Signed, Sealed, Forever

by Sam Marshall

One accidental marriage.
One small-town honeymoon contest.
One grumpy wilderness guide she was absolutely not supposed to catch feelings for.

Evie McBride doesn’t do chaos. After a humiliating divorce, she’s rebuilt her life around her romance bookstore, her carefully managed peace, and a strict zero-tolerance policy for men with distracting jawlines.

So when a courthouse mistake leaves her accidentally married to Declan Proctor, her best friend’s broody best man, her plan is fix it quietly and move on.

Maple Hollow has other plans.

A viral #HarvestFestivalHoneymooners challenge needs one more couple, and the prize money could save Evie’s struggling bookstore. All she has to do is pretend she’s madly in love with a man who barely talks to anyone… except her.

One week of staged kisses.
One bed in a very small cabin.
One grump who turns out to be surprisingly gentle.

And suddenly the woman who always plans her exits is wondering what it would take to stay.

It’s never too late to rewrite your story. Sometimes the love that was never supposed to happen is the one that fits exactly right.

SIGNED, SEALED, FOREVER is a cozy fake-dating romance filled with fall festivals, viral chaos, and a love story that begins with the world’s strangest wedding.

Genres: Romance, Fake Dating, Ebooks, Fiction

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2025

About the author

Hi! I'm Sam Marshall, and I write romantic comedies and contemporary love stories that blend laugh-out-loud moments with unexpected emotional depth.

My style? Snappy banter, slow-burn tension, and characters you’d absolutely text at midnight for life advice.

Inspired by the people I love—especially my wife and kids—I crafts stories that are as much about personal growth as they are about falling in love. If a book can make you laugh, ache, and immediately recommend it to your best friend, that’s the kind of story I want to tell.

My goal? To write the kind of romance that makes you feel seen, smile unexpectedly, and maybe believe in love all over again.

Reviews

[Hannah⸝*.☘︎ ́˖ · Rating 2 out of 5]

It always makes me sad to leave a low rating for an indie/smaller author, but this one just didn’t work for me. The premise is fun — accidental marriage, fake dating, small-town fall festival vibes — but the execution fell apart quickly.

The biggest issue was the editing (or lack of it). There were entire sentences and even full pages repeated almost word-for-word, like earlier drafts hadn’t been cleaned up. The timeline was also messy — the “last” event in the festival happened multiple times, and the wedding plotline disappeared for a week before resurfacing without explanation. It made the story feel disjointed and hard to follow.

Character-wise, I struggled the most with Evie (the FMC). As someone with real OCD (not “oh I need everything rainbow colored and organized!!”), I don’t say this lightly: her characterization felt exaggerated and inaccurate, almost like OCD quirks were thrown in to make her “relatable,” but instead it came across as grating and inauthentic. Declan (the MMC) had potential, but he stayed very surface-level, never really growing beyond the broody placeholder love interest.

I’m giving this 2 stars instead of 1 because the concept (romance bookstore owner + grumpy wilderness guide stuck in a fake honeymoon competition) was intriguing and had so much potential. But between the sloppy editing, timeline confusion, and frustrating character work, this one was a miss for me.

Tropes: accidental marriage, fake dating, small-town romance, grumpy x sunshine, slow burn
Trigger/content notes: divorce, family drama

[Beth Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters in the book. it was a cute read for this time of year....lots of fall atmosphere and fun quips.

[Katie Mott · Rating 3 out of 5]

listen… i did actually really like this book but it needs some good editing! i would be reading and then the exact same lines would repeat after each other but be written slightly different. like the author rewrote parts but forgot to delete the previous lines. very strange. the plot of this book was very good and i loved the two characters together, even when the fmc made me mad

[Molly (hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was very bland

[Suzanne den Dunnen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did it need editing, yes. Was it perfect, no. Did it make me laugh out loud and give me feel good vibes - absolutely yes. I loved the fall vibes and love story and looked over all other flaws. I base my 5 stars on feelings and this gave me all the feels! Good job Sam!

[Devon Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m sorry but you absolutely CANNOT “accidentally” get married by filling out a piece of paper.

I’ve been married three times in three different states. You don’t just sign your name to a piece of paper and hand it to a receptionist and she stamps it and says congratulations.

Five SECONDS of research would have told the author that 😩

Also, OCD is not a cute, quirky personality trait. It’s a debilitating mental illness and has a very wide range of symptoms that aren’t always about keeping things neat and organized 🙄

Anyway, will not be finishing this book that’s for sure.

[Raegan Herlihy · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

This was a cute fall romance. It was good, but it didn't wow me like I expected it to. There was miscommunication, and at the end of every chapter, it pretty much repeated the same sentences in the same format with "maybe this wasn't pretend. Maybe this was real." sort of ending. It just got repetitive.

I loved all the competitions that happened throughout the book. It was fun and I was rooting for them the whole time.

I could relate to Evie when she says that she doesn't feel like she is enough. Girl I feel the same way at times.

[Kristen Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely cute and extremely Hallmarky! Very seasonal; clean as well, which was much appreciated. I don’t feel like it was edited well, as there were issues with certain plot points, and a lot of the writing seemed too repetitive. Overall I really enjoyed it!

[Hanne Olsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave it one star because the editing of the book was really bad. The story had potential. But the inconaistencies made it so hard to read. Some sentences came several times, some pages were repeated. Some people met for the first time several times. And they kept saying the finale was the next day for 3 or 4 days.

[Kara Scerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could see why some people felt this wasn’t edited or reviewed enough because some details and phrases were definitely repeated but it was such a cute little autumnal read! I loved it!

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good premise. Needs a lot more edits to land a good execution. Continuity errors and plot errors abound, sadly.

[Brittan Candela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The general premise is cute and exactly what you'd expect from a Hallmark-style cozy fall romance.

However, the execution was unfortunately not very good.
1. there were a few editing errors where entire paragraphs were repeated only slightly differently as if the first draft was never deleted.
2. the story dragged and felt way too long.
3. the timeline was a little confusing. The main character is a maid of honor in the middle of wedding planning, but there was a huge chunk where the wedding/her friend was never mentioned.
4. the main character explained several times throughout the book that things felt like they had "shifted" between her and the male lead (meaning their relationship was becoming more real and less for show). How many times can the dynamic shift lol.
5. this is a small pet peeve that might not bother other people, but everything about the male lead is described as "quiet". Quiet efficiency, quiet competence, quiet sincerity, etc . I found it repetitive and annoying after a while. Actually a lot of the narration from the protagonist is repetitive, including how she always describes the competition rivals as looking like catalog models, how she explains that the male lead "sees" her when others don't, etc.
6. Another small thing that might not bother other people: things were randomly introduced without any backstory, including a scene where she is all of a sudden horrible at dancing, but that was never mentioned previously. Or how the male lead had a sketchbook that wasn't mentioned until near the end.

A lot of these things could have been fixed with some more editing.

[Kimberly Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5⭐️ I got this book for free through a stuff your kindle day. I was pleasantly surprised by this book as it was a cute story that was unique. It focused on a struggling bookstore owner, Evie, and an outdoorsman Declan. These two meet as best man and maid of honor when they are in charge of getting the marriage license for their friends getting married. However, in doing so they sign the wrong areas and end up married themselves. They decide to enter a newlywed costume where the prize money is 25k plus a 5k endorsement deal. Being total strangers and complete opposites they set ground rules to get through this contest. As the contest continues, being in love becomes less of a pretending act and the rules begin to blur. Unafraid of how eachother truly feels Evie begins to pull away scared of what the future holds. Declan eventually reveals he’s been falling in love with her since he laid eyes on her. They end up staying married and continuing their love story.

I loved the plot of this book since it wasn’t like anything I ever read. Although I wasn’t obsessed needing to read it in one sitting, it left me wanting more. Especially while reading some scenes I found my eyes trying to skip further since I was so excited of what was to come next. I found the concept of the accidental marriage a bit unrealistic which lowered my rating a bit. Also the multiple times of big moments happening and then acting as though it didn’t happen and never discussing what it meant for them seemed a bit drawn out to me. Overall, a really cute, wholesome, love story.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of the story and can even get past the fact that you can't really get married accidentally.

I enjoyed the FALL theme and the author did a great job describing seasonal decorations, weather and atmosphere. I love reading books set in the season I am in.

I also liked the characters with the exception of the over the top competitors. I just have a hard time believing any adult would act that way but hey, maybe for $25K they would!

My biggest complaint is the repeat sentences and even though I enjoyed the descriptive sentences it just started to feel like too much. I also was surprised the wedding was barely mentioned & she just stepped away from her friend's wedding the week before the event when she was the maid of honor.

Three stars is not a bad review to me! The fact that I finished it says I enjoyed the story. I will stop reading a book the minute it gets on my nerves or if I just don't find myself caring any longer.

So... good book but a few flaws (in my opinion)

[Rachael Meza · Rating 2 out of 5]

A divorced woman “accidentally” marries a stranger, decides to stay fake married for a week to compete in a highly competitive newlywed stars hollow-esque competition.

Then after ONE WEEK she decides hey, she loves this man and wants to stay married? After her supposed bad experience with her ex.

And the love interest? As fully fleshed out as a piece of dry toast. He seems nice but we don’t get hardly any dialogue or backstory or literally anything.

Also he’s the best man and she’s the maid of honor in their respective best friends wedding but the way the competition which was supposed to be a side quest completely overshadows the plot of the book to the point of me forgetting it was a thing.

The run on sentences I’m using here are nothing compared to the grammatical errors and repetitive scenes in this book. Why didn’t I Dnf? Honestly I thought it was going to get better but alas I’m just confused

And the invisible string references were sprinkled in a little too much for my liking

2 ⭐️ for the fall vibes and that’s it

[Justine Acton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Writing, Chaotic Story Events

I loved the storyline of this book, and the author really knew how to build characters and explain events in a way that made you feel like part of the book. The biggest down fall is that there are many many times where events contradict themselves or appear out of sequence. There are even times where they seemed to have forgotten they already wrote about an event and so it repeats later on. They even completely forgot to write about the big finale that is literally discussed throughout the entire book, but never actually happens. The characters also mention and refer vaguely back to details they didn't actually happen in the story, or had been changed during editing. I truly believe this could be a 5 star book if someone were to go back through and fix the timeline and event issues. Overall a great story idea, but can be a little confusing and frustrating towards the middle/end.

[frankie2828 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Marshall… I don’t know who you are but if all your books are this good than we just became best friends.

I was not expecting to love this book so much. It’s probably more 4.5-5⭐️but I just needed it to be dual POV for that rating.

This is the kind of love I’m looking for. The quiet, steady kind. The kind that pays attention to the little things. The kind that doesn’t need to be asked. The kind that sticks around. Ugh my heart. There were a few flaws (I mean the whole plot is pretty unrealistic but we don’t count that here) like a couple of editorial errors and a scene or two when one sentences the MCs are sitting next to each other but in the next sentence they’re looking at each other across the room..??

But honestly, I just read for the vibes. I not nitpicking and getting hung up on stuff like that. Maybe that’s bad of me… but I simply do not care. Declan is a new book boyfriend of mine and I’m looking forward to reading more of Sam’s stuff!

[SwagDrag0nn · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF but adding to read bc it was so repetitive. Beautiful set up and I wanted to finish so bad, but the exact same scenes played over and over. repeating scenes entirely back to back with a few changes so you can tell that they re-wrote a section but never deleted it, at some point a character thought the marriage was real and then out of nowhere she knows the secret? I wanted to finish but the authors are paid by page read on KU and frankly I'm not adding pages read and thus encouraging this. I genuinely wonder if there was a clerical error and her rough draft was uploaded? great draft if so, but really unprofessional if this was pushed through on purpose. really disappointed because I was LOVING the vibe and writing and story until it was more mistakes than not.

[Carolina Rizzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book had a great premise but was struggling a bit on the execution. There were some continuity errors, a bit of a confusing timeline, also the fact that their best friends wedding is happening around this time (but it felt like the event was meant to end earlier than the wedding). The characters were interesting though, I just wish we got to see more of the relationship dynamics between their best friends and them. I loved the banter between their characters, it just felt like the story built up and fell often. I’m pretty sure at one point the Declan admitted he wanted more and then a couple 20 pages later Evie was confused if he did (even though he said he did explicitly). Overall, I thought it was a cute book, it just needs a bit more editing.

[Lexie | read.withlexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up to 3. “But maybe love isn’t about one-piece fits. Maybe it’s about staying, even when the corners don’t line up perfectly”. When maid of honor and best man accidentally get married while on an errand to retrieve the wedding certificate for the bride and groom, the newest newly weds become the talk of the town and newest contestants of the Harvest Festival Honeymoon Contest to win their friends the honeymoon of their dreams. This book is full of fall, books, and busy townspeople.

I really liked the idea of this book, but I found myself confused often when details didn’t add up or the timeline was confusing. I also have so many questions that never were answered. Cute fall read, just in need of some more edits.

[booked_at_aprils · Rating 4 out of 5]

📖✨ Book Review Time! ✨📖

Just finished Signed, Sealed, Forever by Sam Marshall and OMG 😭💌—I fell in love! The story, the characters, the emotion—it all wrapped around my heart and refused to let go. 💕 After a nonstop binge of thrillers, this heartfelt romance was the perfect change of pace. 🥹 It’s sweet, emotional, and beautifully written… like a warm hug in book form. 💫

If you love slow-burn chemistry, emotional depth, and stories that make you smile through tears, this one’s for YOU! 💌

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️from me — and I’d read it all over again!

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[Ariana Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wish I had read the reviews before I started this book. It has such a cute storyline and I was so hopeful, but the editing was so bad and completely took me out of the story multiple times.
After reading the reviews, some people thought it was written by AI. I don’t think so, but I hate that that’s the world we live in now where that is a real possibility.
I did see that the author commented on some reviews saying they are re-editing their books. So I’m super hopeful that this one gets a good edit. It has so much potential to be a perfect Hallmarky cozy fall rom com.
When I read it on Kindle it was over 10 hours long and 354 pages long - so if it’s shorter when you look at it, it hopefully has been updated! Then it might be worth it!

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was this written by AI?

I really wanted to love this story, but it desperately needs a solid edit. The concept had potential, but the execution was all over the place. There were so many plot holes and inconsistencies that it pulled me out of the narrative again and again. Entire days, paragraphs, and even character moments were repeated as if the author (or perhaps an AI) forgot what had already been written every thirty pages. Instead of immersing me in the world, it left me frustrated and confused. With tighter editing, this could have been a great read, but as it stands, it feels messy and unfinished.

[Summer Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found by mistake, coincidence?

I came across this book by coincidence looking for a fall romance book. I finished it so fast. I could not put it down. Stayed up way too late to finish it. I honestly didn't realize the authors name so I am a little shocked that a man could write these emotions. Evie is so much like myself with a love of books and same fears. Happy to see the story unfold so well and how it had a little surprise ending with a happy twist. I think I will check out more books by this author.

[Candace]

This ended up being a DNF for me. I just wasn’t feeling invested in the story or characters. I was also a bit frustrated with editing issues. One had a repeat of a couple of paragraphs but written differently like the author changed their mind but forgot to delete the old stuff. Then another where the FMC slams her laptop shut and the next paragraph “saves her work and shuts her laptop” with no mention of it being opened again? I think it extra got to me because I was already struggling.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

PLEASE EDIT!!

Oh my does this book need serious edits! It reads like a rough draft with scenes being repeated. Lots of things happening that aren’t spelled out. Like the bride Sophie being MIA during the festival but at the end she talks about being at the festival at the newlywed game. That being said, the connection between the main couple is super cute. Probably worth the read if you don’t mind rough drafts.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book 3 stars due to the lack of editing and flow of the book. That being said, this was a really cute story. I loved the characters and the small town vibes. This story is sweet and charming, full of witty banter. To me, this story really gave off Gilmore Girls vibes. It's the perfect mix of humor and tenderness. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a feel-good story with a dash of chaos thrown in.

[Chey Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn on a rating for this one. I liked the plot of this story. Grumpy mountain man meets enthusiastic bookstore owner. The accidental marriage & festival was very cute. However, editing. This book needs A LOT of revision and editing. I thought I was going crazy rereading the same sentences, etc. The timeline seemed a little all over the place as well. But overall, the story was cute & gave me the fall feels I was looking for.

[Dawn Castor · Rating 2 out of 5]

cute story line. needs editing

I really loved the setting and the two main characters. But scenes were repeated and there were so many similes and metaphors and references to Pinterest that I had to start scrolling to the end just to finish. Great idea—needs a re-write. Oh yes. And I’m a librarian who’s dealt with my share of damp books and you don’t just leave them in stacks in a backroom for days on end. They mildew quickly and need tossed!

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of repeated timeline events. As a female diagnosed ADHD at 40, I felt Evie had a lot of the characteristics of an undiagnosed ADHDer. I wanted some more explanation for things: why didn’t Declan want to carve pumpkins? How was Evie’s mom in on wedding planning, but didn’t show up when her daughter was in the competition that was viral?
Anywho, it was a short light read that made me wish I lived somewhere with an actual fall season.