The Marriage Masquerade

By: Toni Logan

Narrated by: Lula Larkin

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Taylor Braxton needs to get married, then divorced, with no strings attached.

Taylor, a physical trainer, has just inherited her grandfather’s B&B on Maui, but there’s a catch. She can’t have the deed until the day after her one-year wedding anniversary. She’d rather stick a fork in her eye than get hitched, but the B&B is a dream come true. So all she has to do is find a woman who will agree to fake a marriage. How hard can it be?

Jayden Wheaton could use a year in paradise to help her recovery. After a crippling accident, she hires Taylor in the hope of gaining back some mobility. When Taylor casually mentions her dilemma, Jayden jumps at the chance, hoping the warm island temperatures will help with her chronic pain. A marriage masquerade in exchange for a year in Paradise? Yes, please. After all, it’s not like either of them are looking for romance, so there’s zero chance of their feelings complicating the arrangement. Right?

©2021 Toni Logan (P)2022 Bold Strokes Books Inc

Great story, okay ending.

The story itself was fantastic. I felt the ending was anticlimactic. I get that it's a romance and therefore sort of calls for a grand gesture, but I waited literally the entire book for Taylor to just freaking communicate and it never happens. I mean, we get told it does in like, the last pages, but we don't actually see her overcome her main issues like we do with Jaden.
After all that build up, I would have liked a real conversation to happen.
Overall it felt a little too Cinderella like. One character overcomes hardships, and the other grants a HEA as a reward. I mean, other than Taylor being hot, I had a hard time seeing what was so great about her.
If this couple was irl, I'd tell Jaden to insist Taylor get solo therapy and go to couples counseling for the marriage to continue before saying yes, both great things to do, but not the note I want to end the story on maybe?
"All right, this grand gesture is great and all, but you are gonna get therapy, right? OK then, a probationary yes. We'll see how it works out."
Also, idk about Hawaii but most states have a waiting period after filing for divorce, even when uncontested. That could have been utilized, like if they didn't realize that, then had to wait a few months, then actually worked on their (Taylor's) issues. Then withdrew the divorce request. Then had a freaking wedding because Jaden deserved it.

The writing quality was great, the plot and twists up to ending were great, the narrator was great. Charlotte was great. So 4.5 stars.
My issues with this are probably more about my opinions than the quality of the story tbh.

Charlotte

I will never look at sea turtles the same... Love love love love love Charlotte!

Deep, emotional book with HEA

Would definitely recommend reading it. Shows the process that all of us go through when a crisis or obstacle hits us in life. Reminds you why you need to be resilient. Plus there is a sea turtle named Charlotte that is an integral part of the story.

Broken the new perfect

That is one of the phrases in this book and I like it. This was a great book well written with good MC and good narration