The Unwanted Wife

By: L. Steele

Narrated by: 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.

Nathan Freakin Davenport...yummy

The narrators were perfect. This book had humor, supportive friends, secrets revealed, revenge plan, a dysfunctional family, surprising twists, and undeniable chemistry between Nate and Skylar. The author did an excellent job pulling me into the story. I am excited to continue reading this series by L. Steele.

Fun with emotional turmoil

CURVY MFC
MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
CLOSE PROXIMITY
BROTHER’s BEST FRIEND
GRUMPY MMC
POSSESSIVE MMC

As always Shane Easton and Roxie Isles were wonderful. Shane protested the growly, possessive Nate to perfection. And Roxie held her end with the opposite personality of Skylar. Entertaining and easy to follow along.

Fast paced story with a very possessive, jealous MMC. Nate was over the top possessive. Everything was “my wife” he took a helicopter to her when he found out his brother was with her. He showed up on her “ date” with another man. He was obsessed.

Skylar is a great character. A book nerd who loves the steamy reads. She is a baker. The dessert names make us all want to visit her bakery.

The story was fun to read. The banter was great. It also hit us emotionally. Skylar and Nate had some deep traumas. Together they made each other a bit better.

Good story with solid characters. These is a bit of mystery and a nice plot twist.

Top notch characters and storytelling

Take a curvy struggling baker with image issues, and a billionaire former Marine with PTSD.

Add best friend's sister, forced marriage, revenge, a lot of red herrings, and mix well.

Bake at high heat, drizzling the batter with sex, romance, and a little gentle consensual primal play. (Can you say, "Run..."?)

Serve this enjoyable story with tissues for the inevitable leaking eyes.

Duet narration

This is a new to me author and I enjoy listening to this story. I also love that its in duet narration so it is a great listening experience. I am intrigued with this family and series and plan to continue onto the next one.

Glad I bought this on sale

The narration was fine. The story was just bad. Too much repetition and not enough depth. I think there could have been so much more to this but it never fully materialized

a good little porn book

a good little mini porn book geared toward a younger audience. Nothing wrong with that except it should say so in highlights beyond hot and steamy
a good book can be hot and sizzle without being crude or vulgar