Just how legally binding is a promise made on a cocktail napkin?
Kristen has always been married to her work, but she’s beginning to wonder if that’s all there is to life. One night, after a few too many shots of vodka, she reveals her desire to get married to the wrong man—her annoying, cocky law partner Jason.
Jason vows to help in her quest to find a man. After all, he has a vested interest in her success. Years earlier, they foolishly made a pact that if they hadn’t found “the one” by age forty, they’d marry each other. Time is running out.
Problem is, as Jason and Kristen try to help each other find love, it becomes more and more apparent that maybe the back-up plan isn’t such a bad option after all.
Writing a book was number one on Mari Carr’s bucket list. A New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller, Mari’s computer is now jammed full of stories — novels, novellas, short stories and dead-ends. Mari writes contemporary sexy romance novels. To learn more about her spicy stories, click here. Join her newsletter so you don't miss new releases and for exclusive subscriber-only content. Find Mari on the web at maricarr.com Email: mari@maricarr.com
The Back-Up Plan by Mari Carr is book four in the Second Chances series. This is a series that keeps you on your toes emotionally! I was drawn in from page one of book one, and I have not been let go yet. In true Mari Carr fashion each of the stories are unique, but they have a similar tone. This book is amazingly great! These two truly are blind to what is right in front of their eyes. Sometimes your back-up plan is the route you should have been on along.
Kristen isn’t like her girlfriends. She is pretty much married to her life, and she certainly doesn’t believe in the myths of love and passion. But she is lonely. So her goal for this year is to find someone to spend the rest of her life with someone that she can have a good time with so she doesn’t have to go through this life alone. One night after way too many shots of vodka, she and her law partner Jason make a deal to be each other’s back-up plan. If they don’t find a forever person by the age of 40, they will marry each other. That clock is ticking fast in her ear!! So when she makes the resolution to get married this year, she has almost a year left on that back-up plan agreement.
Jason and Kristen make it their goal to help the other find love, but as they keep setting each other up they can’t help but look at each other in a new light. This back-up plan is looking more and more like it should be the plan, but can they see it before they end up in different relationships?
I absolutely loved the chemistry between these two!! They have that bickering banter that I love in a couple. Sometimes it is just as fun to bicker with someone as it is to be all about passion. In my eyes that can make the passion hotter, and it certainly works for them! They just about melt the screen of you e-reader!!! I can’t recommend this book and series enough!! Don’t miss out on them!!!!!!! :)
I have loved this series, when your in the mood for a short, friends to lovers, sweet love story with a bit of naughty nookie thrown in then this is the fluffilicious series for you. They all centre round a group of girl-friends who make life changing decisions on New Year's Eve.
This story centred around Jason and Kristen and the pact and contract they made five years earlier on Kristens 35th birthday to marry each other if they hadn't found anyone for themselves. Jason (Slutty McSluttson) is a player who sleeps his way through life and women and has been like this since Kristen first met him, Niether have ever looked at each other in any other way than the bantering bickering friends and co-workers they are, but as their 40th birthdays loom they decide to fix each other up with possible suiters, this doesn't go quite the way they planned. An easy read.
Jason and Kristen have been in each other's lives for a very ling time. Since law school until now when they have their own law firm. They never thought of each other more than partners who enjoyed each other's company. Jason is a typical womanizer and she was looking for anything but a player. And it was on Kristen's 35th birthday that they decided to have a pact that they'll marry each other when Kristen ends up single in her 40th birthday. Fastforward 5 years later, and Kris hadn't found The One. And the devil came knocking for her soul.
I said this before but this is a very quick and cute romance story. It lacked the depth I needed to understand the two more clearly, especially with Jason and Kristen's background but it was enjoyable. I also thought the time jump in the beginning took some time to introduce the characters and their history better.
Overall, really enjoyed it and looking forward to read more of this series.
Lately, career-focused and workaholic lawyer, Kristen Grey has been feeling increasingly unsatisfied with her life. The law practice she has built up with her partner now a success, the long office hours and lonely nights are becoming less and less attractive. With her fortieth birthday around the corner, she lets drop at a New Year's gathering with her girlfriends that her resolution should be to find a husband before she turns the big four oh....
When her law-partner, and thorn in her side, Jason Mitchell, finds out about her plan, it doesn't take him long to remind her of an alcohol-induced contract they both signed on a cocktail napkin years ago. A deal where, if neither had found their match by the time they turned forty, they would marry each other. Jason himself had slowed down his philandering ways, craving some more stability, and they agree to help each other find good dating prospects.
While attempting to find each other the right match, Jason and Kristen start looking more closely at the person they have worked with for over a decade and discover they are learning new things every day. Suddenly there is an attraction that was never there before and once it is unleashed, there is no turning it back. Perhaps their back-up plan should be given some closer consideration......
*****
Deliciously fun and fabulous read!!
First off I have to say I love this series. Second Chances is about a group of women who get together regularly, they sit around on a New Years Eve, discussing their hopes and dreams for the coming year. Each book in the series follows one of the women on their path. It means the books mostly run concurrently, and although the characters might appear in any or all of them, each book remains a standalone novel. THE BACK-UP PLAN is Kristen's story.
I can't tell you how wonderful it is to read a book that is NOT about someone fresh out of college, but instead about a more mature woman who has been driven to pursue a career and forfeited a serious relationship for the sake of her work. Not the romantic choice, but then Kristen is not a romantic. Not at all. In fact, when she starts her quest to look for a husband, at best she is looking for companionship. She is happy with her collection of vibrators (yes, collection!) and simply wants someone to chase away the loneliness without expectations of love, romance or hot sex.
Enter Jason, who his entire life thus far (more or less), has made it an art to indulge in the 'good times'. A tease, a flirt, a good-natured bachelor, not really someone who takes life too seriously. But although he is looking to settle down some, his first instinct is still to go after the same type of woman he is accustomed to have his 'flings' with. Except, when he sees what and who Kristen has been hiding underneath that stuffy and stiff office exterior, everyone else pales in comparison.
Their abrassive interactions turn into an explosive match-up, that blows any and all expectations each had of the other completely out of the water.
I love the concept of this entire series by Mari Carr, basing it from one and the same event and following the different threads from there....reconnecting the original characters from time to time, touching base to see where everyone is at in their lives. The love scenes in this book are so enjoyable; as scorching hot as ever, but with a lightness and a mature ease, a touch of humour and a sense of self-awareness that is incredibly appealing!
Although highly recommended for anyone, I have a feeling that women who have seen a bit more of life, will perhaps find a tad more connective tissue with this book!!
✨A sizzling, spirited and stimulating agreement.✨
**Copy provided in return for an honest agreement.**
I m really enjoyin this series I luv the wine girls there a great set of woman an al different but it was Kristen turn in this 1 I ve luvd what i ve read about her in the last 3 an I knew a bit about Jason but I luvd there story an how they finally a got 2gether an I like how the books fit 2gether its good but i found this 1 a bit hard 2get in2 but once I got in2 it I luvd it xxx
Loved this friends/co-workers-to-lovers story by Mari Carr. Kristen and Jason make what they laugh off as a silly "pact" to marry if they don't find someone else by the time they hit 40. Years later as they're zooming towards Kristen's 40th, maybe that pact doesn't seem all that silly after all.
I'm impressed with how Ms Carr keeps each story in this series unique, while maintaining her usual humor and heat and the heartwarming and real dialog between the characters and the pleasure of their friendships.
Well book four and I’m still so attached to these books I just need to keep reading from one to the next . Kristen and Jason have been friends for a long time running there law firm but never realizing they would make a wonderful couple ... Kristen is tough but Jason want let her get away this time
I enjoyed this book! It’s interesting to me that friends that work together can’t always see what the other means to them. This is a great story of how these two couldn’t see the relationship that was happening right in front of them! I’m so happy that they finally found each other!!
Mari Carr can do no wrong in this series and Near You is no exception. I love that this 'older' romance held all the heat and steam of a 20-something romance. The banter between the characters is smart and funny. I enjoyed everything about this book and this series.
There's a fine fine line between love and hate, sometimes the things we hate the most is exactly the thing we need to finally fall in love, sometimes that thing is a person.
An enemies to friends story that will have you looking at that person you can't stand just a little more closely.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The always talented Mari Carr has created a fascinating series about second chances. The series features a group of six women who decide one New Year’s Eve to make a resolution that this is the year they make some changes in their lives. Each woman decided what would make them happy and they then go after it.
The Back Up Plan is the fourth book in the series. Kristen is a successful attorney who has focused her attention on creating a successful legal practice, to the detriment of her social life. As her 40th birthday approaches, she realizes that she is tired of being alone. Kristen is determined to find a husband to keep her company in her old age. At least she has her back up plan. She and her law partner Jason wrote a contract years ago promising to marry each other if they can’t find other partners by their 40th birthday.
What follows is a fun romp as Jason and Kristen agree to find the right person for each other. After all, the two of them have been friends too long for there to be anything romantic between them, right? Though I wasn’t surprised at the direction of the story, I was surprised at how much fun I had while reading. I found myself smiling and laughing throughout the story as Kristen and Jason tried to fight the obvious chemistry between the two.
Ms. Carr has written a delightful story featuring two very real characters. I truly appreciated the fact the lead characters were mature, well established people. Kristen is an intelligent, confident, secure woman who just doesn’t need a man but wants one to offer love and companionship. Jason is a fun-loving, confident guy who has sown his wild oats and is looking for a strong, smart woman to be by his side as an equal.
There is a lot of humor in The Back Up Plan, yet it still manages to be serious and that is what makes the entire story believable. I absolutely loved the relationship between Kristen and Jason. Their bickering made me laugh and their sexual romps made me envious. Ms. Carr really knows how to write a sex scene so that you’re turning on fans to cool yourself off.
The Back Up Plan can be read as a standalone though you really should read the other books in the series because they are that good. All the books in the series occur concurrently, so each of the women make an appearance in this book and you get to catch a glimpse of their stories from a different point of view. With so many great stories and characters, this is series is a definite must read!
Fourth book, fourth woman. Now it's Kristen, who vows to be married by the end of the year. The thing is, she turns forty this year, and she's made a pact with her law partner, Jason, that they'll get married if she hasn't done that by the time she turns forty. As it is, they agree to set each other up with dates they think are perfect for them. But as the year progresses, Kristen realizes that what she thinks she wants in a husband isn't what she actually wants. While Kristen has always thought Jason is cocky and arrogant, as they spend time together she realizes there might be more to him than that.
This is the first book in this series where the male leads gets some proper character development. Then again, Jason's character sometimes comes off as a little too close to be sexist for him to ever win me over completely. But it was nice to see a male lead in this series that wasn't perfect from the go, but did some growing throughout the short story.
3.5 stars. This was a good story but predictable. Both characters make a contract to marry the other if they aren't married by their 40th birthday. Fast forward to their 40th birthday year and neither of them are married and Kristen herself is lonely. She's made her career her life and it has worked out well but she isn't very much a romantic and thinks companionship will be enough for her. Jason is her partner in her law practice and they spar constantly. She thinks he's a playboy and he thinks she's an ice queen. What they don't realize is that they are right for each other and they are right in front of the other. I like this series. I wanted a bit more for this character. I'm happy for her ending and look forward to the other women's stories.
3.5 stars.....I loved that she mentioned Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" as a romantic song (my favorite band ever); I loved that they were almost 40 (seriously, why are all romance novels about 20 year olds!?); and I loved Jason. The plot was very much like The Pact by Karina Halle, one of my favorites, and I really wanted to love this as much or more than The Pact because of the aforementioned reasons, but the character development was rather lacking. Maybe because I didn't read any of the others in the series. I'll definitely be checking out the rest of the author's work, the writing was great and there's nothing worse than terrible writing or lots of errors.
I love this series. Each book follows one of the wine girls, a group of women who have become friends and get together every Thursday to drink wine and catch up with each other, as they work on their Second Chance goal. This story follows Kristen and her Second Chance goal, which was to get married by her 40th Birthday. She sets about trying to find the right guy for her and enlists the help of her friend and business partner, Jason. Along the way she finds out some things about herself that she never realised. Great read and can't wait to hear more from these girls.
My wine girls are at it again. Now up, Kristen. Marry before she's 40? I loved all the quick witty banter between her and Jason. All the snapping and arguing was very funny. The funny way of trying to get Kristen to let her hair down and relax. That pact they made one drunken night? Well turns out that all those heated arguments really,really, make good foreplay that lead to OMG sex!
On the contrary to 'Status update', I found this one the best of the series, in my opinion, practically deserving five stars. I loved both of the protagonists, the storyline and the way the characters develop, regardless I love the theme this book is about.
Once real life got out of my way, I devoured this one - like I do so many of Mari Carr's books. I loved the back and forth with Jason and Kristen! But the ending was the best part!