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Ever After #1

The Honeymoon Prize

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He needed a wife.
She needed a home.
A completely platonic arrangement.

When sexy, single bodyguard Nick Cahill and his childhood friend, sweet and jobless Adelaide Sinclair, agree on a marriage solely for convenience, they have no idea what’s in store. Winning an unexpected dream honeymoon turns into a nightmare when they find a reality TV crew waiting for them on the island paradise. With cameras rolling, filming their every move, the lines blur between fantasy and reality. Acting like passionate newlyweds wreaks havoc on their platonic agreement. Will Nick and Addie succumb to their feelings off camera, turning their make-believe marriage into a real fairytale?

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 29, 2014

1198 people are currently reading
1504 people want to read

About the author

Melissa McClone

287 books2,474 followers
I live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband, two daughters, son, dog and too many cats! I write "sweeter" contemporary romance novels for Harlequin and Tule Publishing.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 258 reviews
Profile Image for Carol [Goodreads Addict].
3,030 reviews25.3k followers
October 27, 2015
The Honeymoon Prize by Melissa McClone is book three in The Honeymoon series. I love Melissa McClone’s books and this is a cute and sweet little friends to lovers story that is sure to leave you with a smile on your face and all the warm fuzzies you can handle in your tummy.

Adelaide Sinclair or Addie was basically abandoned by her mother on her Grandmother’s doorstop when she was little and that’s where she grew up. So when she was in her first year of college and her Grandmother became ill, it was with no hesitation that she gave up school to care for her Grandmother. And that’s what she did for ten years until her Grandmother passed. But then, after all she sacrificed, her mother swooped in and claimed the property leaving her homeless and with nothing.

Nick Cahill is a player. He does not do relationships or commitments. After high school he enlisted where he became a green beret. The one time he did attempt commitment, it turned out to all be a lie while he was deployed which just reinforced his beliefs that relationships don’t last.

little boy proposing to little girl:

Friendships, though, do last. He and Addie have been best friends since Kindergarten. It was in Kindergarten when he proposed to her the first time. But their relationship never did cross the line from friendship to anything more. Now, his friend needs him. Nick’s job is pressuring him to get married. Addie is homeless with no money and needs some stability. So he suggests a marriage of convenience, a marriage based on friendship, no sex. They will stay married for five years giving her time to get her life together and making Nick’s boss happy. Then they will divorce as friends.

young love:

Nick and Addie’s friend Emily entered them into a honeymoon contest which they won. Ten days on the beautiful Starfish Island. What Emily didn’t tell them is that they would be followed around constantly by a video crew, videoing their honeymoon for a reality TV show. So they are forced to act as honeymooners that are truly in love.

“She needed to stop thinking about kissing. Honeymoon in name only, remember? She couldn’t lose herself in a fantasy.”

“This was a business arrangement. Addie couldn’t let herself forget that. But was this how she wanted to spend the next five years?”


romantic dinner on the dock:

Ten days in the most beautiful setting imaginable, forced to act the parts of real honeymooners. It doesn’t take long for feelings to surface. But are these feelings a product of the atmosphere or were they there all along? Is there a future for Nick and Addie or will the act end as soon as the cameras disappear?

wedding bands:

This is a short and sweet friends to lovers story. Melissa’s books always leave me with such a happy feeling and this one was no exception. I always know just where to go when I need my warm and fuzzies.

signature
Profile Image for Dianna.
609 reviews117 followers
November 25, 2016
Addie and Nick became best friends in kindergarten and twenty-two years later they got married. Yippee for them, right? Well, it’s complicated.

You see, Addie is a sweetie. She quit college in her first year to care for her grandmother. Nine years later gran’s dead and Addie is homeless and broke. Her mother and aunt have swooped in and snatched up gran’s property and are currently chewing it in their beastly maws and rending it with their witchy talons. Addie can’t afford a lawyer, and anyway: nice girls don’t go to court.

Nick to the rescue! In the nine years since almost kissing Addie a couple of times, Nick’s been super busy. He did the sexy army stuff. You know, the job that’s better than being a SEAL. Then he went into the bodyguard business and it’s all so glamourous and Nick earns a six-figure income. Whoop de doo, Nick.

Nick has a problem: he’s just too damn pretty. Male clients won’t hire him because their WAGs go all gooey when Nick’s around. Nick’s boss has suggested that it might be better if Nick got married, but Nick wants to play the field! And, he almost got married one time to a bar lush who said she was up the duff with his spawn, and Nick sent her his pay for baby vitamins but then he got home and she was the wrong amount preggers, and she was having sexy times with other men. Plus, Nick doesn’t trust relationships because his parents had an ugly divorce.

So he proposes marriage in name only (mino) to Addie. They’ll convince all their friends and Nick’s boss that they’re in love, and Nick will support Addie, and Addie will turn a blind eye to Nick’s sexy shenanigans. This will go on for five years. I don’t know why it will be five years. Perhaps on Nick’s 32nd birthday his hairline will recede, his abs will liquefy into a beer belly, and a snarled and tangled moustache will take up residence on his face.

Addie, who is such a good person, is sad and anxious about the marriage. Is she doing the right thing? All the lies! All the women Nick will sleep with!

Still, they get married and jet off to Fiji, for the ten-day luxury honeymoon Addie’s friend (and Nick has done her too, but it was years ago) Emily won by forging their names on a contest application.

‘Hey,’ Nick says to Emily, ‘some of that paperwork mentioned signing releases, what’s up with that?’
‘Nothing,’ says Emily, looking shady. ‘I gotta go, have fun being romantic and sexy in Fiji! You kids are such a cute couple!’

In Fiji, Nick and Addie learn the extent of Emily’s perfidy. This contest is to be on a reality TV show about a couple having a honeymoon in Fiji. They are going to have to pretend to be all over each other for the cameras. And just maybe, being all over each other will awaken their long suppressed desires for each other, and then they’ll be in love?

Before I get into what I didn’t like about this book, I’ll mention that it’s a coitus-free zone. There are lip locks, and there is much checking out of unclothed body parts, but no bedroom action results in sexy times. I did not know this would be the case going in. I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.

The book is also a bit spotty when it comes to editing. Addie’s mixed feelings about the mino get really repetitive really fast. And there are enough typos for me to start noticing, and odd things, like how Nick refers to his place as a townhome (twice) in the beginning, and a townhouse at the end. Again, these aren’t deal breakers for me. If it’s clear that a character is going to spend pages thinking the same thought, it’s no big deal to skip it.

What got me fired up though, is the way McClone sticks signs on her plot holes, and then digs them just a little bit deeper. Three examples:

There is simply no way a wedding ring is any barrier to bored rich WAGs coming onto Nick. They’re not looking to marry him, they’re looking to score. This whole five-year plan is nuts, right? Addie takes a moment to think so, and hangs her sign. At the airport, Nick picks up the shovel. He is delighted when women start eyeing his wedding ring and then giving him their numbers. This is great! Nick thinks. He’s going to get even more lady action now than ever before! (But umm, isn’t this exactly what he was trying to avoid in the workplace? Is the airport so different from his workplace? Crickets …)

Is it a good idea for someone in the personal security industry, someone who is supposed to be in the background and discreet, to have his face splashed all over TV? Nick thinks maybe not. But Addie wants to stay in Fiji, and that’s more important than any repercussions to the career he just mino’d to save? (Crickets …)

The reality TV show doesn’t go for night vision, long range cameras, hidden mics. It doesn’t set up any potential conflicts, dig into backgrounds, or send producers in to manipulate Addie and Nick into saying something that will bite them later. Instead, the show just wants to film Nick and Addie snorkelling and snogging. Won’t that be a boring show? Addie wonders at one stage. Yes it will, Addie. So how has it ended being referenced at the end as wildly successful? (Crickets …)

Still, there are some good points, and I’ve gone with three stars rather than two. Addie and Nick’s friendship to attraction to love transformations are entertaining and well matched. Addie, who I’d worried might be all glum and defeatist, does start standing up for what she wants. Nick, who I’d worried would be the typical man whore, redeemed himself by being a kind and unselfish friend to Addie. They are cute together, and manage to stay cute throughout the story without making me want to strangle them. I am also hugely envious of Addie’s Fiji experience, and I want a resort where you get a mother who gives you hugs and pampers you to exist in the real world. It sounds so much more lovely than a boring old butler.
Profile Image for Donna.
1,374 reviews25 followers
February 10, 2017
Not quite

This was recommended as clean. Maybe to some, it is. There were no bedroom scenes. There was a lot of lusting with borderline descriptions. So... Clean? Not enough for me. And while I'm up here on my soapbox, why are the men often OVER experienced!? This guy was an admitted man whore who constantly talked suggestively. She deserved better. All women do.
Profile Image for Misty.
796 reviews1,223 followers
March 2, 2017
This had a lot of flaws, which I'd normally be happy to go over in detail, but honestly? It's main flaw is preventing me from doing so, and that is overwhelming blandness. I'd literally forgotten I even read this until I opened up my kindle today and saw that it was still front and center -- and it's only been like, three weeks.
Being free is no excuse for being bad, and nothing is an excuse for being boring.
Profile Image for Alexa.
484 reviews131 followers
February 20, 2016
I don't ask much from my romance novels: they must have a plausible story, there must be romance, and a happy ever after. That usually earns them 3 stars automatically.

This one had all three things, but I still didn't like it. First of all my galley was not formatted correctly; there were no page breaks, no paragraph breaks. Everything was one huge block of text.

If you are going to give out free copies could you please make sure they are formatted correctly? Pretty please? They are still going to be read and give you publicity!

Since there were no paragraph breaks, I had to be extra conscious of the punctuation. And the punctuation was atrocious! I'm not saying I'm the best at it. I'm not, I'm actually terrible. Imagine how bad it had to be for me to even consider talking about it.

And there was too much telling, and not enough showing.

"I can't believe you entered us into a honeymoon contest and we won an all-expenses-paid, ten-day-long tropical getaway"


And I can believe you are telling all that to your best friend. She knows. She was the one who entered you in the contest after all, wasn't she?

"Says the guy who looks like a model for a Nautica photo shoot in your polo shirt and shorts"


Again, I assume he knows what he's wearing. Just saying he looks like a model is enough.

To be honest this book was just meh. I won't bother with any more in the series.

I got a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Denise Stout.
Author 6 books45 followers
July 1, 2014
**I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion**

I loved this story of Addie and Nick. They've been best friends for years--heck, they were even "pretend engaged" as kids--they know each other and each other's family secrets, but in knowing each other's secrets, they've unknowingly let their friendship keep them from having any other lasting relationship.

When Addie's in real trouble--no home, no job--Nick comes up with a great plan: marriage of convenience. And, they've won a free honeymoon in Fiji! Unbeknownst to them, Addie's BFF girlfriend entered them in a Honeymoon contest which is really a reality show. Addie and Nick make the most of it until playing a newlywed couple starts feeling too real. And, they must both figure out how they feel about one another. And learn to trust each other in a way neither has ever trusted anyone else. Playing house is fun, but will the friendship survive?

Fortunately, a little family drama leads to a real proposal for a real marriage--the greatest prize they could win!
Profile Image for Stephanie.
1,577 reviews119 followers
November 8, 2016
Nothing was holding my interest and I wanted something cute and quick and this was just what I needed. It was a good fake relationship story with likable characters and no graphic scenes. The ending got a little too cheesy, but overall I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Ginny  Gallagher.
277 reviews86 followers
August 19, 2014
The Honeymoon Prize is book three in the Honeymoon series by Melissa McClone. It works great as a stand alone and is a complete story with no cliffhangers. It's the perfect book to escape for an afternoon with and at only 135 pages it's a quick read that offers romance, friendship, new beginnings, and humor.

Adalaide has been through a lot over the last couple of years and has lost even more. Nick has his dream job but in order to keep it he needs a wife. The two have been best friends since childhood and when they both need the security that marriage can offer they agree to help each other out. Can the two remain friends or will marriage destroy the one thing they have worked so hard to hold onto?

The Honeymoon Prize offers likable characters and a storyline that held my interest. It made me smile, laugh, and heck I even let a romantic sigh or two escape. The book is set in a tropical paradise that makes you wish for a fruity drink and a beach vacation. This is a perfect book for when you just want to escape for an afternoon.

My recommendation: Grab a copy, head to the beach (or buy one of those kiddie pools and stick your feet in it), turn on some beach tunes, make a pitcher of fruity drinks, and enjoy.

My Book Source: Publisher
***FTC Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This review was originally posted on Gin's Book Notes
Profile Image for Jean.
476 reviews13 followers
September 17, 2014
Addie and Nick entered into a marriage of convenience, but things didn't quite go as planned. Addie's friend Emily entered them in a free honeymoon contest and they won, what she didn't tell them is that it was for a reality show. So now they had to pretend to be newlyweds in front of the camera.
Nick and Addie were great characters. I liked both of them right from the start. I loved the descriptions of the island honeymoon getaway. I really wanted to be there on the island as well. I would also love to have Mama Lani to help take care of things for me on a vacation like that.
The chemistry between Nick and Addie was great. Considering they had been friends since childhood it was fun going along on this tropical vacation/adventure with them. It was a nice fun read.
Profile Image for Melody Cox.
1,502 reviews180 followers
December 12, 2016
This was a fair book and I liked the characters. I was just hoping for more couple time together after realizing they loved each other.
Profile Image for Olivia.
578 reviews19 followers
September 25, 2020
It took me a while to warm up to this book. Nic and Addie didn’t immediately grab me but as the book went on I enjoyed them more and more.

The premise of the marrying felt a little weak to me and the ending felt a little rushed but the middle was really fun and I loved the mutually longing and pushing away of last feelings.

Something fun and easy, just what I needed.
1,946 reviews9 followers
April 7, 2017
Addie & Nick have been best friends forever and they both can only see one way out of their problems get married but in name only. But it doesn't turn out the way they both wanted. The honeymoon is a all expense paid trip in Fiji and they both need a break but there is a catch it is going to be filmed. How can they pretend that they are deeply in love with each other when they don't know how to express what they both fell for each other?
Can Nick tell her that he has loved her forever and he knows that it is too late for them but he is still willing to be her best friend if she doesn't want anything romantic. Can Addie keep on pretending to only want to be his friend or is this the time for them both to be honest before they lose the one thing that they both want & need?
A great funny story
Profile Image for Janine.
1,084 reviews27 followers
June 30, 2014
A fun romantic escape.

A marriage of convenience for Adelaide Sinclair and her long time friend Nick Cahill is turned upside down when Addie's friend, Emily, enters them in a honeymoon reality show contest and doesn't tell them. All they know is they have somehow won an exotic trip to a private island in the South Pacific. At landing, they are confronted by a film crew only to find out what's really going on. Faking a marriage is hard enough, but faking a happy honeymooning couple will be even harder. How will they get out of this? Can they just play by the rules and fake it? Will this be what finally forces them to see the love that has been in front of them all along?

This was such a fun book. I just wish it were longer. I wasn't ready to part with these characters yet.
Profile Image for Melinda Garza.
55 reviews3 followers
July 13, 2014
Nick is a body guard who is single. One day his boss gives him an ultimatum which is find a wife or lose his job. Adalaide, who took care of her grandmother for years, has found herself without a home and job. Nick has been her friend for years and asks her for a no sex marriage. Will she go for it? Will their friendship survive their honeymoon that they had decided to go their own seperate ways? Will they stay married?
Profile Image for Nila.
315 reviews54 followers
July 2, 2014
A marriage of convenience turned into a reality show? Long-time friends Nick and Adaliade both have problems and turn to each other to solve it by getting into a marriage of convenience but can their friendship last through the honeymoon? Kept my attention throughout from page one.
A colorful, fitting cover for this book. A fun read, highly recommend to lovers of romance.
Profile Image for Eve.
917 reviews20 followers
October 11, 2021
I didn’t expect much from this book but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It was just so sweet at times. I feel like a never truly appreciate how much I love the good ol’ friends-to-lovers trope, but this book definitely gave me a reminder. I liked our main characters, I liked the plot and I just liked the whole vibe. Had this book been longer, I would have liked to see more glimpses into their friendship and the events leading up to the whole fake marriage.

Oh yeah, side note but I absolutely freaking hate when instead of doing a proper epilogue, the author just sets up the next book. Like sure, we can have hints at what’s coming next, but the focus should be on the events of the book it’s bloody well in. I could not give less of a shit about Emily and Brad, I wanted to see how Adelaide and Nick turned out in the long run!
Profile Image for Jennifer.
1,018 reviews
May 21, 2017
Maybe 2.5

It was cheesy. If you are looking for a light, predictable, unrealistic , HEA this if for you.

Characters were ok, I couldn't tell you much about them. Friends from childhood, marriage of convenience to HEA in less than a week.

Story line unrealistic, more like something a young girl would dream about, Prince Charming, love on the beach...
Profile Image for Jen_C.
1,112 reviews56 followers
February 7, 2021
It would have been nice to find out what happened with her Aunt, how the show was received and what happened when they got back home. An epilogue would be nice.

Overall a cute story.
864 reviews7 followers
October 17, 2014
Nick Calhoun and Adalaide "Addie" Sinclaire have been best friends since they were five years old; through all their ups and downs, the only thing that has remained constant is their friendship. So, when Nick needs a wife of convenience for work, who better to ask than the best friend he's had an on-again off-again crush on, he refuses to act on for the sake of their friendship. Because, nothing can go wrong there right.

Addie is down on her luck, after dropping out of college to take care of her grandmother and then getting kicked out of the family home by her never present greedy relatives, she is now sans family, job and a place to live. When best friend Nick offers her the deal of a lifetime; money to go back to school and a place to live, all for just two little words, how can she say no. It's not like her on-again off-again crush on Nick will be a problem, right?

Well, thanks to a meddlesome friend these two have won an incredible honeymoon vacation prize, there is just one tiny, itty, bitty detail said friend forgot to mention [drum roll please], they are going to be filmed their entire honeymoon for a reality TV show; don't know about you,but this friend is off my Christmas list.

How hard can ten days in paradise be for these two "friends" be when they have to act like they're over the moon in love with each other? Read the book and find out just how good these two are at acting like they're in love.

Rating 4 out of 5
Read@Book
Profile Image for Carolyn Reilly.
Author 4 books145 followers
June 21, 2016
The Honeymoon Prize is book three in the Honeymoon series by Melissa McClone and can be read as a stand alone.

Childhood best friends Adalaide and Nick both have serious problems.
Adalaide has been through a lot the last couple of years and is now homeless and destitute.
As a single handsome bodyguard, Nick is getting too much attention from his female clients, upsetting their husbands and jeopardizing his dream job.
The solution: They are getting married -in name only - to help each other out.

Both are looking forward to their tropical island vacation, they thought they won as a honeymoon prize. They don't realize they're gonna star in a reality TV show until it's too late. Having to act like real newlyweds in front of the cameras tests their feelings for each other and puts their friendship in jeopardy.

This is a light and very enjoyable book with an interesting storyline, likeable, well-developed characters and great attention to detail. The setting is a tropical paradise and Melissa McClone's description of the island had me longing for a beach vacation.

A short sweet story that put a smile on my face turning the pages!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Brittany.
499 reviews
April 10, 2020
This story had potential, but in execution it really feel flat for me. I genuinely love this idea — fake wedding, reality show, friends to lovers! It needed to start way earlier than it did. Jumping right into the wedding scene didn’t give us a chance to get to know the main couple or what led them to these events. The info dump was vague and left a lot of questions. The characters themselves were one dimensional and dull. They were honestly two of the most forgettable characters I’ve ever read. The plot moved too quickly. The ending came too abruptly.

This was short — really more of a novella. Overall disappointing.
Profile Image for Baca Buku.
571 reviews2 followers
April 27, 2020
The author really liked beating us over the head with this whole marriage of convenience thing. We got it it first and second time, no need to keep repeating it.
The MCs were bland, the storytelling was boring. And a reality TV show crew that only films for 15 minutes a day and just the resort activities? This wasn't a reality show, it was a commercial for the resort.
Even the crisis with Addie's family couldn't save this book.
Instead of going "awwww" leading up to the HEA, I went "pfffft" and rolled my eyes.
Profile Image for Phoenix.
539 reviews9 followers
September 17, 2014
Overall, I liked this book. There was very little surprise or suspense but it was a quaint little story about friends finding love. I liked the main characters and there was definitely some chemistry going on, but it is like I wanted more. Maybe if it were longer or more developed I would feel more satisfied, but alas I am merely okay.
Profile Image for Krista.
782 reviews
January 1, 2018
This is a fake marriage romance. The biggest issue with the novel is that it starts off with the trope already launched (so there's no building to the fake marriage) and then it twists to another trope (the media made us do it!) It bored me, but that may just be a personal issue of genre preference.
Profile Image for kiss&tellreviews.
83 reviews22 followers
October 10, 2025
good, but never got the spice I was looking for

This was a great story, and there was plenty of chemistry and hints of sexual tension, so I assumed there’d would be at least one climactic love scene, but Nick and Addie never got one. That being said, I felt like their story was unfinished, seeing as that was what they both really wanted
Profile Image for Donnajo.
2,323 reviews
December 10, 2014
Read/review from Tule insider VIP street team for a honest opinion

This book grabbed me right from the start I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

Profile Image for Irène Wadowski uliasz.
543 reviews22 followers
February 5, 2017
Une histoire émouvante malgré quelques moments "larmoyants" et une envie de secouer les deux protagonistes afin qu'ils avouent leurs sentiments. C'est un livre sympathique, à lire surtout pendant les vacances à la plage.
Profile Image for SheLove2Read.
3,103 reviews203 followers
November 6, 2016
Friends-to-lovers marriage of convenience story. I was looking for something to pass the time and I have to say, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 258 reviews

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