12 Must Read Contemporary Marriage of Convenience
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Marriage of Convenience is a popular trope within historical romance. There is something to be said about a couple coming together and having a shotgun wedding while slowly discovering having feelings for each other. If you love fake dating, then the marriage of convenience trope just takes things to the next level.
Marriage of Convenience within Contemporary Romance
The marriage of Convenience trope is not as popular within contemporary romances because the reason why a couple comes together now and gets married is not as simple as ruining one’s reputation. Marriage of convenience within contemporary romance tends to happen whether they need health insurance or the main characters suddenly come to inheritance, and there is a clause that they must get married within a specific timeframe.
12 Modern Marriages of Convenience romance novels that you must add to your TBR as soon as possible.
Ten years ago, I married my brother’s best friend. I haven’t seen him since.
Charlotte Spencer grew up on the blue-blooded Upper East Side of Manhattan, but she never wanted the sit-still-look-pretty future her parents dictated for her. Enter Colin Walsh, her brother’s quiet, brooding, man-bun-sporting best friend, and with him, a chance to escape. He’s far from Charlotte’s dream guy, but they need each other for one thing: marriage. One courthouse wedding later, Charlotte’s inheritance is hers to start a business in San Francisco, and Irish-born Colin has a green card.
Ten years later, Colin drops a bombshell: The terms of their prenup state that before either can file for divorce, they have to live under the same roof for three months.
Suddenly, this match made in practicality is about to take on whole new meaning….
Why should you read this book?
This couple got married due to an inheritance that meets green card status, which is a double whammy. The couple has spent a large portion of their time apart, but In order to get divorced, there is a clause in the prenup that they must live 3 months under the same roof. At first, they are strangers living under the same roof, and well feelings developed, and it just brings up all of the feelings. This is a closed-door romance
There’s only one thing to do when you wake up married to your brand-new boss, whom you hate but can’t resist: You blame the champagne.
I blame the bubbles for my wild night with a masked stranger. Who cares if it’s nothing this good girl would normally do – with a man who turns out to be my horrible boss? Who cares that I’m promised to someone else? I blame the alcohol for agreeing to marry him. As long as my new husband keeps his mouth shut, I can survive five years of our little arrangement. It’s too late for anything else.
But our impromptu wedding leads to so much more than I bargained for. His dirty promises warm me. His kisses make me lightheaded. His respect slips past my best defenses. The hate turns to friendship and makes me dream of more. He’s like the most dangerous kind of champagne. That’s why I blame him for making me fall in love with him.
But when I find out our marriage was nothing more than revenge, what’s to blame for my broken heart?
Why should you read this book?
If you love office romance where the heroine works for her father’s enemy company then this book is for you. The male main character wants to exact revenge on the female’s main character, the father, through a marriage of convenience. This book features a grumpy hero and it is angsty. This is an open-door romance.
Will these friends’ temporary Vegas marriage lead to forever? Find out in this Bourbon Brothers novel from Reese Ryan!
What’s wrong with a little fake marriage between friends?
Their night on the town is a blank, but when Zora Abbott and Dallas Hamilton awaken in a Vegas hotel room, they’re man and wife. With news of the nuptials spreading virally, the high-profile best friends decide to stay married, temporarily. Maybe under the cover of marriage, Dallas can even make his best friend’s baby dream come true. But can their friendship survive their newly unleashed passions?
Why should you read this book?
If you are looking for a fun, quick read where it features friends to lovers who happened to get married in Vegas then this is for you. There is a bit of The Hangover storyline where they don’t remember how they landed there but it felt fun. This book features a large, involved family. It is low angst.
Logan Ward drives me just a little crazy. It’s the only reason I can explain how I ended up fake-married to him. He’s got those dark eyes and broody stares, totally unflappable, which is a good trait in a star defensive football player. Maybe it’s because I don’t always think things through, or because he does drive me crazy, but when I find out he needs a wife to keep custody of his four younger sisters, I have no problem volunteering for the job.
I have my own reasons for needing a husband, and striking a mutually beneficial bargain with Logan is the perfect solution. Plus, it can’t be that hard to wrangle four young girls and a big grumpy football playing husband, right?
Wrong.
Our simple solution creates a whole new problem. Logan and I aren’t as different as we thought. My reluctant groom has fire inside him, and I can’t wait to light the match.
Why should you read this book?
This is a football romance where the male main character is a legal guardian to his four sisters and he is about to lose custody. He connects with the female main character who just inherited a large sum of money if only she got married within a time frame. They agree to get married and feelings developed throughout the story. This book features a healthy relationship. Please note, there is a spinoff series for each of the sisters.
“You want me to find you a wife?”
“No. I want you to be my wife.”
Garrett Song is this close to taking the reins of his family’s LA fashion empire…until the Song matriarch insists he marries her handpicked bride first. To block her matchmaking, he recruits Natalie Sobol to pose as his wife. She needs a fake spouse as badly as he does. But when passion burns down their chaste agreement, the flames could destroy them all….
Why you should read this book?
This is a billionaire romance where the female main character wants to show she is in a serious relationship in order to be a legal guardian to her niece. The male main character is being pushed to get married in order to get a hold of his company. This is a quick read. It does start strong but it does fade as the story goes on and it ends abruptly.
Billionaire CEO Roxanne Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Princeton snobs, and boardrooms of white male executives who looked down on her Mexican-American ancestry. Mothering a princess – and feeling a little less lonely at the top – is her next rightful adventure.
The self-made billionaire feels the bargain she offers the prince is reasonable: After three nights a month in her bed for a year, she will divorce him with a settlement large enough to save the small Spanish principality that means everything to him. She gets everything she wants – a fairy-tale heir born into a perfectly crafted world – and nothing she doesn’t, namely a man who could ruin her perfectly crafted fairy tale.
In jeans and dirty muck boots, Prince Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos goes to the billionaire’s corner office to tell her to shove it. He’s one of the top winegrowers in the world, and he’s not marrying and having a baby with a stranger, even if the millions she’s offering could save his once-legendary wine-producing principality.
Once there, however, he realizes the successful, single-minded beauty has a weapon he hadn’t counted on: his own desire. Give in to this naughty nightmare or keep his soul? Maybe once, he can have a taste of Roxanne Medina. Okay, twice. But he’s certain that too many nights in bed with the powerful, intelligent woman will destroy him and everything he values.
What begins as instant carnal attraction for billionaire Roxanne Medina and Príncipe Mateo Esperanza transforms over the course of three nights, once a month, for a year, into something neither planned nor wanted – but that both need more than money or kingdom.
Why should you read this book?
Spanish Royal Prince is in California learning all that he needs to know about the wine business in order to save his kingdom’s economy. A female billionaire offers the Prince money in order to get married and have kids. In the beginning, it is hate to love but with time they developed feelings. This series packs the punches with tropes, twists, and turns, and it is high heat.
Marry a man I barely know to save my family from ruin.
It might’ve been simple, if my betrothed were anybody else.
On our wedding day, my husband-to-be arrived at the courthouse like a black cloud rolling over Manhattan. Walt didn’t crack smiles or pepper in pleasantries as we exchanged hollow vows in front of the judge.
His disdain for me was so palpable I assumed we’d walk out of that ceremony and resume our regularly scheduled programming. But then fate was like, Hold my beer. I got this.
In desperate need of help and with nowhere else to turn, I had no choice but to ignore a crucial rule in our contract: I shall only contact Mr. Jennings II in case of emergency. But hey, what’s a little fine print between husband and wife?
Turns out, Walt’s a stickler for legalese – I think it might be his love language. Oh, and his attitude at the courthouse wasn’t a put-on. My so-called husband is a jerk. He takes what he wants without giving any consideration to other people – specifically ME, his blushing, contractually obligated bride!
I knew life with Walt would be no honeymoon, but a marriage of any sort should still come with a few standard guarantees:
To have and to hold.
For richer or poorer.
In sickness and in health.
But after experiencing Walt’s version of wedded bliss, I say let’s forget about all that lovey-dovey crap and just take me straight to death do us part.
Why should you read this book?
The family of the female main character is pushing her to get married to the son of a closed business partner in order to access a set of funds. They get married in Civil Hall. The male main character is not happy about the marriage and the female main character thinks he hates her. However, over time they developed feelings. My biggest complaint is that this book is set in NYC and it missed the mark in authenticity especially when it comes to real estate.
A few of these books are available on Kindle Unlimited.
What is Kindle Unlimited?
It is an Amazon membership that allows you to borrow up to 20 books at a time for a flat fee of about $9.95 a month. There are thousands of romance books available through Kindle Unlimited. Some books even offer a free whispersync with the audiobook.
If you are not part of Kindle Unlimited, click here to join.
Vanessa Mazur knows she’s doing the right thing. She shouldn’t feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans, and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary.
But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she’s beyond shocked. For two years the man known as the Wall of Winnipeg couldn’t find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He’s asking for the unthinkable.
What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?
Why should you read this book?
If you are a fan of JJ Watts then this book is for as the male main character is loosely based on him. This is a hate to lovers, super slow burn, really long book romance. The female main character gets offered to marry the male main character for a large sum of money so the male main character can get his green card. This book is long (500+ pages) and they don’t get to the good stuff until about 80ish%, If you are a fan of super slow burn then this book is for you.
The following books are in my TBR:
Audio is available on Hoopla
Here I stand, clutching a bouquet of pale pink roses behind the doors of a Las Vegas chapel, and at the end of the aisle is the absolute last man I imagined would be waiting for me.
Thomas Bane.
Best-selling author. Notorious bad boy. Savagely handsome, dark as sin, chiseled as stone. And, somehow, my soon-to-be husband.
Marry him, and I’ll land my dream job. Save him, and I’ll walk away with everything I’ve ever wanted. All I have to do is remember it’s all for show. None of it is real, no matter how real it feels.
But first, I have to survive the kiss.
And with lips like his, I don’t stand a chance.
I have read the rest of this series, and I got a preview of this book and I am so happy it is already out
So, I married my nemesis.
My new life in the states and dream job as a game tester just hit a massive snag. If I don’t want immediate deportation on my to-do list, I need help, stat. Quickest solution – marry Lucas Walker, my cranky and oh-so-annoying coworker. Still, this can work. We’ll have rules and have to stick to them. I won’t think about his muscled arms or how stupid handsome he is even while he pushes all my hot buttons. It’s a marriage on paper only. I need to remember that.
Player two, press start.
When that exasperating Canadian, Katya Ellis, asked for help, I agreed because she was willing to help me in return. She doesn’t need to know it’s in my best interest for her to stay in the country. Nope, this is a business arrangement through and through. Which means I’ll set aside all those involuntary fantasies I’ve been having about her shapely body pressed to mine….
What could go wrong? Welp…as it turns out, just about everything.
She just wanted to claim her inheritance. What she got was a husband…
Xeni Everly-Wilkins has 10 days to clean out her recently departed aunt’s massive colonial in Upstate New York. With the feud between her mom and her sisters still raging even in death, she knows this will be no easy task, but when the will is read Xeni quickly discovers the decades old drama between the former R&B singers is just the tip of the iceberg.
The secrets, lies, and a crap ton of cash spilled on her lawyer’s conference room table all come with terms and conditions. Xeni must marry before she can claim the estate that will set her up for life and her aunt has just the groom in mind. The ruggedly handsome and deliciously thick Scotsman who showed up at her aunt’s memorial, bagpipes at the ready.
When his dear friend and mentor Sable Everly passed away, Mason McInroy knew she would leave a sizable hole in his heart. He never imagined she’d leave him more than enough money to settle the debt that’s keeping him from returning home to Scotland.
With no choice but to say I do, the unlikely pair try to make the best of a messy situation. They had no plans to actually fall in love.
Axel
Rooney Sullivan is sunshine incarnate. Warm, bright, always smiling, she’s everything I’m not and the last person I have any business desiring. Desperate to hide a hopeless attraction, I’ve done everything possible to keep my distance…until a charades game gone wrong brought that to a grinding halt.
Since then, steering clear of Rooney has been impossible. In a matter of months, she’s kissed me speechless, commandeered my art career, and infiltrated not only my dreams but my home. The woman who was once avoidable has become the last thing I needed: temptingly within reach.
Rooney
Axel Bergman is a gorgeous grump who doesn’t have the time of day for me. Thankfully, I’ve kept my crush under wraps…well, until I kissed him. Charades got away from me, okay? It was an accident! I haven’t seen him since, which is for the best. My life is a mess, and the last thing I need is to embarrass myself further with the man who avoids me like that’s his job rather than painting modern masterpieces.
It seems the universe, however, has a different plan. When Axel and I unexpectedly find our paths – and problems – converging, a marriage of convenience proves the perfect solution. At least, until I’m facing my most serious problem yet: a once-loveless marriage of convenience that’s inconveniently become a love match, after all.
RELATED PODCAST EPISODE
A few years ago, I spoke with Erica from When do They Kiss about Modern Marriage of Convenience in this podcast episode. Tune in here.
