Kimani, $6.50, ISBN 978-1-335-21655-7
Contemporary Romance, 2018
Brice Kingsley, hot rich guy working in his family’s multi-billion company, and Brooke Smith, whose job doesn’t matter because seriously now, were once married. Alas, this happy union between Kimani stereotypes wasn’t meant to be because (a) Brooke was and still is irrationally jealous over the hot intern that worked for Brice, and (b) she learned that she has a health condition that would prevent her from bearing children, so naturally she had to ditch Brice without telling him the reason. So that was it. No more Mr and Mrs Kingsley.
That is, until the Kingsley family matriarch goes all bitch your company is under contract still so you better come back here and sit on your man’s saddle again or I’ll sue, and Brooke has no choice but to go back and check the company’s books. To Brice, it is bitch, if you don’t like it, tender your resignation or be quiet. So these two now have to work again. Will sparks fly or will Brooke’s lack of intelligence finally short-circuits her?
Now, you may be thinking: one, you’ve read this story many times before, and two, oh my goodness, Brooke is such a mumu. Here’s the thing: the author agrees with you. That’s the whole premise of Be My Forever Bride: our heroine will finally wise up and realize what a dumbass she had been. She finally learns to trust Brice. She apologizes for breaking his heart. And to give the author credit, I buy the heroine’s coming to her senses. I’m convinced that Brooke won’t bail on Brice ten weeks from now when she has the runs and runs away screaming that she wants a divorce because she cannot bear to soil the beautiful toilet bowls in her husband’s mansion.
The presence of sequel baits is tolerable here, as those wretches aren’t as intrusive and pointlessly annoying as usual, and the conversations as well as the narrative feel natural and lively. I know, “Not as wretched as some of the Kimani stories out there!” is quite a backhanded compliment, but if you have read as many of the recent ones that I have, you will realize that this is actually a praise. The heroine learns the right things to make the happy ending believable, the hero is alright, and the matriarch even resembles a human being at times.
The only thing holding this one back is how predictable the whole thing is, and how by putting solely the heroine in the wrong, the epiphany isn’t as good as it is just the heroine finally coming to her senses and yay, now that she’s caught up with everyone, we can all pack and go home now.
All in all, Be My Forever Bride is an okay read. It won’t rock my world or set it on fire, but it is also better than most of the recent offerings in the Kimani line. It could be more interesting, though.
