Waking Up Married

by Berri Fox

Fake marriage isn’t all fun and games when it means lying to the US government.

But then again, my life was far from fun.
I was working horrible, dead-end jobs to pay my parents medical bills.
One step from getting evicted.

That’s when Vera comes in.
She’s the party girl of the Upper West Side.
Thousand dollar dresses and million dollar smiles.
But she has one problem.
She’s going to get kicked out of the country and needs a wife to stay.

Now, we’re faking a marriage to INS when we couldn’t be more different if we tried.

Vera and her friends have never worked a day in their lives.
I have no idea what a salad fork is.
My apartment costs less than her shoes.
She’s never eaten a hot dog in her life.
But if we want this to succeed, we’re gonna have to meet in the middle.

If we fail, we’re screwed.
We’ve already lied to the INS.
They could throw us in jail.

And that’s not the honeymoon I ever dreamed of.

This is a standalone lesbian romance novel with steamy scenes. It does have a happy ending.

Genres: Romance

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 28, 2020

Reviews

[Netgyrl (Laura) · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 59% - Was struggling with my feeling about this book then hit the first sex scene and was like WTF?

I am not a complicated person. I just wanted a fun little rich-girl-poor-girl wish fulfillment fantasy fluffiness. This book is not it.


The whole set up was kind iffy and didn't really make any scene, like really, how hard would it be for a beautiful billionaire to find someone willing to marry them? Gimme a break. But fine, whatever. She keeps calling whatever poor person she can con into marrying her a "mark". Unpleasant.

Frankly, I should have called it there but I keep reading with my fingers crossed. Vera sees Erica, working on a construction site. She is working her ass off while a bunch of guys stand around. Erica decides to help her out and gets the guys to finish the job Erica was doing alone and gives Erica her card. She tells her she had proportion for her and she should call. Erica hems and haws, but she is in debt up to her eyeballs, is on the verge of being evicted from her crappy apartment and her parents are both sick and need financial help from her so she finally called the number.

They have dinner and the minute she realizes what Vera wants (marriage to avoid deportation) she is outta there because she is not going to be involved in something illegal. I like Erica, she maybe down on her luck and desperate but she has her own personal integrity. I think, huh, maybe this book IS worth reading.

Vera hunts her down and while trying to orchestrate a way to get Erica to talk to her, instead gets her fired. Nice dick move. Erica is understandably pissed off and reads Vera the riot act. I am still thinking, ok awesome. Erica is no wimpy pushover. After some groveling (Vera) and yelling (Erica) and a bit more story goes by we get to a point where Erica agrees to the marriage. It looks like we might get a bit of a Pretty Woman shopping spree but its not really that fun and then Vera's rich-bitch friends show up and ruin everything and Vera denies Erica and calls her a charity case. Erica runs away because yes girl RUN.

More plot yada yada....

All of this is like, whatever, it's not very good and then there is a kind of questionable masturbation scene with Vera fantasying about what she would do to Erica in bed and its not comfortable to read. Lets just say she's dominating her in a painful way. Again, I should just give up on this story but I don't because I keep hoping Erica will save this book. And I am a masochist I guess.

Erica and Vera start to get to know each other and Vera pays for all of Erica's bills and decides she will just have to go back to Russia. Erica has a change of heart and after overhearing Vera's "friends" talk about how stupid Vera is for letting them all take advantage of her money. She shows up to the immigration meeting and pretends to be Vera's fiancée and it goes well. It's cute, they are happy, they celebrate, then head back to Erica's shitty apartment to have sex. What? Why? Billionaire Vera has a PENTHOUSE. Ok, whatever. Then Vera starts getting weird with domination self-talk. The scene is rushed, not hot at all. Vera starts going downtown and This scene takes place from Vera's POV.

...she grabs my head and quickly says, "Wait. Wait."
(thinking) What? Fucking hell!!
"I'm...I'm shy," she breathes out airily.
"What the fuck, Erica, It's like you literally gave me a free pass and then took it back immediately after," I mutter grumbling, my voice muffled by her stomach. "Don't you want this?" I continue.



And thus, we hit the WTF moment when I finally admit defeat and realize its time to move on. Ugh.

[Tinything · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well.. this story seemed like it escalated at the speed of light! From finding a fake wife to fall in love in a span of 7 days? If i remember correctly, Vera had an immigration interview in 4 days about her marriage that was also when she found Erica as well. Than there was this family problem going on right after the interview (one night after i think). And things happened and solved. Lead them to admitted that they love each other. And fake marriage is not really a fake marrige anymore. I think all these happened within one month. (I probably missed out some detail somewhere 🙄). But with the green light that Vera really need, i think their marriage can't really delay. But there were also things a bit over the top to me.

Err.. I don't know. My head is a bit heavy at the moment. Sorry. An okay for me.

[Lesbian Romance Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erica is plowing through life, working hard to send money back to her family, barely making ends meet. Vera is a Russian socialite who is facing deportation. Vera comes up with a plan to marry someone who is down and out.

I couldn't wrap my head around what Vera did during her days but I rolled with it.

[sweet_psycho · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was just a no go

[Gina L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting Story!

What started out as a standard rich girl, poor girl story turned into something else. Erica and Vera’s rocky start and ultimately Vera’s proposition, takes this story on an interesting journey. The attraction was there but was it enough to get hitched. Both of them are trying to come to terms that the people in their lives are taking them for granted. Through the ups and downs of their lives they find the love for each other. The story unravels to a loving conclusion. I am a big fan of Berri Fox but in this book there was a part where Erica’s brother runs into Vera and tries to hit on her but she turns the table on him but with a threat to keep away from Erika and her parents. She then gives him a blank check and tells him to go and threatens she will go after him. This is so idiotic and not believable in this story. We find out that check was cleared for a million but her brother still comes back to cause trouble. Not even remotely believable. That changes how I saw this book in the end.

[Milena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

Vera doesn’t want to be deported back to Russia so she decides that she has to get married. She even makes a mental list of places to find someone that would like to have a fake marriage. While on her journey she comes across Erica working. After meeting Erica, Vera can’t get her off her mind and hopes that Erica will call her. Vera has some anxiety that Erica won’t call her and realizes she didn’t get her number, but she figures out how to find Erica. It was a very enjoyable read.

Of course there are kinks thrown in that have to be worked out. The biggest kink is Bob.

[Patricia Vander Kamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story of love ...

So much baggage to unpack, but with the strength of patience, acceptance, compassion, and love Vera and Erica join hands and their lives to achieve a happily ever after journey. The characters and plot were well developed and relatable. A good read. I heartily recommend this and any other works by this author. Thank you Peace

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Princess and the Pauper

Vera need a wife so she can stay. Erica is drowning in debt and her parents need her help. Can Vera and Erica help each other? This a lovely little lesbian romance book with characters you can love.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but scattered

The idea is fun, the characters are enjoyable enough, but the plot and the storyline is just all over the place.

I think Berri Fox needs to sit down with a good editor because the story feels disjointed.

[Searchr.23 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soooo corny, but I kinda liked it