Jac K's Reviews > The Wrong Bride

3.5 Sister-lurving Trainwrecky Stars
The blurb sets this up, Raven has been in love with Ares FOREVER, but he’s been dating/engaged to her sis. This trope isn’t for everyone… and I wouldn’t double-dip with any of my sisters… but in Pretend-land… YUM.

The drama-llama with this one is HIGH. Evil sister, wicked mother, meddling g-ma… ✅✅✅. The plot is unrealistic and absurd… totally OTT soap opera level… and I gobbled it up.

I can get behind a whacky telenovela-esque storyline. I LOVE the drama, but, I like it in smaller doses and almost 400 pages IMHO is WAY too long for a soapy plot. Also, I need some consistency, and the author flip-flopped tidbits to manipulate drama rather than taking the time and effort to actually build it… which felt lazy. For example, (view spoiler)[ Ares constantly tells the h that he wants their marriage to work and is dedicated to her, but every time the sis slithers out, he backpedals.

30%- “This is it,” I whisper. “From this moment forward, you’re my wife. Mine to care for, mine to cherish, and mine to protect. I know this isn’t what you would’ve wanted for yourself, but I swear I’ll give you my all, Raven.

32%- ”I’ve never loved anyone but you, Hannah. I never will. How could I possibly want someone other than you?”

50%- I’m a Windsor, Raven, and you know as well as I do that marriage means something in the Windsor family. The moment I married you, I became yours.

60%- “Han,” I murmur. “Don’t cry, please…. “Fuck,” I murmur as I cup her face, wiping at her tears with my thumbs. “Han, please… I’m sorry. I just… I’m fucking exhausted too, you know? I feel like I’m fucking trapped, and no matter what I do, I’ll be letting someone down.” (hide spoiler)]

Back and forth it flips to generate drama rather than making the OW smarter/more manipulative. Until late in the book when it’s time to wrap things up and send this couple to HEA-ville.

Suddenly after reading hundreds of pages of insecurity and waffling… poof…(view spoiler)[
It makes me wonder if my suspicions about Hannah and Ares were true. He never seemed happy around her — not the way he is with his family.

And…

It’s because I never loved you in the first place. You were an obligation, someone I tolerated and placated because I had no other choice. (hide spoiler)]

Bottom Line- This one is only for readers that enjoy craptastic soap. In other words, it’s a great read if you’re looking for a few hours of mindless OTT/trashy drama… not great if you’re in the mood for romance or a logical plot… just don’t dig deep. I think it could’ve been awesome had it been about 150 less pages, so it wasn’t so repetitive. I can overlook more (holes, crazy, manipulation, inconsistency) in smaller doses. I’m rounding up because this was free to read with KU and the author served up some often-overlooked good old OW comeuppance.

**I noticed mentions in several reviews that Raven (this h) was the OW in the last book. I was curious and since this is the first book in the series it took me a minute to locate and skim that book. Raven had a FWB relationship with the H in Bittersweet Memories. She wasn’t nasty at all and stepped aside for that h. FYI.