Review: Straight Up Irish by Magan Vernon

Straight Up Irish

by Magan Vernon

I need a wife if I want to help save my family’s billion-dollar pub empire. There’s just one problem: I never plan on marrying. So, I need someone who understands that this is just another business deal. I don’t do commitments. And my brother’s executive assistant, Fallon Smith, fits that bill. 

Fallon needs help with her grandmother’s expenses, and her pretending to be my fake wife is a way we can make that happen. She’s not my biggest fan, but we can help each other and then go our separate ways. That she’s beautiful and I enjoy spending time with her–doesn’t matter. When all of this is done, she’s heading home to America, and I’ve got a company to run.

A fake wedding and a whole lot of whiskey. What could go wrong?


Buy Link:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Up-Irish-Murphy-Brothers-ebook/dp/B079DW9RKV/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519093991&sr=8-2&keywords=straight+up+irish




My Review:

3-3.25 stars

***

This book was only okay for me. This is Connor and Fallon's story. Fallon is an American living and working in Ireland for the Murphy family's whisky company. Connor is one of the three Murphy brothers who recently moved back to Ireland after handling the company's American division. When Connor's father dies, he leaves the company to his sons in his will with the stipulation that they must be married within a year and remain married for at least 6 months. Connor meets Fallon in person at the office after communicating with her by phone for a while from overseas for company matters. He decides that she would make a good potential temporary fake wife. Fallon is pretty poor, spending all of her money on her ailing grandmother's medical expenses. So when Connor asks her to temporarily marry him in exchange for money, she agrees. The two begin fake dating with the plan to fake marry soon and Connor helps show her around Ireland. They find they like each other, but they are afraid to take their relationship from fake to real, although they do finally give in and admit their feelings. 

This book was pretty slow burn and I didn't feel the chemistry enough to feel any burn. I liked Fallon and Connor for the most part. Fallon had very poor self esteem and could not imagine why Connor would possibly be interested in her. That bothered me a good bit. Connor was okay, but definitely was a manwhore before Fallon and had no plans of ever marrying or being monogamous. It was hard for me to imagine what their relationship would look like in the future because they were such an odd couple. The writing and the story was only okay for me, as well. There were a lot of plot holes and I didn't really feel the love or connection between the couple. Still, I did like the Ireland setting and the side characters. 

This is the second fake marriage trope book I have read lately and I'm starting to think this trope isn't for me. I just don't get why two people that are attracted to each other and going to get married wouldn't at least try to see if they can make the relationship real. If these two would just have communicated, it all would have been okay. Even at 96%, they were afraid to admit they liked each other and there was no talk of staying married. All they could think about was how they were only going to be married for 6 months. It's all wrapped up by simple I love you's at 97%, but still very little communication beyond that. The epilogue is a same day epilogue, as well, with no glimpse into the future. It all wrapped up way too close to the end. 

Overall, I didn't love this book, but I enjoyed a few parts of it. This was my first read by Ms. Vernon but I may try her again in the future.