What do you think?
Rate this book
The Two Husbands
Their Marriage Is Fake But Their Love Becomes Real
Martin is not the marrying kind – is he? He is happy with his single life and crazy dog Noodle. Or so he thinks until he bumps into old friend Luke.
Luke is in a fix and needs a home to convince the authorities that he is fit to take care of his recently orphaned niece. The thing is, he doesn’t have a place of his own and his life has hit rock bottom and so he turns to Martin for help.
Martin suggests the pair marry – for convenience and Luke agrees.
Together they settle into their new life, but traces of Luke’s dark past come back to haunt them. As well as that, Martin has his own family problems.
However, the longer they are together, the more Martin starts to feel for his old friend.
But is the feeling mutual? And will they go through with their “sham” marriage?
This Story Was Formerly Titled Making The Family
Martin is not the marrying kind – is he? He is happy with his single life and crazy dog Noodle. Or so he thinks until he bumps into old friend Luke.
Luke is in a fix and needs a home to convince the authorities that he is fit to take care of his recently orphaned niece. The thing is, he doesn’t have a place of his own and his life has hit rock bottom and so he turns to Martin for help.
Martin suggests the pair marry – for convenience and Luke agrees.
Together they settle into their new life, but traces of Luke’s dark past come back to haunt them. As well as that, Martin has his own family problems.
However, the longer they are together, the more Martin starts to feel for his old friend.
But is the feeling mutual? And will they go through with their “sham” marriage?
This Story Was Formerly Titled Making The Family
Kindle Edition
Published April 19, 2019
167 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 12, 2021
I forgot to delete this and found it on my kindle, managed to 3% it really is awful. This time properly culled, goodbye.
DNF at 2% I'd not normally rate but this was so awful I couldn't read on.
Very different vibe to that set by the cover. Two very gushy men, one too ridiculously klutz to live, did not read to where the niece was introduced because the fact she'd be left with them would annoy me.
It plays to the basest slapstick, poop (literally) in the face and ooh body-parts humour- very much not for me. Really saw no appeal.
DNF at 2% I'd not normally rate but this was so awful I couldn't read on.
Very different vibe to that set by the cover. Two very gushy men, one too ridiculously klutz to live, did not read to where the niece was introduced because the fact she'd be left with them would annoy me.
It plays to the basest slapstick, poop (literally) in the face and ooh body-parts humour- very much not for me. Really saw no appeal.
April 18, 2017
so you think you get a book of several hundred pages, only to realize it's in fact a short story with lots of other stuff following for the next 7/8 th of said book.
on the plus side: it was free
on the plus side: it was free
September 2, 2017
Normally I like/love marriages of convenience, but I just could not get into this one. Frankly in my opinion, it seemed like it didn't know if it was supposed to be comedic (enough about the dog poop and the clumsy mishaps) or serious - one contrived mystery is my limit, let alone three. It was difficult for me to get through.
January 14, 2018
My Video Review on Vimeo
My written and video reviews contain spoilers!
0 stars - DNF
For an explanation of my ratings, see my ratings legend. For brief reviews on hundreds of books, check out my site.
My written and video reviews contain spoilers!
0 stars - DNF
For an explanation of my ratings, see my ratings legend. For brief reviews on hundreds of books, check out my site.
August 31, 2020
Lost in translocation
Two and a half stars, rounded up. Poorly ported novel, written for a British location and repurposed to New York, supposedly. The plot seemed very familiar, albeit the haunted house segue was new. Only the voiced character was truly fleshed out.
Cleaning up my TBR queue, I've had this novel for a bit. As I am a gatherer of books, I collect books and ebooks from a variety of sources: Goodreads wins, BookBub, BookFunnel, Riffle, Prolific Works, emails from authors and publishers, and others. I do lose track of their sources. But, as a reader, I feel I should give an honest, unencumbered review for all I read.
Two and a half stars, rounded up. Poorly ported novel, written for a British location and repurposed to New York, supposedly. The plot seemed very familiar, albeit the haunted house segue was new. Only the voiced character was truly fleshed out.
Cleaning up my TBR queue, I've had this novel for a bit. As I am a gatherer of books, I collect books and ebooks from a variety of sources: Goodreads wins, BookBub, BookFunnel, Riffle, Prolific Works, emails from authors and publishers, and others. I do lose track of their sources. But, as a reader, I feel I should give an honest, unencumbered review for all I read.
August 15, 2017
This extended version of the original is so much better. It's still a bit busy and frenetic, but there are some much needed details that were missing in the shorter version and the story is more developed. The connection between Mason and Luke felt more real and I found myself rooting for this pair even though I already knew how that part of the tale would play out. It's a fun read with some silly thrown in to keep things light.
September 20, 2020
DNF, read half, not one of Van Cole's better reads. Found it very disjointed and hard to read eg
"I hadn’t stayed in the hospital very long and been discharged quickly the next morning. It was a week or so later".
Then 3 or 4 paragraphs later
"We were back in my apartment. It was a few days since the hospital had discharged me".
A week or so is not the same as a few days.
This type of error happened too often. Disappointing read.
"I hadn’t stayed in the hospital very long and been discharged quickly the next morning. It was a week or so later".
Then 3 or 4 paragraphs later
"We were back in my apartment. It was a few days since the hospital had discharged me".
A week or so is not the same as a few days.
This type of error happened too often. Disappointing read.
October 1, 2017
The Making of a Family: Gay Best Friend Billionaire Romance by Van Cole
This is Martin and Luke’s story.
The idea of this story was good but fell short for me. Martin and Luke’s characters really frustrated me. Neither seemed to make the right decisions and there was a child involved. But in the end everything worked out.
FYI, contains mature content. This is a MM romance.
This is Martin and Luke’s story.
The idea of this story was good but fell short for me. Martin and Luke’s characters really frustrated me. Neither seemed to make the right decisions and there was a child involved. But in the end everything worked out.
FYI, contains mature content. This is a MM romance.
June 27, 2017
Sweet love story!
Wonderful characters in a great discovery of love story. They do encounter a few hiccups along the way but the story keeps you interested and is a good page-turner.
Wonderful characters in a great discovery of love story. They do encounter a few hiccups along the way but the story keeps you interested and is a good page-turner.
August 21, 2017
An edited and extended version from this author. Martin is the same cooky character and Luke often forgets he is responsible for his young niece. Luke continues to believe everything his drug dealing ex says and centers his life around her. I had wished to see him grow up. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.
June 13, 2017
To short. No sex. It is very hard to follow.
June 30, 2018
An odd hot mess.
August 22, 2019
Don't get
A very slow read not something to buy a waste of time The story started off like it would be great and went down Hill after the second chapter two
A very slow read not something to buy a waste of time The story started off like it would be great and went down Hill after the second chapter two
February 2, 2022
couldn’t do it
Started off not too great so I kept on going as long as I could. Only made it 20 pages,
Started off not too great so I kept on going as long as I could. Only made it 20 pages,
July 13, 2024
This was cute.
December 12, 2021
A well written and funny short rom com
May 7, 2019
This book was about friends who to overcome things to protect family. They will play the role of husband and finally they start to see what they are missing in front of their eyes. you will enjoy the journey of Luke & Martin
April 26, 2019
this book is a lot like most of the books out there about best friends M/M read it could be better
April 26, 2019
Couldn't finish
This was so boring I could not and will not finish. Sorry just not the best I've found, but this was not worth my time.
This was so boring I could not and will not finish. Sorry just not the best I've found, but this was not worth my time.
April 6, 2020
The content and plot of this book was ok.. what really confused me was the words used. The book is supposedly set in New York City, but the main character kept using terms like rubbish, and bin to describe trash and a trash can.. it wouldn’t have been so bad if it were set in London or something, but i kept getting thrown off when the character kept mentioning NYC..
March 30, 2017
This story is very good and very entertaining.. the story has a great flow to it and the interaction between the characters is very sweet. I received and arc for an honest review
April 1, 2017
A fast-past, quick read. The story is a bit disjointed with a lot of things going on, one right after another - some amusing, some just disgusting (dog poop and vomit just aren't funny, IMO). I didn't see any actual romance, other than a couple of kisses initiated by Luke, until the very end when Martin and Luke finally tell each other how they feel. There's mention throughout that Martin is in love with Luke, but there was just too much crammed in on top of that to really feel it. Luke feels more like a secondary character than part of a romance throughout the book. He pops in and out randomly while Martin deals with everything. I would've preferred a little less activity and a little more substance to show why these two really wanted to get married as opposed to having to get married. I've read a couple of other books by this author that I enjoyed, but this one just didn't grab me.
April 8, 2017
Beautiful story about Luke and Martin!
April 28, 2017
A difficult read, having me confused at times. Martin sounds like he has his life together sometimes, and others cannot care for his dog. Luke has nothing going for him and cannot remember he is caring for his young niece more often than not. None of this was ever resolved. The situation with Martin's father wrapped up nicely, but seemed sudden and out of place with all the build up in their relationship. And the crack ex-girlfriend...Luke needed to resolve that, but just dropped away as well. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.
August 15, 2017
Sweet and selfless
I had originally read this about 6 months ago (with a slightly different title) and thought I'd better reread it before providing this review.
It is still a little crazy and funny at the beginning but it does have a serious theme.
Gay Marty comes up with the idea to convince social services that he and his straight best friend, Luke, are partners and they are due to marry shortly.
He hopes that by doing this, along with them moving in with him will convince social services that he and Amelia's uncle will make suitable guardians and parents following the death of her father and grandmother.
Both main characters are nice easy going guys but one is often trapped in his own head and the other is gullible.
There are several strands to this story but before too long straight Luke realises that he does in fact have romantic feelings for his gay best friend and that together they can make their relationship work and provide a stable and loving home for his niece.
You just have to watch out for the crazy dog, the harmless escapee and the duplicitous Anya and Alan along the way to their HEA.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had originally read this about 6 months ago (with a slightly different title) and thought I'd better reread it before providing this review.
It is still a little crazy and funny at the beginning but it does have a serious theme.
Gay Marty comes up with the idea to convince social services that he and his straight best friend, Luke, are partners and they are due to marry shortly.
He hopes that by doing this, along with them moving in with him will convince social services that he and Amelia's uncle will make suitable guardians and parents following the death of her father and grandmother.
Both main characters are nice easy going guys but one is often trapped in his own head and the other is gullible.
There are several strands to this story but before too long straight Luke realises that he does in fact have romantic feelings for his gay best friend and that together they can make their relationship work and provide a stable and loving home for his niece.
You just have to watch out for the crazy dog, the harmless escapee and the duplicitous Anya and Alan along the way to their HEA.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews