Review: Reluctantly Married

I have read two books by Victorine Lieske and have a third rapidly rising on my TBR list. I enjoy reading her work for two reasons. First, she is a very good writer. Her characters are fully developed, her descriptions let the reader visualize the setting and her plots are engaging.  Second, she writes “flinch-free” romance and romantic suspense.  Everyone has their personal threshold of like and dislike when it comes to romance but for me, I love the romance of two people falling in love and navigating their feelings, deceptions, misunderstandings and circumstances.  Yes, her characters enjoy physical attraction but as a reader, I appreciate that there is no bed-hopping or explicitly described sexual scenes.

So let’s take a look at Victorine’s newest work, Reluctantly Married. Just a joy to read. Megan is one of my favorite characters – spunky, strong, feminine and uncertain all rolled into one. I find myself rooting for her throughout the book and I really cheered (believe me, I have the funny looks from my husband to prove it) during one scene.  Adam is a great hero. He’s handsome, of course because let’s face it ladies we want a handsome hero when we’re reading romance, but that’s the least of his charms. He deceives Megan but somehow you can’t seem to hold it against him. He’s just the most caring, compassionate man you’d ever want to meet and I found myself rooting for him too.

The dialog is wonderful. There were two passages between Megan and Adam that were so clever I read them to my husband, who laughed along with me. I enjoyed that none of the characters, major or minor, seemed two-dimensional. Everyone seemed to have both strengths and weaknesses.

While the plot was engaging, I did find it stretching just a little beyond the credibility zone a few times. I can’t tell you where the plot holes are without being a spoiler but a couple of them detracted a bit from the flow of the story. That said, these gaps did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

I recommend you take a look not only at Reluctantly Married, but at all of Victorine Lieske’s work. I think you’ll be glad you did.