Score: 3.5 out of 5
See Ratings Guide
Ellie Winston is adopting her late friend's baby… But she hits a husband-sized hump: to adopt Jiao, Ellie has to be married! Where can a commitment-phobic female find a husband in a day? Then cutthroat billionaire Finn McKenna comes to Ellie with a business proposition, only he isn't prepared for Ellie's merger-with-a-twist…marriage!
Finn never lets anyone close, even someone as feisty and intriguing as Ellie. But saying "I do," even when you don't really, has a way of making even the most stubborn people wake up and realize what they've been missing...
Social media has put me in touch with Shirley Jump and I have since learned that she has an enviable shoe collection and far too much energy, doing desperately unhealthy things like running (and hopefully not in some of those high heels I've seen!). Shirley also offers online writing courses for aspiring authors as well as established writers so when I was offered ARCs for the McKenna Brothers series, I jumped (no pun intended) at the opportunity.
Through no fault of the book, it has taken me weeks to read this first instalment - I was knee deep in my own WIP when it landed in my inbox - but it has been my 'go-to' book whenever I was having downtime and I finally finished it last night, reading the second half in one session. It can only be testimony to Shirley's writing that I had no problem remembering the characters.
I found One Day to Find a Husband to be a pleasant read with a believable plot and well-rounded characters with their own baggage and foibles. The writing was very easy to follow making me want to turn the pages to follow Ellie and Finn through their journey and see if they ever found the courage to make that final step together, although at times I wanted to bang their heads together and make them jump to a happy-ever-after moment sooner. It was also interesting to meet some of the secondary characters knowing that the brothers had stories of their own for me to dive right into, making me wonder who or what would be happening to them too whilst following the main story.
I can't quite put my finger on 'why' but I didn't naturally invest myself in the characters, I stayed more of an outside observer rather than heavily involved in the story which meant I didn't feel the usual peaks and troughs of the roller-coaster ride. Maybe it was because the writing seemed almost too easy to read, with everything spelled out to me and not leaving me with any conclusions to jump to on my own so that I didn't need to think? Maybe it was because I didn't read it in one or two concentrated sessions and instead, spread it over a much longer time span?
To summarise, this is a nice story and I would happily recommend this book to friends as a non-taxing read with an enjoyable feel-good vibe.
At time of posting, I can't see when/if a UK version will be available is out at the moment, except for imported larger print but will update and provide links accordingly once I've got more information.
Thank you! Thrilled you enjoyed the book!
ReplyDeleteShirley