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Contract for Marriage
ROMANCE
383 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
1 person is currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Megan Alexander
33 books9 followersMildred Fish wrote contemporary romances under the pseudonym of Megan Alexander.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 12, 2012
I read this novel quite a while ago and for some reason I never marked it off on goodreads at all. So since I remember it so well, I figured I'd do a quick review.
When the heroine approaches the hero, it's to ask if he will make her pregnant. She wants to give a baby to her sister because she feels she is responsible for her nephews death which isn't true, it was just an accident. The hero eventually agrees but things happen and eventually they fall in love and things change, drastically!
When the heroine approaches the hero, it's to ask if he will make her pregnant. She wants to give a baby to her sister because she feels she is responsible for her nephews death which isn't true, it was just an accident. The hero eventually agrees but things happen and eventually they fall in love and things change, drastically!
April 21, 2024
Spoilers ahead, mateys! Arr.
This one was better than most, but that's because the characters had great back and forth which seemed believable. Some of the vocabulary used was way more '70s than '80s, but I could dig it. If I'm being honest, the FMC Christy was such a buzzkill that it was hard for me to get fully into the book. She had a marvelous idea to have a baby with a random stranger so that she could make up for accidentally causing the death of her sister's child, Davy. (But Christy had to get married to the dude first because otherwise social norms would be broken. Eek!) Who would accept such a marriage of convenience you might ask? Well, that would be Mark Brandon.
Mark was a cutthroat career man who wanted a promotion, and he needed a picture-perfect wife to obtain it. In his eyes, Christy could fill that role while she filled his sheets at night. It was clear to me that Mark was in love with Christy from the start, even if he didn't know her. (Is that love, or is it infatuation? I don't know, but whatever it was, it was obvious.) Mark was nice and supportive toward Christy in the beginning and that was a HUGE breath of fresh air from the other MMCs I've been reading in these old Harlequins.
He knew she loved music and encouraged her to do what she loved while supporting her career, but she kept turning icy on him and rebuking his advances because she felt she was "betraying" the contract of a marriage without strings attached. God, it was exhausting. That's why it took me so long to finish the book. (For the record, I would've emotionally shut down on her, too.)
A few months into what became their marriage of inconvenience, Mark finally admitted his cold feet and said that he didn't want to have a baby with Christy anymore. He didn't have it in him to just give a baby away, even as a gift to a childless couple. (SUCH a weird sentence to write.) And that was unfortunate because it was the SOLE reason she agreed to marry him. But wait! Uh-oh. (You probably guessed it.) Christy was already pregnant! She was also having a quasi-relation/friendship with Ryan O'Rourke, the local elementary school hunk/music program director, whom Mark was severely jealous over and reading in all the wrong ways.
Mark moved from the bed to the couch and went on a lot of business trips. Christy wallowed in the existential dread that she brought upon herself. Ryan was Ryaning with all the peeps of the town. Ay, Dios mio!
As time went on, Christy and Mark's lack of communication eventually hit a fever pitch until they said some pretty nasty things to each other and essentially called it quits. Too bad she was six months pregnant with a baby NOBODY wanted anymore because her sister had adopted unborn twins. (This is where you'd want to queue up the telenovela music.)
Ryan and a slew of side characters called and chewed out Mark for not taking care of his pregnant wife. He came home, and they lived a splendid HEA where he undoubtedly controlled her for eternity. (Legit. The closing lines were something like, "What if she had to give up her music? Ah, no matter. Mark was by her side.")
Give it a whirl if you're into an annoying FMC and an MMC who is just kind of "meh" by the end.
This one was better than most, but that's because the characters had great back and forth which seemed believable. Some of the vocabulary used was way more '70s than '80s, but I could dig it. If I'm being honest, the FMC Christy was such a buzzkill that it was hard for me to get fully into the book. She had a marvelous idea to have a baby with a random stranger so that she could make up for accidentally causing the death of her sister's child, Davy. (But Christy had to get married to the dude first because otherwise social norms would be broken. Eek!) Who would accept such a marriage of convenience you might ask? Well, that would be Mark Brandon.
Mark was a cutthroat career man who wanted a promotion, and he needed a picture-perfect wife to obtain it. In his eyes, Christy could fill that role while she filled his sheets at night. It was clear to me that Mark was in love with Christy from the start, even if he didn't know her. (Is that love, or is it infatuation? I don't know, but whatever it was, it was obvious.) Mark was nice and supportive toward Christy in the beginning and that was a HUGE breath of fresh air from the other MMCs I've been reading in these old Harlequins.
He knew she loved music and encouraged her to do what she loved while supporting her career, but she kept turning icy on him and rebuking his advances because she felt she was "betraying" the contract of a marriage without strings attached. God, it was exhausting. That's why it took me so long to finish the book. (For the record, I would've emotionally shut down on her, too.)
A few months into what became their marriage of inconvenience, Mark finally admitted his cold feet and said that he didn't want to have a baby with Christy anymore. He didn't have it in him to just give a baby away, even as a gift to a childless couple. (SUCH a weird sentence to write.) And that was unfortunate because it was the SOLE reason she agreed to marry him. But wait! Uh-oh. (You probably guessed it.) Christy was already pregnant! She was also having a quasi-relation/friendship with Ryan O'Rourke, the local elementary school hunk/music program director, whom Mark was severely jealous over and reading in all the wrong ways.
Mark moved from the bed to the couch and went on a lot of business trips. Christy wallowed in the existential dread that she brought upon herself. Ryan was Ryaning with all the peeps of the town. Ay, Dios mio!
As time went on, Christy and Mark's lack of communication eventually hit a fever pitch until they said some pretty nasty things to each other and essentially called it quits. Too bad she was six months pregnant with a baby NOBODY wanted anymore because her sister had adopted unborn twins. (This is where you'd want to queue up the telenovela music.)
Ryan and a slew of side characters called and chewed out Mark for not taking care of his pregnant wife. He came home, and they lived a splendid HEA where he undoubtedly controlled her for eternity. (Legit. The closing lines were something like, "What if she had to give up her music? Ah, no matter. Mark was by her side.")
Give it a whirl if you're into an annoying FMC and an MMC who is just kind of "meh" by the end.
May 16, 2018
I kind of loved this. It is some old-school level crazy - our heroine lost her nephew in a car accident, feels responsible, and resolves to have a baby and give it to her sister; she meets the hero at a dinner party and thinks he’s a good candidate, while he needs to be married to get a job he really wants and has, most unfortunately, just divorced his first wife. Marriage is a great idea under these circumstances, right? Christy’s job is to be the best housewife and hostess ever, which makes this feel like reading something out of Mad Men. She’s also a virgin, and quickly discovers that “just business” doesn’t work so well when she’s finally in bed with her husband.
Because this was written in the eighties, the author actually pays some attention to all this madness - the hero tells the heroine, “when we were married, you coped with emotional trauma. You still do. I admit I was somewhat in the same boat what with my divorce and losing custody of Carol [his daughter]. Do you honestly believe that in addition to all this, we are ready to give up our baby, Christy?” Yeah, Christy, WTF? The book, to its credit, grapples at length with the fact that this is an incredibly dumb idea and the consequences of indulging it for so long.
Bonus points for the fact that the stepkid is an obnoxious, mistrusting little troll who loathes the heroine on sight. I am also fascinated by the fact that the pregnant heroine continues to drink like a fish, given that the book was published in 1982 (when pregnant women knew not to drink like fish).
The larger problem, however, is that the book ends up involving a love triangle: Christy befriends the amateur theater director and school principal, who is a handsome single man who obviously adores her, and her husband gets jealous. The problem is, Ryan (the Other Man) is funny, attentive, devoted to Christy’s talents, and present, while Mark gets crankypants when her music distracts her from her hostessing duties. Basically, as best I can tell, the issue is actually that Christy is having sex with Mark - and therefore emotionally attached to him - but should totally ditch him in favor of Ryan. Alas (spoiler!) this is not what happens.
Because this was written in the eighties, the author actually pays some attention to all this madness - the hero tells the heroine, “when we were married, you coped with emotional trauma. You still do. I admit I was somewhat in the same boat what with my divorce and losing custody of Carol [his daughter]. Do you honestly believe that in addition to all this, we are ready to give up our baby, Christy?” Yeah, Christy, WTF? The book, to its credit, grapples at length with the fact that this is an incredibly dumb idea and the consequences of indulging it for so long.
Bonus points for the fact that the stepkid is an obnoxious, mistrusting little troll who loathes the heroine on sight. I am also fascinated by the fact that the pregnant heroine continues to drink like a fish, given that the book was published in 1982 (when pregnant women knew not to drink like fish).
The larger problem, however, is that the book ends up involving a love triangle: Christy befriends the amateur theater director and school principal, who is a handsome single man who obviously adores her, and her husband gets jealous. The problem is, Ryan (the Other Man) is funny, attentive, devoted to Christy’s talents, and present, while Mark gets crankypants when her music distracts her from her hostessing duties. Basically, as best I can tell, the issue is actually that Christy is having sex with Mark - and therefore emotionally attached to him - but should totally ditch him in favor of Ryan. Alas (spoiler!) this is not what happens.
February 13, 2025
Skip this and instead watch an old TV movie with a similar idea. I can't remember the name but it starred Suzanne Pleshette, who wanted a baby but her boyfriend (as he put it) shoots blanks, so she advertises for a temporary husband who'll get her pregnant and then they'll get divorced so she can go back to her ex. Yes, I know, pretty over-the-top, as she could have gotten IUI or tried to adopt, but that would spoil the fun! And watching that movie was a heck of a lot mor fun than trying to read this bat crap mess!
DNF
DNF
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews