The Marriage Test

By: Suzanne Redfearn

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

Length: 1 hr and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a heartfelt short story about one couple’s journey to discover if there really is a secret ingredient to happily ever after before their upcoming holiday wedding.

When Ava Barnes’s boyfriend, Justin, proposes after a whirlwind romance, the young couple embarks on a quest that will test their love. For generations, engaged couples in Ava’s family have traveled into the Everglades to retrieve the egg of the magnificent frigate bird in order to bake it into a marriage cake. Those who succeed live happily ever after, while those who fail are destined for heartbreak. With Ava’s beloved grandmother gravely ill, never has the marriage tradition meant so much. Ava’s dream is to pass the test so her grandmother can attend Ava’s holiday wedding to the man she loves.

So Ava, Justin, and their best friend Walton as a witness set off on a remarkable adventure that will challenge the true depth of their character and devotion. An emotional, heartrending journey of self-discovery, The Marriage Test turns out to be far more than any of them imagined.

Is there any test more challenging than a test of love?

©2021 Suzanne Redfearn. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Baking a cake to test the value of a relationship

It may be short but it packs a punch. This short story has the essential elements for a great romance.
The main female character has a family tradition of making a cake together. This cake making process builds the foundation for a long term future by providing the ingredients necessary to test the love.
Suzanne Redfearn provides readers with a realistic recipe for testing a couples ability to stand the test of time.
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Karissa Vacker is the solo female performer of The Marriage Test. I enjoyed the performance. If the audiobook is available I usually buy it in addition to the ebook. Having great voice actors read to me has become my guilty pleasure.

🙀

So there was a trope that seems pretty obviously the main feature of this story and without spoilers I can't say what happened but it was great!

The egg

Sad but true you can never know when Mr right is really wrong. Finding true love is hard but worth the effort.

Short and poignant

Getting caught up in the passion blinds one to the red flags. No one is perfect but some imperfections are just not worth looking over. Great story. Good performance but the ‘male’ voices are terrible.

Marriage Contract

Short but interesting story of family tradition which revolves around an egg and cake. Will their quest for the elusive egg bring happiness?

Beautifully performed by talented narrator.

Sophomoric

So immature and shallow it should have been defined as a “coming of age” genre.

2 stars

I did not like The Marriage Test by Suzanne Redfearn. The contradiction of Ava trying to conserve reefs but stealing from nature, blaming the kleptoparasitism of the Frigatebird to excuse her family's tradition of interrupting/disturbing it, is ridiculous. She is either unprincipled or a person who is too self-centered to see the hypocrisy. Then, there is Suzanne writing about things she doesn't know. I am a baker and was instantly irritated by her views on such.

Focaccia is eaten at dinner in chapter 1, and the way Ava speaks of it, you know she isn't a baker, but I let it go. However, chapter 3 is all about making cake and I was done. First, you cannot bake a decent cake, let alone the best chocolate cake ever created, without measuring any ingredients; it is impossible and fantastical. Second, you cannot roll butter and sugar together like a cinnamon stick to aerate the batter. The warmth of your hands will melt it and create a greasy mixture, not one that's light and airy. Third, we find out, contrary to what is alluded to in the first chapter, Ava, in fact, loves to bake.

To make matters worse, I knew before the end of chapter 2 how this story would end. But then, we don't get to see the events that lead to the conclusion, or even get told a recap, just the outcome, which left me feeling irritated and bored.

Karissa Vacker was an amazing narrator. I really enjoyed her voice and how she spoke like she was Ava.

I do appreciate the message behind the book and what is believed to help see if you and your partner are able to have a strong marriage. This and the narrator are why I rate this 2 stars instead of 1.