Whatever rating system you might use to rank book reads,
INDECENT PROPOSAL by Molly O'Keefe will blow it right out
of
the water. O'Keefe is one of my auto-buy authors, and
once
again, with this book, she excels! Indecent Proposal
brings
together two lonely, pained individuals, puts them in an
untenable relationship, and has them come out the other
side
in a solid and loving partnership. But the path to get
there is filled with anguish and soul searching, and whew,
what a ride!
Ryan is bartending in Manhattan when she hooks up for a
night of hot stranger sex. The condom fails, and she
learns
that the man who got her pregnant is Harrison Montgomery,
a
legacy politician poised to become a congressman.
Harrison
is horrified by the impending scandal of Ryan's pregnancy,
and proposes to marry her for 2 years in order to contain
the political fallout. If she doesn't agree, Harrison
tells
the now-unemployed Ryan, her life and her family's life
will
be ruined by the sex scandal.
Ryan grew up feeling like a prop for his father's
political
campaigns and his mother's aspirations. His father was
embroiled in a sex scandal and "appropriately going down
with the sinking boat of corruption and scandal that had
been his life's work." Ryan is pathologically driven to
become a pure and honest politician to redeem his family's
name from ignominy.
Ryan married her sister's boyfriend, then he beat her and
stole her father's savings. Her family won't speak to
her,
and she's got no one. Both Harrison and Ryan have so
much
emotional baggage that it is sometimes squirmingly
uncomfortable to read about them trying to figure out how
to
live together in this fake marriage and make it look real,
while protecting their hearts. The aching depths of their
desire for love twanged my heartstrings over and over.
It wasn't just the contract they signed that made her
worry.
What would they do tomorrow? How would she pay in days
to
come for taking what she wanted right now?
Molly O'Keefe is a master at showing love and personal
growth in all its messy glory, and the catharsis of
Harrison
and Ryan finally reaching true love was such a relief
after
how invested I became in watching them struggle to become
happy.
With his chiseled jaw and his thick blond hair, Harrison
Montgomery was born to lead. Four generations of Montgomery
men have served the state of Georgia and now he’s next in
line. Harrison, though, is driven to right wrongs: namely to
clean up the political mess left by his father’s greed and
corruption. But Harrison must first win his congressional
bid, and nothing can get in his way—not even an angel who
served him whiskey and gave him a shoulder to lean on and a
body to love for a night. Problem is, she’s pregnant.
Scandal is brewing and there is only one solution: marriage.
Damage control? Ryan Kaminski can’t believe that a cold,
calculating political animal now inhabits the body of the
emotionally vulnerable stranger who’d given her the most
unforgettable night of her life. Really, she doesn’t want
anything from Harrison, except to be left alone to have her
baby in peace. But Ryan is broke, jobless, and essentially
blackmailed by Harrison’s desperate family to accept this
crazy marriage deal. For two years, she will have to act the
role of caring, supportive wife. But what is Ryan supposed
to do when she realizes that, deep in her heart, she’s
falling in love.