The Marriage Dare

Dare to Love Universe #59

by Marian Tee

27-year-old Jane Cooper is your quintessential girl Friday: presentable but no beauty queen, smart but not a genius, reliable but never a go-getter. Everyone thinks they know what to expect from her…except they don’t.
For one thing, Jane can’t say no to dares. Which is why when her friends dare Jane to make out with a stranger---
She does it.
And when said beautiful stranger dares her to marry him---
She says ‘yes.’

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Novella, Ebooks, Contemporary

128 pages, ebook

First published December 12, 2016

About the author

Hi! I love talking about books as much as the next bibliophile - doesn't matter whose books - so feel free to chat with me here. :)

As for other stuff you may want to know, you could visit my website or author page in Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/authormariantee.

Reviews

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely silly plot but meanness of H and not-instantly-forgiving h made me liked this very much. Sweet tears of angst are also bonus for me.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly ripped my heart out.

Wow! I was not prepared for the emotions and devastation that this read was going to bring me. Christian was so cruel to her it was unbelievable… in front of other people. I wanted to murder him.

The grovel was good. I really liked it. Even though Jane threw herself at him an embarrassing amount of times (like seriously, when she went to his office I literally shouted “is this girl f’ing kidding me?!”) when she decided she was done she was DONE. She froze him out and didn’t give in for an appropriate amount of time. Hooray for Jane not having BBS!

I felt so bad I cried and I’m always impressed when an author can get that out of me. The grovel and freeze out made this quirky, kinda odd, little read one of my favorites.

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was this?
The author had a plot (kind of), the characterization is okay as well and they certainly have chemistry but the execution is waaaaayy off!
The h is that ditsy quirky cute one - with a delightful sense of humor (that goes downhill after a while) and the H is that really hot, handsome and charming British guy - they meet and connect instantaneously. Why? - I don't know or care really ... but I thought we had here a plain, mostly overlooked woman as she's shown a virgin, minus prospects at 26-7 years of age. :/
And they go from zero to infinity instantly, he wants to marry her because ... we have no clear idea!
She refuses, he pursues and her minor resistance collapses - in a post orgasmic mush.
They are officially engaged.

Then, as if the chase is over he engages the reverse gear. Whiplash!
You know, in the beginning I liked how he says something like -'I wish I can give you a traumatic past issues sob story etc. but I have none'. But then ended up doing the same old BS routine that most Hs do when their 'emotions' overtake their libido.
The things he did to the h are ott bad and unforgivable so her spineless desperation for him after all he does, is cringey. Hated it and her. Blaming her for a crime that involves FBI interrogation is not a small thing, especially as he's doing it in a distancing snit, knowing she could hardly be the culprit. Her going crawling to 'help' him and his company with her PR skills made me want to slap her.
And then when he finally comes after her she decides that his blocking her number is the biggest crime for her. And so - go, grovel some.
The book has some odd and disconnected moments that irk. And the funnies and the sparks are few and far in between. Maybe because it's a short book.

There's an ow but doesn't do much ow-ing apart from a mean girl routine at work. The h's making fun of the 2nd ow's name is below the belt but oh so funny and spot-on ! :D
The om/his bff is delicious but then we know all such great guys turn into a-holes in their own stories.

[Rohani · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what the hell I just read. Halfway through, I was lost. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS BOOK. Dull as hell. Heroine is an anglophile and pixie dream girl with a childish sense of humour. The whole British accent being so sexy is way overdone. And WTF is up with calling her "Pet"?! It's weird and creepy!

[Melanie♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet novella. I must admit I like Marian Tee's longer works better when there is more time for character and story development. Despite that a very enjoyable read!

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (4/11/2020)! 🎁

[Kento Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

4.5 star. Oh, I definitely loved this one. Easy, fast, nice read.

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blurb for this sounded like it would be a bit of light fun. This book was very similar to a fat shaming book. Not sure if the people in this story were 14 year olds auditioning for the cast of “Mean Girls” or just extremely vapid adults. Had so much plain shaming that I lost interest very early on in the story.

This book also tried to put in too many things to the story and wasn’t able to carry it off. Jane who for some reason can only do things out of her box when she’s dared. I mean what is she a 10 year old boy? Her dare leads her to Christian who she has a make out session with. Of course Christian is a British billionaire, who’s friends with her boss. Thankfully Christian doesn’t have a red room. Christian is very rude to everyone but Jane and gets away with it because he’s rich. He needs a secret fiancé for PR reasons. His best friend, Jane’s boss is also pursuing her because they have always had a friendly rivalry, she’s free game until the ring is on her finger WTH? Guess her boss never heard of sexual harassment. Throw in some corporate espionage and some really bad acting when things go south and you have this story in a nutshell.

Half of the time I was trying to sort through Jane’s weird inner monologue and at times wasn’t sure if she was just thinking stuff or if it was happening. Jane was at times naïve, at times she seemed to be acting like she wasn’t intelligent other times she was annoying, she did have some growth eventually. Christian for me continued to be a bit of an annoyance. He was the same rude you must kiss my feet because I’m a British millionaire. I discovered with another book that I don’t like the word “pet” or at least not in terms of a woman being called that. Not sure if that was how the author wanted us to know he was British but him calling Jane “pet” all of the time was just annoying.

This is not a reverse harem this is two men pursing the same woman independently.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[HEATHER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does he deserve a second chance?
by sewsummore

Jane believed that she was ordinary with no redeeming qualities but, she was very wrong. Christian knew she was special and so did her friends, all she lacked was confidence in herself and, "She could move mountains!" It took Christian time to convince Jane to marry him, to believe she was special, that what they had together was special. Then he let her down, he allowed his own insecurities to destroy what they had built together. This book blew me away with Christian and Jane's romance, it was a romance that every girl dreams will come true with her. The end of their engagement came as a shock both to Jane and to myself as the reader. Because Jane was a special person and she did not deserve what happened to her. In that part of the book, I hated Christan, and when he realized what he had lost! I felt he deserved to feel all the pain he had inflicted on Jane. Because, Jane truly loved him, does she give him a second chance? You will have to read the book to find out.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jane the wallflower of the PR world she dosent think much of herself probably has something to do with and ex doesn't it always she's constantly going back and forth with her boss they have a shall we say sexual frustration thing going on but neither will ecnoledge it until Jane takes a bet and hits on his best friend Christian the British Billionaire with to much attitude . Now Jane has two guys after her one needs a fake fiance maybe something more more but who will really be there for her when she's accused of something she didn't do im not sure who really deserves her after reading this but I do know that Jane needed to stop finding value in herself threw others so for that reason this book was a 3.4 rating for me but using Amazons star rating system i gave it a 4.

I was allowed to read and advance copy of this book via booksprout and this is my honest review.

[Socalgirl10 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't let the title mislead you. I did not get the overall boss' best friend vibe, and there were times that I was not sure what was going on. I had to go back to make sure I did not miss a page in the story. I think this could have been a great book as the bones were there, but there really wasn't much character development and there were holes in the overall plot. I like the overarching story about the plain Jane and the sexy British Billionaire, but there were just too many missing pieces for me to give this story more stars. This was the first book that I have read from this author, but I will take some others advice and check out her longer stories. Overall not bad, but it left me wanting more from the story.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new author for me and I was pleasantly surprised by this read. It was OTT in places, had a splash of insta but it was also so much more. There were moments of happiness and sadness, my heart wept in parts and I questioned if things would ever work out. I liked that the characters weren't perfect, that we got to see them warts and all. I would have liked a bit more explanation of Christian's and Jared's relationship and an epilogue to round things off a bit more. This story took me on a journey I was not expecting.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kristine L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christian and Jane. Jane gets a dare and the first person who fits the the dare she makes out with them. He calls her Pet and she calls him Baby!. She figures she'll never see him again but he comes to her work party and they start an intense relationship, She's shy and he's a billionaire. This was such an intense story. I was totally engrossed in the characters lives. All the emotions that they had, the hurt, the anger, and finally the realization that as humans we all make mistakes. First story I've read from this author and I am looking forward to more. I received an ARC copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

Argggghhhh!!!!
I am so disappointed. I was anticipating a really good story - given that I've just recently stumbled upon Marian Tee's other book and was amazed by that. So imagine my surprise when this one did not do.
I was puzzled when I saw how the Hero was going after the heroine like, "Am I missing something here?" He proposed to her after one encounter! I did not see it coming. There was no chemistry. Everything felt 'forced' and I did not like it one bit.
I felt this one was too rushed, there was nothing climatic about it. No sparks between the MCs. No big moment. Nada.
Please skip this one.

[BoozyQueen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rather like this book. But one thing that irk me the most is the author ignorant behavior of simply putting Islam name in the way she found fitting-terrorist. This whole stereotyping religions should have not been brought up in the first place. She just threw it in the book for the sake of suspense or drama or whatever the hell of it. I'm sick of people insulting others religons. Every religion is of love non of 'em preacing about hate. We -people, are the one who stray away from its teachings.

[P · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read

****My Boss’s Best Friend by Marian Tee: An interesting read
First, I overall enjoyed this story. The writing style was quirky, kinda weird, and kinda funny. Most definitely different, somewhat of a hot mess. The storyline jumped into things in a way that left me scratching my head — the flow suffered accordingly. But I got past those deficiencies and kept reading - because there was just something about the writing that grabbed me. Overall 3.5 stars, but I still recommend you give it a try!
—PTators

[Emily Pennington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane has a real weakness that her friends decide to exploit – she can’t say no to dares. So when they dare her to make out with a stranger, she does. It somehow leads to an engagement to a hot British billionaire – and uh oh, he’s the best friend of her boss who starts to make moves on her too? What is going on here? Are they playing?

I am not one who likes people who deliberately hurt others, so I never developed a like for the characters. Without caring for them, their situation and story line did not pull me in. This could have been a cute story, but it wasn’t.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just okay for me. It felt a little disjointed and I was sometimes confused and thinking that I skipped a page somewhere. Christian meets Jane when she approaches him on a dare from her two best friends. He shows up again a couple of weeks later and proposes that they get married. There is some angst toward the end, but again it felt rushed, or maybe I needed more from the characters. This is a kindle world book and I have not read any of the other Dare to Love books. I really like other books I have read by Marian Tee, this one just wasn’t for me.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane will take any dare on and always says yes. She tends to get herself into trouble that way. Her friends date her to kiss a stranger so she does. But Christian, who is a billionaire loved the kiss and wants more. Before she knows it she’s engaged. But little does she know Christian is her boss’ best friend and he wants her too. What’s a girl to do?!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic instalove read! A quick read that flows smoothly with a story line that is well-developed, fast pace, emotionally deep, relatable, well written, and passionate. The characters are likeable, real, a bit damaged, but perfect together; their chemistry is intense and off the charts! Definitely recommended!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell in love with Jane. I like that she feels so awkward and not enough while all the time showing her poise and that she is more than enough. I like that Christian is determined and possessive and I hate when he turns his good thing wrong. The chemistry is purposeful. Those friends of Jane are great additions to the story and Jared adds a level of depth to the story. 4.5 perfect stars.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I'm in the mood for heartbreaking angst, Marian Tee never disappoints, and this book was no exception. Jane and Christian's meeting had the makings of a light-hearted love story, as feelings get involved, their ability to hurt each other becomes evident. My heart was pounding for these two characters to find their HEA, and I loved every moment!!!

[Aline Riquelme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking

Jane is very interesting person, I can say she is very good humored and can make people around her feel happy. And then she felt for Christian, she cannot understand what made him interested in her and more impossible made Jared want her too, but then reality took place and thought her first impressions were true.

[Sabrina Malloy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a Reverse Harem

I thought this was going to be a reverse harem but not at all. What’s more confusing is why would your friend want to steal your girl? What would a PR want to destroy your life work especially after literally giving her virginity to you? What was the point of the ex being introduced? There were so many unanswered questions.

[Kathleen Bradbury (Bulfon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and was honored to have been able to read and review. It was such a phenomenal read and had amazing characters as well as an amazing story line. I just could not get enough of it and once I started reading it I could not put it down. I recommend that you read it.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story and I loved it. Jane works for a company where she handles the PR and other stuff. She feels that she is a plain jane and no one would ever want her. Enter the gorgeous billionaire, Christian. Yes, Christian. A dare. A makeout session. Attraction on both sides. Why would a man like Christian want her? FBI. Security breach. Blame. A broken engagement. This book had it all.

[Maja · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first read from this author. I didn't like the fact that it was told from the third point of view, because it makes the story impersonal IMO. It was funny to discover the new meaning of the BFF acronym, though. But the story wasn't anything special aside from that.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Mari (Mystics & Metaphysics Book Blog) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the premise to this was good and the blurb definitely catches your attention. I normally don't know what to expect from this author and that's a good thing. But this story left me more confused and some of the dialogue and scenes were somewhat confusing.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[maria martignetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this author before and so was thrilled to be able to read this - it certainly didn't disappoint
Enjoyed the characters and the story - great ending
A short read - easy to read in 1 sitting

Looking forward to more from this author

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a enjoyable read. The storyline was intriguing and sweet, however the story had moments where some parts worked and some parts didn’t, for me ayway. The characters were likable and had great chemistry. Overall an okay read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.