they felt so real and relatable. The supporting friends and family (especially Jack and Sophie) really added to the story, bringing in some great humor and warmth.
The way the author brings everything together is fantastic. I was totally invested in the characters’ lives and found myself cheering them on. If you’re looking for a great read that’s both fun and heartfelt, I highly recommend this one!
Wow! I adored this one so much! A fantastic marriage of convenience! It was so sweet and I loved the chemistry that Canaan & Lila had for each other. I love fiery banter and caring of one another. Great supporting cast of characters too!
Talk about falling INN love with another book! @bekahoverbeybooks has such a way with words and her stories are always so perfectly sweet, charming and tender. I adored absolutely everything about this book, full stop.
Canaan is such a charming jerk when we meet him. And what’s that say about me that I loved him even then? But watching him fall in love with Lila, with Shelter Harbor, with the Inn and with the community melted my heart. I smiled and swooned and all around geeked out over how much I loved him. Because he’s really so much more than the CEO of his company that’s stuck in an indisputable, incorrigible and inconceivable situation.
And then there’s Lila. She deserves the absolute world and I’m so glad she met someone who could bring that world to her, and give her a family that is able to make her life whole again. She raised her sister basically since birth after their mother walked out on them. With her father’s recent passing she’s stuck. In a black hole she doesn’t know how to escape, in a emotional standstill because she doesn’t know how to move on, and just in general because her inherited inn, that she lives in, turns out to actually belong to someone else.
This book was written beautifully and wonderfully and made me indescribably happy. I smiled almost the whole way, and maybe shed a tear or two also. And these characters will all remain in my heart forever. Especially Lila and Canaan because those two are perfect together and I’m obsessed with them!
If these words didn’t convince you to pick this book up, then here’s some teasers you’ll only understand if you read it… 🌦️Ladders 🌦️Champagne colored dress 🌦️Lasagna 🌦️Kitchen kisses 🌦️Staycations 🌦️Small cruise ships 🌦️Llamas 🌦️Face punches 🌦️Chowda and lobsta 🌦️Aston Martin vs Jeep 🌦️Family dinners 🌦️Groundskeeper cottage 🌦️Twin boys 🌦️3 Proposals 🌦️Paul the Plumber 🌦️Charity gala
I would give this book a million stars if I could! It is not only my favorite book of this year, but my favorite book I’ve read in a long time! It is full of some of my favorite tropes but it NEVER felt trope-y while reading it. It’s so good!!