To support her, Noah suggests they get married-in name only-so she can study full-time and still keep the insurance. It's a risk to both of them, with jobs, health and hearts on the line, and they'll need to convince suspicious coworkers and nosy roommates that they're the real deal. But if they can let go of all the baggage holding them back, they might realize that they would rather be together forever.
Comment: This is the third book I read by this author. Although her books are clearly stand alones, the previous two I've read had some element in common, as does this one. The characters know each other, from a common place, even though the connection isn't a big deal in the plot development.
In this story we meet Mia, a young woman who is waiting for a kidney transplant, and who still dreams of having a degree in her dream nutrition field. When the chance to apply to an adult scholarship to do that, the price to pay is she cannot keep working full time, but that would ruin her finances, since she has many hospital bills and her current job offers insurance. She is lucky to work for a firm where her best friend Noah also works and when he knows about the scholarship, he encourages her to accept and makes a deal: they can marry and she will have his work insurance. She is reluctant but believes her degree will make her be able to pay him back for his help...the problem is that another co-worker listens in to their plans and he isn't one to stay quiet...
From the start, I could feel I would not find this story to be as appealing as the previous ones had been. The issue is very simple, I'm not a big fan of the friends to lovers trope and the fact that this book had that was already a minus but the execution didn't help and only seemed to exacerbate the main reasons why I prefer other tropes instead.
Mia and Noah have been friends since they were children. They have been used to be together and to send messages to one another and many other little things that makes them best friends. One could argue that any couple should be friends too, but it's usually difficult to me to stop seeing the characters are friends and suddenly moving on to be lovers, the dynamics and the relationship always changes and ends up affecting the story, such as here. the fact there's a "marriage of convenience" should be a good element, to bring in specific situations between them, but not really.
First, the marriage of convenience idea is quite a good tactic for this type of situation. It does boggle the mind that so many Americans (such as Mia) have these hospital/medical bills and their lives are practically on hold so they can find ways to pay them, but it is what it is. Such a plot should not even be a possibility in contemporary times, but it is a fact. Thus, I'd expect Mia and Noah to have to deal with the lie and how this would affect their dealings with other people. But their families accept the sudden marriage easily, as do their co workers - except one - and they don't even explain why they are doing it.
Insurance fraud is certainly a big deal and I can see how this would work as a strong reason why they would need to keep things quiet, but the co worker knowing and blackmailing Noah was a bit... unnecessary, if only they had told those they trusted, like the reasonable boss they both had, instead of keeping a secret from him. Perhaps other solutions would have been chosen instead. Therefore, the plot was muddled and we didn't even have the new dynamics between them being something to focus on when they were with other people.
In private, they were also polite to one another but this did star becoming heavy for their friendship to endure. I think the author wrote the tension well, as did the doubts and the issues they faced, but I felt the romance was not romantic. Things between them were so set on their friend status that I simply did not believe they were falling in love. Well, that Mia was, because we are told Noah has always been in love with her. I think this choice wasn't a good one... if they were to start seeing each other differently, going through the same situation would have balanced things between them.
This started to make me think that the two tropes were just not mixing up well and the author had done such sweet romances before... I was not convinced. Then, at some point, we learn why Mia didn't seem to be in contact with her parents, despite she having an illness and we being told they even went into debt to pay for her bills. When we learn why, it was so... well, I think the author had too many ideas for one single story... perhaps less distractions would have made for a better edited but more consistent plot and, ultimately, a stronger romance.
As expected, things end well for Mia and Noah but the road leading there had many cringe and unlikely scenes, which made the story feel contrived. I kept reading, hoping to see an evolution, a click in things, but not even the obvious reprimand they are given regarding their personal decisions in the whole scheme made for the weaker situations.
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