Unholy Matrimony

by Audra Red

Benjamin Bell is a reluctant architect living in the city that never sleeps. On a weekend vacation to Las Vegas, the city of sin, he finds that there’s more to life than board meetings, sensible suits, and doing what is expected of him. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?

In Benjamin Bell’s case, a little bit of Vegas follows him home in the form of Mason Hadley. Little did Benjamin know that during his drunken escapades with Mason, he also signed a marriage license. What will Genevieve, Ben’s uptight fiancée, think of their new houseguest? And what will happen when she finds out that Mason isn’t Benjamin’s brother, but really his lawfully wedded husband?

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Gay, Contemporary, Queer, Gay For You, M M Contemporary

135 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Audra Red, known for her gay romance trilogy "Chalk Butterfly," is an ex-librarian and copyeditor turned romance and erotica connoisseur. She is currently working on a handful of gay romance novellas along with spicing up her writing catalog by penning pure erotica shorts. Look for both audio and print versions of her works in the near future!

From heart-melting romance to titillating erotica, Ms. Red hopes to help bring the gay romance genre to a more mainstream audience.

Visit Ms. Red online at www.audrared.com for news, banned books and more!

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

07/16/14 Audible Version. 3 Stars. I still enjoyed the story very much but the narrator was wretched and ruined some of my happiness.

12/10/10 I know that there are a lot of mixed reviews on this book but I have to say I just loved it. It's not perfect by any means and neither are the MC's but I'm still feeling the love.

[Elisa Rolle]

Wealthy and handsome Benjamin Bell has everything he wants in life, a penthouse apartment in Park Avenue, NYC, an easy job at his father architecture firm, and beautiful girlfriend... but he awakes in a hotel room with an hangover and no idea of what he did the night before. Two baby blue eyes and milky white skin is the only remembrance he has of the person he spent the night with, and not sleeping if the five used condoms he finds in the room are any indication. His friend Lucas, who was with him in Las Vegas, advices him to forget everything and not tell to his girlfriend, since that mysterious person was a boy not a girl. Ben seems more surprise to have cheated on his girlfriend than to having had his first experience with a man, from what we read, he is from a very liberal family, the biggest of three siblings, two out of three gays and without any fuss about it from their parents. So no, Ben apparently is no worried from his family finding out, and the relationship with his girlfriend is not exactly perfect, so why he is so shocked when Mason, the bartender / stripper he spent the night with, knocks at his doors? I think Mason is exactly what Ben needs.

Both men are not exactly "men", and I'm not speaking of a physical appearance, even if Mason is a little pretty thing. It's more a question of emotional development. Ben has always had everything he wanted from life, and without much problem. He couldn't even rebel, like most of the too rich kids do, since everything others considered rebellion, his parents considered free will. Not having the chance to mature outside his family, Ben, even if 25 years old, is still like a teenager, trying to please his family but at the same time, doing everything it's against his own happiness. I believe he refuses to aknowledge that he is gay, since doing so he will be like his other siblings, and he doesn't want, since being "normal" is his own form of rebellion.

And then there is Mason, 19 years old and out of his own since he was 15. Usually this type of hero is treated like someone who had to grow too soon, and now is disillusioned by life. Instead Mason, even with a past of exotic dancer, is still behaving like a little kid in need of the shelter of a family. The only thing Mason has to assure him shelter and food is his body, and even if he doesn't arrive to sell it, he uses it in exchange. Despite that, he is still more innocent than guilty, and he tends to pout and cry, more than arise a shield against the world.

25 and 19 years old is not being adult, and so yes, both Ben than Mason behaves more like two boys, barely out of puberty. Due to that, the story is more romantic than erotic, even if there are quite a few of sex scenes. But in a way, the authors push more on the cuddling and teasing side, than on the real intercourse. Reading of these two men, of their life, is more like reading of two kids playing adults, than a real life. It helps that being Ben so wealthy, they can allow to be careless and happy, without worrying of paying the rent or bills.

Ben is for Mason the prince charming on a white horse, and it doesn't matter if Ben is not exactly a warrior, the only thing that counts is that he will bring Mason away from his poor hut to live in a castle... even if the castle is financed by Ben's dad.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003G2ZHXO/?...

[Ririn · Rating 1 out of 5]

girly girly girlyyyy~!!!!!!!!
I can't believe the rating was so high for this book! Seriously, I've read fanfics better than this, scratch that, WAAAAAYYY better than this. This sounds like a fanfic I wrote when I'm fifteen, I mean without the sex of course >_< I just wanna kill the main characters. If you're looking for some warm fuzzy feeling then this is your book.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have come to enjoy this storyline I shall call 'marrying under the influence'. Truly, Vegas is a dangerous place to be if you can't hold your liquor after you've picked up a date for the night. At least that's my observation after reading three romance novels with that being the case.

This is one that if I had paid close attention to the gist of the story before I picked it up; I probably wouldn't have read it. I'm not big on cheating and this whole story is a result of a guy lying and cheating. It turned out that I wasn't as upset by the cheating as I usually am because of what else was going on in the story and its lighter tone. I'm not saying the ends justify the means, but in this case, everyone was much happier as a result of the things his misdemeanors set in motion so I went with it and ended up enjoying the story.

Ben wakes up in his hotel room after a very debauched night on the town in Vegas and looks around with a feeling of dread on top of the hangover. As he moves about practically tripping over the used condoms and empty bottles, he realizes that not only did he cheat on his girlfriend, but he cheated on her with a man.

His best bud and co-conspirator, Lucas, tells him they'll keep it a secret and Genevieve need never know. Lucas thinks Genevieve isn't the woman for Ben and tells him so all the time. Ben secretly agrees on one level, but he also likes her enough to feel awful about things. He and Lucas return to NYC to their jobs for the architect firm owned by Ben's dad and hopefully back to normal. Ben tries to pretend. Everything reminds him of Mason, the man he was with, including when he is intimate with Genevieve. This drives him to guiltily propose to Genevieve. He should be happy, but it feels all hollow and wrong. He wants to love Genevieve and she makes his dad happy and he likes her too though he admits to himself that they tend to do just fine going their separate ways with her fashion design work and his job at the firm. She doesn't stir him to passion anymore than he seems to stir her. She redesigned his apartment suite and seems to want to do the same thing with his life. They've just been drifting until now.

Life gets a bit more complicated when he no sooner discovers the receipt for his marriage to Mason then Mason is standing on his doorstep. Ben wants to get rid of him even as he is secretly still attracted. Mason discovers about Genevieve and blackmails Ben into letting him stay. He will keep quiet about their marriage and pretend to be Ben's brother if Ben will let him stay long enough to find a dancing job on Broadway. Ben has no choice if he doesn't want his lies to catch up with him. Gen and Mason bristle around each other and Ben feels the discomfort of being stuck in the middle. He grows more and more confused about what he wants with Genevieve and with life in general since he never wanted to be an architect. Genevieve goes off to Paris for a fashion show leaving the two men alone for a week. Ben tries to deny his feelings and attraction for Mason, but the longer they spend together it gets harder to avoid and deny. A crisis comes that wakes him up and forces him to stop lying, but he might have put it off for too long now that Mason took him at his word and is gone.

I had some real issues with this story- primarily the cheating and lying, but these were balanced out with some stuff I liked too. Ben is the narrator and he was not a favorite of mine particularly from the beginning. There wasn't a great deal to like or respect. Let's just say he had a ton of growing to do, but fortunately he does end up growing. He got himself into the mess he was in and when I say that I mean that he sat back and let his dad dictate his career to him because he wanted to please his dad, then he let Genevieve dictate how things were going to be in their relationship and private life and then he got so drunk that he married a stranger in Vegas. He just seemed to be helpless about stuff, but then having Mason around seemed to give him a little more impetus to change. Not as much as I would have liked because he tended to avoid further communication and confrontation with his dad and Genevieve that got things sticky again. I didn't care for Genevieve and she had her own issues, but Ben didn't handle things well with her either. He was Mason's hero and Mason loved him, but he just wasn't hero material to me much of the time.

Now that being said, I did enjoy watching Ben grow a bit and experience a true relationship for the first time with Mason. Mason wouldn't let Ben get away with his fallback behaviors of denying and lying. He forced Ben to be his true self and analyze his life. Mason is a gentle soul, but he is not afraid to go out and grab hold to what he wants and what would make him happy. He doesn't think well of himself, but Ben was good about seeing Mason's worth and making it clear that he did. Ben's always had things handed to him on a silver platter, but now he has someone who needs him and needs him to take care of them. He likes that feeling and was starting to move in a good direction by the end of the book. They really are good for each other.

I enjoyed that side story with Ben's friend Lucas too. Lucas gave it to Ben straight and that cyber dating he did with Laura just cracked me up.

So in the end, I was pleased with the overall story and would recommend it to those who enjoy lighter M/M Contemporary Romance.

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that this is a really lovely story. I loved the storyline, its not exactly new but I liked it! And I loved the ending! Five stars for the book.

But the narrator...... Three stars for the narrator.
The narrator isn’t bad but just not the best choice for this book. He made a 25 year old character sound like my grandpa and a 19 year old like a whiny kid most of the time, that really made me cringe. And he spoke way too slow for my liking. I had to adjust the speed and that made it a bit better.

This review is based on the audiobook.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that great. These were technically adults, but not very mature. I listened as an audio, and the narrator didn't really fit the piece (too old sounding for the 25-year-old Ben, and too randomly southern sounding for the 19-year-old Mason, who was raised in Las Vegas). I've pretty much decided to stay away from further works by this narrator, even if I can get the listens for free.

[Lada · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book from these authors, and it's better than the first. This is a wild and fun story to read. Mason is such a good and adorable boy that I can forgive him for the blackmail. And the two of them fumbling together in their unholy matrimony is just so cute.

[Macky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narration not great. Need to up speed to 1.2 to make it sound okay but didn’t really like the narrators interpretation or tone to begin with.

[Kassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella has a fun and interesting premise and is surprisingly not filled with sex scenes. There is at least an attempt to bring more character and plot into the story, yet sadly the story still isn’t completely successful. There are several writing and pacing issues as well as a lack of depth to the characters beyond their surface descriptions. Additionally there is very little action, as the characters seem to just exist rather than engaging in interesting dialogue or scenes. Thus the book actually drags and ends several times before the final “the end.” The shallow characters may not bother some readers who are looking for a fun premise and easy story though.

Ben and his best friend Lucas take a much needed short break and head to Vegas for the weekend. What starts innocently enough spirals into a night of debauched drunken behavior as Ben can’t remember anything that happened. Yet the hotel room filled with used condoms, empty bottles, and his wrecked appearance give some clues. Lucas advises Ben to forget the weekend and head home as if nothing happened, after all one drunken night doesn’t make Ben gay. However the more flashbacks that come to Ben of that night, the more intrigued he is by the dark haired boy he met. When Mason shows up in New York, Ben’s well orderly life is flipped upside down.

The plot itself is rather weak as there is very little action and detail afforded to the story. There is one sentence that the year is 2012, which explains why two men can get married legally in Vegas. However, other than this one sentence there is no additional detail or nuance to capture the time period, a few years in the future, which leaves this detail feeling very much like an easy cop out. The story concentrates on Ben’s acceptance of Mason more than anything and figuring out what makes him, Ben, truly happy. Told in third person from Ben’s point of view, the reader is meant to follow Ben on his emotional journey as he has flashbacks to the night with Mason as well as his struggle to do what makes him happy versus doing what’s expected of him.

The characters are rather shallow without much depth and attention given to their personalities beyond their surface actions. Ben comes from a very liberal family, the only heterosexual child of three kids, so he has healthy respect for the gay lifestyle. Ben has simply never been interested in men so his intense passion for Mason catches him by surprise. This acts as a catalyst to jar Ben from his safe decisions and force him to reevaluate his life. Most of these decisions are forced on Ben rather than him taking the initiative but other than refusing sex with Mason, he adapts to a gay lifestyle incredibly well. Mason for his part is a flamboyant brat that has some depth given to him due to his difficult past. Although he’s nineteen, he’s been used most of his life and doesn’t know what a healthy relationship is about. Unfortunately Mason makes little change and almost no growth for the space of the book, yet he remains a fun and interesting – if incredibly bratty – character.

The relationship between the two men is awkward at times and mostly based on mutual lust. Ben and Mason claim to love each other but the basis for that love is a mystery. The characters themselves can’t really explain why they love each other or the reasons, but this detail is unlikely to bother romance fans. The writing has some problems and there are several editing mistakes. The story seems to be written in short sentences with an emphasis on dialogue and brief action. The lack of tight, cohesive writing is reflected in the meandering plot, which ultimately drags in several places. Included at the end are a few gratuitous sex scenes once the two men have worked everything out and have their happy ending, yet the book lingers to add in several of those scenes since they were missing for the majority of the book.

Although this is not a wholly successful book, some readers may enjoy the light premise and quirky characters. The problematic writing style is becoming very common from this particular publisher and thus fans of the press are unlikely to be bothered. I didn’t find this offering all that interesting but the character of Mason was enough to entice me to finish the book. Perhaps others will fall in love with him as Ben did, he certainly has a unique charm.

[Michelle Bowman / We Love Kink .com · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given a ARC for an honest review and let me say, this is one hot novella. (It was short but oh so sweet) Ben and his best friend Lucas take a few days away from the office and head out to Las Vegas. Ben has a Long term relationship with Genevieve, but is clearly not happy so he tells her that the trip to Vegas is business related. Ben gets drunk out of his mind, and falls head over heels for Mason…That’s right, another man and they end up at the Chapel of Love. Ben has little memory of all that he has done when he wakes up alone the next day, but the evidence in the room, indicates somebody had lots and lots of sex. It is just hallarious.

I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book, and yet a sadness in both of these character that makes them grab the first bit of happiness that they have had in a while and go to the extreme of getting married.

Mason shows up with his suitcase and marriage certificate in hand, and Ben almost strokes out, when Mason threatens to disclose his secret. Imagine trying to introduce your girlfriend/fiancee to your one night stand husband. This is an awesome hot kinky read and well worth the read.

*reviewd by Geri

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read, just not my typical genre. I will on occasions give an MM a shot but usually it is part of a series I am reading. This was a really interesting story but just left me cold.

Part of my problem is both characters are young and kind of immature. They just did not connect with me, I tried but, just eh.

The steam way hot and heavy, really plentiful. I wish I were into this genre. If you like MM and New Adult sort of characters you will really enjoy this book.

It had a interesting plot and well written, I am glad I gave it a shot, but it definitely confirms this is not really my thing.

*Disclosure- I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, opinions and ratings are my own.*

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an absurdly delightful story. I love Mason, his style, his eyes, his mouth. Ben is uptight in a non-uptight family with a girlfriend made of ice until he goes to Vegas. Not going to say much as I do not want to ruin it. If you want to laugh. If you want a twink who is flawed but beautiful. If you need to smile. Read this.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I must have had a good time last night but what did I do?" is the premise of this book.
Ben wakes up in a hotel room to evidence of how he spent the night and realises he has cheated on his girlfriend but has no idea who with. And so the story begins. It is an MM story so that gives away one detail, but you find that out soon enough.

I haven't read it recently but the plot remains with me.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Total fluff, but I just loved this! Just what I was in the mood to read. Lighthearted, funny with totally unbelievable plot and two guys hot for each other. I'm looking forward to reading more from these authors!

[Ashty · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I want to say is that I am looking forward to reading all audra beagle's books. :D

[Southernangel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorably cute. Was one of my favorites in the fan fiction era, and is still absolutely brilliant.

[Bink257 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these characters, their personalities and interactions were entertaining. It was a fun read!

[Coribooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time I've read a MM erotic romance and really enjoyed it.

[Njoki · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a gem.totally loved this book.and the banter was on point.its amazing how I forgot this was an ofy.Ben took it like a champ. no melodrama for him.