The Unwanted Wife

De: L. Steele

Narrado por: Shane East, Roxy Isles

Amazon #5 bestseller

He’s my brother’s best friend
My fake husband...
And doesn’t believe in love

Nathan Davenport, CEO of the Davenport empire is my complete opposite.
He hates chocolate. I’m a size sixteen dessert chef.
He only wears black. I love glitter and pink.
He’s grumpy, while I look on the brighter side of life.
Too bad his piercing eyes, and high cheekbones haunt my dreams.

When he offers to loan me the money to save my bakery.
I have no choice but to agree.
Except he has conditions:

I must pretend to be his wife for a year
I must fake my feelings for him so his family believes our relationship.
I must stay by his side for the duration of our arrangement so he can claim his inheritance.

I don’t even like the man, surely I can get through this charade without developing feelings for him?
Except living in close proximity with him, our chemistry escalates
I know I am falling for the wrong man.
For when I tell him: “I love you,” he growls: “Love was never part of the equation...”

This is an opposites attract, forced proximity, one-bed, marriage of convenience, and a brother's best friend, billionaire romance with a plus size FMC. It is a complete standalone.

©2024 Laxmi Hariharan (P)2024 Laxmi Hariharan

Hot and steamy

The only complaint I have is that I was not in the right space of mind for the ptsd, and other mental issues that popped up towards the end of the book. I cried for the last few chapters, my heart felt too much of the story. I loved the happily ever after though, very satisfying.

Steele knows her way around the heart.

Steele knows her way around the heart. From the waltz of temptation to the two-step of heartache, The Unwanted Wife tangos it's way into your soul. Skylar and Nathan turn a conveniently, inconvenient marriage into an accidentally perfect second chance. Sweet and sultry never loses sight of the emotion that romance entails.

The twist!!

This was spicier than I expected, and it had a big twist I also wasn’t expecting! I really enjoyed Nate and Skylar’s love story. They’re definitely destined to be together, despite their crazy history. This audio was fantastic, and I can’t imagine anyone could’ve been better as the narrators than Shane East and Roxy Isles. I loved the narration!

I can’t wait to listen to book 2

The Unwanted Wife is book 1 in The Davenports series by L. Steele. This was my first time reading a book by L. Steele and now I can’t wait to listen to book 2 on audio!

Skylar is a plus sized bakery owner who loves spicy books and is super witty. Nathan is a broody billionaire and ex-marine with PTSD. He is also Skylar’s brother’s best friend. On Skye’s 18th birthday she kisses Nathan and despite kissing her back, he ends up walking away. Fast forward a few years and Nathan is standing in Skye’s bakery offering to help save her bakery from closing, but with one catch - she has to marry him first.

I really enjoyed this story! I will say at one point I felt a little confused and was wondering if I had missed something, but then there was a huge twist that left me in tears. There were actually a couple of twists that both had me crying, which I did not expect! Nathan’s possessiveness was over the top and I ate it up. I loved Skylar’s quick wit and playful personality. I have officially started using TV show names in place of swear words now too. 🙃

The narration was fantastic! It had been awhile since I have had the pleasure of listening to Shane East, and he did not disappoint. He portrayed Nathan’s dominant and demanding personality just as I imagined. This was my first time listening to Roxy Isles and she was amazing! Between the writing and her performance, she had me laughing and crying. I can’t wait to listen to more from her.

loved Shane East narration

I really liked this story. Nate's possessiveness was so intense but in a sweet sexy way. I loved howuch he was in love with Skylar. And the fact that Skylar is plus sized woman who is so cherished by Nate was awesome. Good story telling too.

Excellent story line. . .

You have an excellent way of shining a light on subjects that don’t get enough recognition and you managed it with great finesse; thank you! LOVE these two narrators and together they can’t be beat! Humor, heart and heat Unwanted Wife is another “don’t miss” from L. Steele.

Nathan

The Davenports story is SPICYYYY. The story has so many twist and turns. Definitely a page turner. Good read

♥︎𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫!♥︎

𝐃𝐮𝐞𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 & 𝐑𝐨𝐱𝐲 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐞

💍𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
🩵𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝
💍𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞
🩵𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐅𝐌𝐂

✨Thoughts✨
I have to say, I didn’t see the plot twist coming. This story was more emotional than what I anticipated. Skyler and Nathan had shared a kiss when she was younger, and being the sister of his best friend, he had to reject her. Fast forward five years later, she’s struggling financially and the only way to save her bakery is to marry her old crush.

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 appeared to be an arrangement until the story unfolds and many events don’t add up. That’s where I start to connect the dots, which intrigued me so much that I devoured this story in a single day! I didn’t expect to enjoy this story as much as I did. It was by far my favorite from L. Steele.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 is a duet-style narration by Shane East and Roxy Isles. Shane East is always a pleasure to listen to. He understands the characters and gives them distinctive voices. Roxy Isles also did a wonderful job with Skyler, so much that I could feel her every emotion.

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥, if you want an angsty marriage of convenience, this is the audiobook for you.

Rating: 𝟒.𝟓⭐️
Spice: 𝟑.𝟓/𝟓🌶️

Brother’s Best Friend!!

I enjoyed this book. Nathan is sent to look into Skylar’s bakery as an investment. Instead, he ends up asking her to marry him, so he can claim his title as CEO of his family’s company and in return he can help Skylar’s bakery financially. I like how protective Nathan was of Skylar and how he did so much to help her. I liked that Skylar was confident is her baking skills and didn’t just want to give up her business. There were some twists towards the end that I was not expecting. Overall, I did like this book but I felt like some of the spicy scenes may make some feel uncomfortable.

I received a copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Marriage of convenience hotness!!

I knew from the start this book was going to hurt me by the end of it and holy hell was I right.

Marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes and this one was so good!! Add in brothers best friend and I was freaking sold!

Skylar and Nathan were hilarious. I swear I spent so much of this dang book laughing. I love nothing more than when a reluctant to love MMC ends up falling harder for the FMC.

I knew what was hiding was going to hurt and i thought i had guessed it but holy hell did the reveal truly knock me on my behind.

Can not wait to continue this series!

Thank you Hambright PR for the gifted audiobook!