Special thanks to Meghan Quinn for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

From USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author Meghan Quinn comes a new marriage of convenience romantic comedy. This steamy, laugh-out-loud, enemies-to-lovers small-town standalone delivers the perfect happily ever after. One-click your copy of THE REASON I MARRIED HIM today!

It’s been a minute since I’ve read anything by MQ but one thing that’s always a guarantee whenever I read her books is that I will crack up a lot and this book was no different. This has many tropes that people love and I think Quinn does them all justice: small-town, opposites attract, grumpy sunshine, fake dating, forced proximity and of course, the marriage of convenience. While the fake dating played a bigger role than the marriage itself, I enjoyed the slow burn of their romance and the fact that it was not as steamy as her other romances. Aubree and Wyatt deserved to have that strong emotional journey and I’m glad that got more attention than the physical moments but don’t get me wrong, MQ always does steamy well and when their relationship reached the right point, it was FIRE! 🔥

From the go, Aubree is a very prickly FMC; she’s probably one of the prickliest that I’ve read in a long time and while I’m all for grumpy-for-reasons characters, I kind of detest when characters sneer. It’s such an ugly word and action and Aubree did a lot of sneering at the start. But the more we learn about her backstory, the more we see things from her POV, and the more Wyatt worms his infectiously happy way into her life, the more I grew to like her. My heart broke for the years of abuse the Rowley kids suffered. It made sense that Aubree is the way she is and it hurt to see her constantly return to the words of her abuser telling her she doesn’t deserve affection, she’s unloveable and that she’s a waste of space. She wasn’t easy to empathise with at first but the walls she built which led to her being seen as the town grump were fairly relatable. Not gonna lie, I’m probably Aubree IRL with my whole ass jaded grumpiness. 😂

Wyatt is a complete contrast to Aubree. Although he’s hurting from being jilted, he’s adamant about only seeing the positive side of things. He’s a golden retriever ray of sunshine and of course, his happy-go-lucky personality worked so well with Aubree’s coarse standoffish-ness. Wyatt’s personality is very much over-the-top and in real life, he would probably be overbearing AF but I couldn’t stop smiling whenever he was on page. He has such a cheeky and fun personality that sometimes you wonder if he ever takes anything seriously but he does and he shows that through thoughtful actions. What started as wooing the whole town out of selfish motivation, there’s no denying that by the end, he fit seamlessly into small-town life and I adored the friendships he developed with everyone.

Despite the very caustic beginning of their relationship, their snippy cheeky banter was so much fun! They play off each other so well and it was satisfying to see how Aubree slowly let herself trust Wyatt and learn to accept the affection that he gives her. I loved the way Wyatt was so attentive and observant of Aubree and her needs when it was just the two of them. He gave her the support and understanding that she sorely lacked in her life and made her feel seen and it was very sweet! And that’s why I was hoping and I mean, really hoping beyond hope, that we wouldn’t get a third-act breakup but sadly, those hopes were dashed.

While it was awful, as predicted, it thankfully wasn’t as painfully angsty as it could’ve been and it also didn’t last too long. Although since it had already happened, I kind of wish Aubree made Wyatt grovel a bit more/longer/harder. He would’ve deserved it after keeping her in the dark for so long and I think that’s probably my main issue, as I don’t like for deceptions to last for so long. After she let herself be so vulnerable with him, the least he could’ve done was be as honest as possible with her, knowing how much she has been hurt in the past. All that said, I’m still happy that they got their HEA and I still enjoyed their romance overall.

Also, the cameos in the epilogue? I LOVE! 😍 It took one sentence out of Keiko’s mouth to have me cackling because she came out swinging hard and left Wyatt feeling very befuddled! I also loved the cameos from my all-time favourite small town: Port Snow. The cameos in MQ’s books are always going to be a favourite for me.

Is The Reason I Married Him on your TBR or does it sound like a romance you’d like to read?

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