A Wedded Arrangement by Noelle Adams unfolds with a premise I adore; marriage of convenience, forced proximity, and two people who should have nothing in common slowly finding their way toward something real. Yet this one walks a far more nuanced line, particularly because Savannah and Lance come into the arrangement carrying very different burdens from their pasts, shaping who they are when the story begins.

Savannah Emerson grew up in a town sharply divided between the wealthy and the ones who served them, with her family firmly belonging in the latter category. A lifetime of watching the rich glide through life while everyone else scraped by has hardened something inside her, particularly when it comes to Lance, with whom her enmity runs long.

Lance, now thirty-four, is the golden boy who walked away from the fortune of his parents to build a business on his own terms. When his grandmother leaves him her wealth under the condition that he stay married for a year, Savannah becomes the most unlikely but necessary solution to his problem.

Nine months into their arrangement, with three months to go, Savannah is more than ready to ditch the husband she believes is entitled, privileged, and aggravatingly smug. But the unavoidable truth is that marriage, real or contractual, creates cracks where humanity leaks through. Lance shows himself to be thoughtful, unexpectedly vulnerable beneath the polish, and far more principled than Savannah assumed. The more time they spend together, the more her rigid assumptions begin to erode, even as she fights tooth and nail to hold onto them.

Much of the friction in this story comes from Savannah’s worldview, her ingrained resentment of privilege, her unwillingness to acknowledge nuance, and the chip on her shoulder that makes her judge Lance by the actions of every wealthy person she has ever resented. It borders on reverse snobbery, and at times it is difficult to watch her demand emotional penance from a man who has been actively trying to distance himself from his toxic upbringing. Yet the moments where she softens, where she sees Lance as a man shaped by trauma, loneliness, and a deeply dysfunctional family are what make the romance worth rooting for.

Lance, on the other hand, is the highlight of the novel. He is patient without being passive, self-aware without being performative, and far more kind than Savannah’s narrative allows at first. Witnessing the rot festering within Lance’s family and the realization that privilege came with a cost made for the emotional punch of a different dynamic. The intimacy between Lance and Savannah, both physical and emotional, develops naturally, with playful chemistry and mutual caretaking that gives the story heart.

While I enjoyed the relationship’s evolution, as mentioned before, I really struggled with Savannah’s rigidity and her worldview. Her world is painted in absolutes, and for most of the book she refuses to acknowledge how unfairly she treats Lance simply because of where he comes from. It made the relationship feel unbalanced at times, and I could not shake the sense that Lance was made to “atone” for circumstances beyond his control. I also feel that if Lance had put Savannah through similar anguish, readers would react very differently to the circumstances.

Recommended for: those who enjoy marriage-of-convenience stories with emotional complexity, imperfect heroines, and heroes who quietly steal the show.

Final Verdict: A thoughtful and quietly compelling marriage of convenience romance with a standout hero; Savannah may frustrate, but Lance makes this a worthy read.

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