The Un-Arranged Marriage

Laura Brown

Mar 2022 · Sold by Entangled: Amara

About this ebook

Mark Goldman has never gotten along with Shaina Fogel. Ever. Even when they were in diapers, their bestie mothers wanted them to grow up and get married. Not happening. Mark prefers his quiet, reserved life. But a family wedding is about to change everything Mark thought he knew about his archnemesis.

A week of wedding events with Mark Goldman? Shaina would rather have a week of root canals. Maybe the guy is hot, but for their entire lives, he’s never once acknowledged that she's hard of hearing. So it comes as a massive surprise when she discovers that Mr. High-and-Mighty and Annoyingly Sexy simply didn’t know she couldn't hear him. And now she needs his help.

When it’s revealed that the weeklong wedding events are actually a weeklong competition—for a dream vacation—Mark and Shaina do the unthinkable: they decide to work together. And the second the animosity begins to fade, something even more electric takes its place. Only now it’s not just an attraction between enemies. And nothing could be worse than the fact that their mothers might have had it right...

Ratings and reviews

I received a complimentary early release copy of this e-book from the author prior to release and am voluntarily leaving a review. This was a new author for me and a really different story than I had read before. It was both fascinating, fun and different. In this story we are invited to two weddings and a contest. This is a story about love, family, siblings, parents and being true to yourself. This book is told in dual POV and I absolutely adored it. In this book we meet Mark and Shaina. Both are single, and 32 and neither want children. They have known each other from birth as their moms are best friends and their families are very close to each other. But Mark and Shaina HATE each other and don't understand each other and their families know this. On the way to wedding #1 Mark realizes that he has spoken to Shaina for 32 years and she has never heard a word. He always thought she hated him because she refused to talk to him. Instead she tells him she is hard of hearing and needs him to speak up because her hearing aid then can make out what he is saying. This changes everything for Mark. These two have known each other forever but never really knew each other. Mark is a demisexual which I have never seen in a book ever. In fact I had to ask google what that was. This book really explains the difficulty and how its hard for his parents to understand what that actually means. At the wedding the siblings come up with a fun game where couples compete in a challenge to win a fantastic trip and being the only singles at the wedding, Mark and Shaina partner up. I found this part of the story was a lot of fun and really added to my enjoyment of this book because I loved all the challenges especially the escape room. If you are looking for a fun romance that will hold your interest and is really different and original then you will love this enemies to love romance.

Whilst I wouldn't exactly classify this as Enemies to Lovers, they are more rivals to lovers. Lots of miscommunication and pressure heaped on them by their mothers has only exacerbated the rivalry between them - neither one wanting to surrender to their respective mothers LOL. Mark is socially awkward and shy and loves his cat more than most people. Shaina being hearing impaired feels excluded from society but this just frustrates her and makes her want to take on the world - as long as her fish comes too! Being disabled myself I know how it feels to be sidelined - everyone wither treats you as a child or as being fragile and it drives me up the wall so I can only imagine how much more frustrating that would be when your disability is less visible. We don't need special treatment, just our needs to be accommodated as much as they can to enable us to do what others can. Fab read. There are not a lot of spicy scenes but enough to keep you satisfied. The laughs are plentiful and well placed. Would definitely read another book from this author.

I really enjoyed Shaina and Mark’s unexpected romance in The Un-Arranged Marriage by Laura Brown. Imagine having your bff mothers un-officially arrange your marriage immediately after you are born ten-days apart. This is what happens to Shaina and Mark. Growing up, Shaina and Mark grew to hate each other. It took riding together to his sister’s wedding preparations for Mark to realize that Shaina has a hearing loss and cannot hear him. After asking for help, Mark impresses Shaina once he starts speaking loud enough for her to hear him; causing her walls of hatred for him to start falling. After all, Mark is quite hot, has a great sense of humor, and they share many similar interests. For Mark, being demisexual means attraction isn’t easy; but getting to know Shaina for really the first time, he finds himself paying more and more attention to her. When a major competition for a paid dream trip to Italy is offered, Shaina and Mark, the only singles, team up together. As they work together to win the competition, they soon realize their hate is over-rated, soon replaced by an unexpected sizzling chemistry. That childhood competiveness did come in handy as they worked through the clues. No matter how strong their feelings grow, they refuse to give in to their parent’s wishes; or do they? Ms. Brown wrote a story that is inclusive of people with a hearing impairment or who are open about being demisexual, as well as wonderful and heartwarming that is definitely not to be missed. She provided a tale rich with sizzling chemistry, amusing banter, and endearing characters giving Shaina and Mark an unexpected chance at a future together. I highly recommend The Un-Arranged Marriage to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

About the author

After spending her childhood coming up with new episodes to her favorite sitcoms instead of sleeping, Laura Brown decided to try her hand at writing and never looked back. A hopeless romantic, she married her high school sweetheart. They live in Massachusetts with their two cats and kid. Laura’s been hard of hearing her entire life but didn’t start learning ASL until college, when her disability morphed from an inconvenience to a positive part of her identity. At home the closed captioning is always on, lights flash with the doorbell, and hearing aids are sometimes optional.