MARRIAGE NOT INCLUDED by Lynn Cahoon respectfully presents love, actually, with all its complex issues, and is a good read when you are looking for a realistic romance. I give it 3 stars.
In MARRIAGE NOT INCLUDED, Miles Hamilton, the heir to large corporation HN Seeds, meets single-mom Lauren Simpson at her farmers' market booth one afternoon. A few hours in the company of Lauren and her daughter, Emma, and Miles is hooked. It's too bad his dad's company is trying to buy Lauren's family farm, a farm which Lauren hopes to turn into a heritage seed farm in a few years' time.
While they go out on a few dates, life happens; family health issues intervene, and Lauren feels so out of Miles' league, she cannot see a future for them. Miles can't see anything BUT a future for them and has to figure out how to solve everyone's problems so he can get the girl.
I liked MARRIAGE NOT INCLUDED. To say that I enjoyed it would be a little inappropriate, though, since the book deals with difficult real life situations. The characters and their problems are well-illustrated, e.g., when a single mom dates someone, there are 3 people involved in that relationship – mom, child and significant other. The worries and concerns of each of the characters are different based on their individual situations and histories. I really appreciate that kind of character illustration; it makes the book more realistic and relatable.
As for the romantic development, I felt it was a little on the hasty side. I didn't get a clear picture of the time frame, but it seemed like Miles was in love at first sight, with Lauren following about a month later. I would have liked there to be a few months in between meeting and falling in love, maybe with New Year's being the ending, but I generally tend to be suspicious of claims of love at first sight, even though I know it happens to a lucky few. Love scenes are brief and generalized, giving this novel a heat level rating of 2, appropriate for those 14 and up.
The pace of the book was a little slow for me, and there were some glaring editing issues. The editing issues were easy to get past, but the pacing definitely detracted from the substance of the story. This could just be an effect of the heavy, emotional subject matter, though. So reader beware; this is not a light and easy read.
My only other comment pertains to the cover art, which I felt wrongly characterizes the novel as a stereotypical, fluffy, unrealistic romance. This book has way more depth than the cover art suggests.
Overall, MARRIAGE NOT INCLUDED is a sweet romance and definitely a good book for when you are tired of ridiculous, unbelievable romance novels.
*Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at
http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10159
