The Marriage Negotiation

Marriage Mayhem #7

by Aja Foxx

~ Patrick ~
I'd gone into medicine to be a doctor, not a hospital administrator. After watching my frat brothers fight so hard for the lives they wanted, I decided I could do no less. So, after a quick trip home to attend my estranged brother's wedding, I was off to New York City and a new life.

Discovering that my brother's fiancé was none other than my high school crush Zaq was a bit heart-wrenching, but it also changed things just a bit, especially when my bonehead brother got cold feet and took off right before the wedding was to start. I wonder how Zaq would feel if I stepped up and took my brother's place?

Gay erotic romance. The material in this book contains explicit sexual content that is intended for mature audiences only. All characters involved are adults capable of consent, are over the age of eighteen, and are willing participants.

Genres: M M Romance, Adult, Ebooks, Marriage Of Convenience, Contemporary Romance

169 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2024

Reviews

[luci · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book desperately needs some editing. Seriously, OMG. For example, at the end of Chapter 8 I found this pearl: "I pulled my cock free, tied it off, and tossed it in the trash can beside the bed before curling up on the bed next to Zaq and pulling the covers up over the both of us. Zaq curled up to my chest." LMAO, thank God Patrick is a doctor and Zaq is a nurse!
The story isn't bad but I definitely would have enjoyed reading this book a lot more if it wasn't for the typos and sentence fragments distracting me along the way.

[Lelyana's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was nice. I enjoyed it, it was fun and fast paced. But there's some issues with the plot. The author needs to do a bit of research about mental health conditions, especially schizophrenia. As a doctor myself, I can say, that Peter is not schizophrenic.
The plot is repetitive, but this was light and I didn't hate it.

[Aղցela W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was book 7 in the "Marriage Mayhem" series. We met Patrick in the last book he helped Scotty with his father. Patrick is a doctor who is tried of pushing papers as a hospital administrator we just wants to help people so after meeting with Joe he decides to move to NY with the rest of his frat brothers when his brother calls to tell him he is getting married and he wants him to come he goes and he can't believe who he is marrying. Zaq can't believe Peter stood him up he didn't want to marry him he was doing it so that they can merge his father's company with Peter's father. When Peter takes off Patrick steps in and they get married. This was a good read Patrick and Zaq are perfect for each other one's a doctor and the other is a nurse. The sex scenes in this was good. When Peter shows up the guys help them turns out Peter has been living with a woman. I felt bad for Patrick his parents never believed that something was wrong with Peter and when they show up they still don't believe it even when Miles tells them about his psych test. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

[Flick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly edited not a great plot

I usually don’t mind the silliness of this author’s plots. They’re usually akin to action films where nothing is even remotely based in reality or logic but they’re fun anyway. Not so with this one. It feels rushed and poorly plotted. There is zero chemistry between the MCs and it’s a poor carbon copy of surprise marriage, family member trying kill one of the MCs and terrible parents. What really angered me though was the offensive decision to make the ‘bad guy’ mentally I’ll with zero logic or basis. It played into the usual stereotype that schizophrenics are violent. A character who has had zero evidence of any disordered thinking, has always presented as entirely lucid (being a possessive and abusive person is not evidence that someone is not lucid), has not once done or said anything to indicate paranoia or that he suffers from delusions, has never given any indication of auditory or visual disturbances, has never appeared to suffer from major depressive episodes and has functioned well into at least his late twenties/early thirties with no known difficulties is suddenly schizophrenic. Because of course that explains everything. It’s 2024, it not okay to just throw that kind of label around as if violence equates to schizophrenia. I expect better. To make it worse it doesn’t even make sense logically. It’s also rather badly edited (extra words, lots of typos etc) which I normally wouldn’t take issue with but on top of everything else it’s annoying.

[Triple KimBiased · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was okay, but the writing was FULL of grammar errors. I’m not a native english speaker but oh my god, even I could see the mistakes. The book needs to be edited so badly. Also the characters names were used SO much during the paragraphs that it was distracting for me.

For example:
“I glanced down at Zaq again, staring into the deep pools of amber-green. I snaked my hand into Zaq’s slacks and massaged the heated flesh. It was hard, but felt like liquid silk under my fingers. I pulled at the waistband of Zaq’s pants, pushing the fabric down Zaq’s body until I could toss the fabric aside.
Zaq lay there stunningly naked now, exposed to my appreciative eyes. I drank the man in as I pushed Zaq’s thighs apart. Zaq didn’t hesitate. He parted his legs, showing off the sexiest thing I had ever seen. Zaq's body was such a sculpted piece of art to me, so perfect, so exotic.”

These are two paragraphs, nine sentences and the name Zaq has been used eight times, idk it was very distracting for me, so much that in other chapters that was all I could focus on.

Overall the book was okay, felt a little rushed too and as someone who started reading this series from this book, there were too many characters from the previous books, I couldn’t keep up.

[Mandy (MP Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick had gone into medicine to be a doctor, not a hospital administrator. After watching his frat brothers fight so hard for the lives they wanted, he decided he could do no less. So, after a quick trip home to attend his estranged brother's wedding, he was going to head off to New York City and a new life. Discovering that my brother's fiancé was none other than his high school crush Zaq was a bit heart-wrenching, but it also changed things, especially when his bonehead brother got cold feet and took off right before the wedding was to start. Wonder how Zaq would feel if Patrick stepped up and took his brother's place?

I loved this story with the two men who were reunited in a sudden wedding and how they soon became a united force against Patrick's crazy brother and both of their parents. Both men had a complex situation to work through but their open communication between them helped. Easy to read, feel and understand. This was an MM story with mature content.

[Laina Gruver · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I really liked this book but as with all the other books in this series, there were soooo many editing errors. The sad part is an ARC reader should have spotted them. If I didn’t enjoy the stories as much as I do, I’d probably stop reading the books.

Patrick attends his brother’s wedding only to discover that his brother is a ’runaway groom’. When he goes to tell the other groom, he discovers that he is the boy that Patrick had a crush on in school.

Turns out Zaq didn’t love Patrick’s brother and that he agreed to marry him because his family wanted the marriage. The men decide to get married and move away to start a new life.

Brother/ex and family drama but not between MCs.

*****
POV… multi first person

Standalone or series… book 7 in series CAN be read as a standalone

Hangover… no

Recommend… yes

Reread… sure

[Tricia H · Rating 3 out of 5]

bit of a miss for me

I’ve really enjoyed this series and the other books that are related to it but this one was just ok to me. There were some editing issues at the start that I found annoying- like referring to a desk when they were on a bed - or Patrick going in hard when he normally took his time - except as it was their first time together how would there be a comparison?

Still - a good little quick read.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've got mixed feelings about this. Zaq was dragged into an arranged marriage by his parents; he knew that his marriage was a marriage of convenience and his fiancé was straight, so why bother "dating" him? And he said that "we've kissed a couple of times." I felt like Zaq was trying to make his arranged marriage work even though he knew that Peter was an asshole of a man, maybe because Zaq believed Peter's lies when he said he was the one who sent love letters years ago.

[lori forsyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love these men!!!!

This is really a great book/series!!! Such a wide variety of professionals and that includes the mafia guys!!! There frat house must have been the best on the University the men are big teddy bears with their spouses but Lord knows they turn into Jackels when there is even a hint of trouble involving their men!!!!!
Thanks so much for these stories hope there are more - Lori

[Jessie H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series! It has some over-the-top craziness that requires you to suspend your disbelief at times but the romances are amazing! They are sweet and swoonworthy and feature characters from all walks of life in a myriad of situations. Patrick and Zaq's book was no different and I loved it! I can't wait to read more in this series! I have my fingers crossed that Norris gets his own book soon!

[Kwaj · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has the same basic storyline as the others in this series and is so similar to Miles and Sam's story that it almost felt like all the author did was switch the names and locations and forget to proofread for errors.

[Lisa Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing

I really loved the characters and story. Danger mixed in with humor is always a big hit. I also liked that it basically merges with another series. I came across this author by accident and truly started picking up their books. I would recommend this book.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Patrick and Zaq

Patrick goes to the wedding of a brother he hasn't seen in ten years. (I don't get it either.) The brother leaves his groom at the altar so, naturally, Patrick steps in.

This series has some messed up families.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was regurgitated story lines from previous books... I think I am done with this series. Also, significant typos made this painful to read at times.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is okay, but the books in this series suffer from appalling typing and continuity errors, not to mention a complete disregard for how business works. Good stories deserve better.

[llv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

Another good book in the series. It was over the top as usual and the ending was a bit farfetched but still an enjoyable read.

[Melissa Polk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just saying, but I continue to unapologetically adore this series. My brain has decided that since the core group has been pretty exhausted, we should absolutely have a bodyguard spinoff next. Please? Because I'd devour them all.

this and all future re-reads: not gonna lie, the end still bothers me "because he's crazy/psycho" doesn't sit well with me. but I'm trying to look beyond the words to the intent. sort of.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

my kind of negotiating

Fun to see the guys together again and taking on crazy…as usual. I have to say, I didn’t see this level of crazy coming, but fun times. Just glad Kyue never got his hands on Peter…although that might have been fun to read about!!!