I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this one, because I went in blind. And I’m glad that I did. I can be slightly wary of the marriage of convenience tropes if the reason falls flat for me. However, I did not have that issue with this adorably sweet and utterly romantic marriage of convenience from Ilsa.

Graham has recently had a traumatic experience that has left him shaken to his core. And Emmy has had a fresh break up from a man who hurt her in ways that no man should. These two end up meeting in the most delightfully awkward meet cute and I loved every second. The chemistry between them is immaculate and builds deliciously as the story unfolds. They also had the most addictive banter; I really couldn’t get enough of them.

Their marriage proceeds but you can feel the connection between them grow as each page is turned. The buildup felt entirely organic and unhurried. There was no rush to the story they just existed together and grew into what they became. They were the perfect matches to each other with Graham’s selflessness and Emmy’s caretaker personality they fit seamlessly together. I don’t want to say much because I don’t want to spoil any of it but just know that you’ll fall in love with these two.

I adore Ilsa, her stories never fail to hit me straight in the feels and this book is no different. Ilsa has a magical way of infusing heart and heat in her stories with a flawless balance that will keep you completely entertained throughout.

I love Ilsa Madden-Mills books, not just for the love story, but also for the community she creates in them. She brings together two broken or needy souls, and also brings together the family and friends who are important to both into one big coherent and caring group. This was one such big happy group!

Emmy was running away from a toxic boyfriend and she “accidentally” stole Graham’s Lamborghini. The story in the Iguana motel was wacky funny, a brilliant example of when the author lets her crazy out. Graham needs to marry to get his inheritance, Emmy needs to not go to jail, so a match made in heaven!

It starts out like blackmail, but quickly turns out into teamwork, then into a love-fest. Like all this author’s books, the story is a delightful mix of steam, family and friends, funny moments, and very heartfelt emotions. It’s never a dull moment reading her books, always super entertaining and heartwarming. I love how the friends all gather around the heroine to help her out when she’s in trouble. This author’s heroines are always irresistibly warm and funny and attract friends like honey.

I loved the little paranormal touch when Graham got his serious concussion and in the few minutes before he was resuscitated, he saw his future. It took him the whole book to figure it out, but that was Emmy! Cute, fun and hugely entertaining, reading this book made my day!

I so loved My Darling Bride! Graham and Emma are so much fun to read about and their characters are endearing and effervescent. And, as always, Madden-Mills delivers on the quirky side characters that she is known for. If you are looking for a semi-light contemporary read, with a delicious broody alpha, a strong feisty heroine, slow burn, but also a bit of steam, and plenty of great dialogue, grab My Darling Bride and dive in! 5 Stars!

Love anything Ilsa Madden Mills writes and loved Graham and Emmy. It’s a random meet, fake marriage that has laughter and is endearing.
They both have rough pasts affecting them now. But I loved their core. Loved all the supporting characters too!

This was one heck of a ride! Emmaline Darling, a book lover bouncing back from a messy breakup, ends up in a desert motel seeking peace. Out of the blue, she takes off in football star Graham Harlan's flashy Lamborghini to escape her ex. Graham, dealing with the aftermath of a near-death experience on the football field, tracks her down and drops the bomb – let's get hitched for a family inheritance. Madden-Mills weaves a story that's not just your typical romance. It's packed with laughs, sizzling chemistry, and emotional punches. Emmaline and Graham's fake relationship? It's anything but fake as it blossoms into something real. The book dives deep into family, love, and personal growth, giving us a rollercoaster of feelings. This isn't just a read; it's an experience that'll have you hooked and rooting for these characters.

Y’all, I cannot resist a football player romance. And Ilsa Madden-Mills started this one off with a ripped-from-the-headlines bang that had me settling in and getting comfy because I knew I wasn’t going to be putting it down.

For some reason My Darling Bride was lighter than I expected it to be. That’s not a complaint, though – because I really did enjoy the chemistry between Emmy and Graham and the way their story unfolded. I adored Emmy. I wasn’t so sure I was going to at first – when things took a turn for the zany and I thought she might be a little too over-the-top for me. But I really warmed to her and admired her pluck and her strength, and her big beautiful heart. I struggled a little more sometimes with Graham who I felt held himself back a little more than Emmy did. However, the angsty scenes were the ones that repeatedly sucked me back into the story, my heart flipping and fluttering while these two kept bumping and bruising each other.

In the end, this was a fun story. I loved the book store and all of the side characters. I laughed a little, I fell a little bit in love, and I very much enjoyed my time spent between these pages.

I really enjoyed this marriage of convenience storyline. It’s packed with laugh out loud and swoon worthy moments. Graham and Emmy have sizzling hot chemistry and this one will hook you from the beginning to the end. It’s definitely worth the read.

He was lost before she found him.
She was struggling to stay afloat when he found her. Emotionally these two were a train wreck.

An inheritance clause and a small matter of a felony make it all happen! Two strangers, one felony, and a wedding ever after!?!

My Darling Bride is more than I expected. I love G and Emmy apart but even more together. Their family and friends make this adventure worth living!

This bunch deserves all the happily ever afters and more!

P.S. Brody and Jasper are my new besties. I feel like we would definitely be perfect together!

A nice story, perfect for holiday reading. Both Emmy and Graham have a deep love of family. He needs to get married to help his brother buy a gym and Emmys whole life feels like it’s in a downward spin. Her beloved job at the bookstore is going due to it being for sale and the flat she shares with her family is falling apart.
Graham proposes to solve both their problems and promptly buys the bookstore. His near death experience on the football field has Emmy pulling away as her feelings for him grow,, and it’s only when he finds out she is undergoing heart surgery that Graham finally accepts that he is in love with her..

If you are deep into football season, or deep into watching Travis and Tay 😉, and looking for a great sports/football romance, I’ve got you covered with this one!!

It’s a wonderful marriage of convenience romance. It’s funny and sometimes angsty, with some delicious slow burn that will keep you locked into till the finish.

Emmy and Graham’s story is one of my favorites, It starts with a stolen lambo and ends with an HEA. 😁 Both come from hard pasts but make the best of what they have and helping those around them. The supporting characters add even more to the story and I know you will find yourself falling in love with this one like I did.

This book was utterly captivating. Emmaline and Graham had such fantastic chemistry, and their meet cute was adorable. I loved that while Graham may have struggled with fully understanding the true depth of his feelings, he was consistently drawn to and fascinated by Emmaline. He was truly an exemplary hero—possessive, protective, loving, and supportive.

I really enjoyed how this novel had so many different facets to it. There was humor, danger, emotional trauma, and romance. The supporting characters were very unique with interesting, fully-fledged personalities that added a lot to the story. Although the ending seemed a tad bit rushed, the conclusion was heartwarming and demonstrated the passion between the main characters and their personal growth.

Overall, this was a funny and emotional romance. I highly recommend it.

*I received an ARC of this novel. This is my complete and honest review.*

3.5* Waffling between 3 and 4 stars, so we'll settle here.

This started out a little slow to me, even though it was kind of a fun meet cute- it just didn't grab me. I was having a hard time connecting at first- I wasn't getting that same feeling I get from most of IMM books, something just felt a bit off. But once the story moved on to NY I finally started becoming invested in these characters and ended up enjoying their story.

I liked Emmy, but I don't know why she hesitated as long as she did in accepting Graham's offer. STG, if someone presented me an opportunity like that I'd jump on it in a heart beat! I really liked their banter, and when things were good between them, they were really good. Graham waffled a little too much for my liking, honestly. But I enjoyed when he finally had his "come to Jesus" moment. It might have taken a little too long, but that's a man for ya.

Emmy carried a lot on her shoulders, and I get that she was the oldest and pretty much took care of her sister and brother growing up, but they're adults now, particularly Jane, and they needed to start acting like it. They each had their own "come to Jesus" moments as well, which I was happy to see.

Overall I enjoyed My Darling Bride. When Emmy and Graham were finally on the same page it was really good.

4.5 Stars!!!

This book was a quick, fun romance. What I love about Ilsa Madden-Mills is her ability to make me laugh out loud, while also having moments that break my heart. This book had all of that and more!

Emmy and Graham are total opposites, and the way they met was hilarious. Their lives haven’t been easy, and both have probably shouldered more than they should have, but finding each other was truly meant to be. Making it work however, is a different story!

I love the support these two gave each other, and the support they received from both of their families (in Graham’s case, most of his family). I was entertained the entire way through, and read this book in a day! I do hope we get a Jasper and Jane book out of this, because boy do I think they need it as much as we do!

I love the marriage of convenience trope, but there was just something missing in My darling bride for me to fully love it. I think the fact that they spent little time together, due to Graham trying to deny his feelings for Emmy so he didn’t get hurt again, and there weren’t any of those great “My wife” moments made it fall a little short. Whilst I didn’t love it, I did like it. There were a few times I found myself laughing, and feeling a little emotional due to Graham & Emmy’s back stories, the secondary characters were great, i especially liked Brody.

I really enjoyed this book. Emmy and Graham were electric together from the start and I was invested right at the start too. This book had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. I swooned and fanned myself as well. I adored Babs, Broady, Cas, Andrew, Jane and Londyn. Getting to see Jasper again was a highlight! I missed his brand of outrageous and he’s always entertaining. I truly how he gets a book… perhaps with a certain sister of his best friends wife. That would be awesome! Overall this was such a great read and I couldn’t put it down once I started!

The last couple of books I’ve read from this author have been amazing so I’m sad that My Darling Bride didn’t give me the same feeling. The trope - marriage of convenience is a favorite of mine so I had high hopes.

Sadly Emmy and Graham didn’t deliver. They had a great and interesting first meeting but everything else from there left me disappointed. The premise for the marriage of convenience was thin and the overall story couldn’t keep my attention. I was bored. I felt I’ve read this story before. Everything from the characters to the third act break up was predictable.
There’s a lot of characters introduced some better than others especially Graham’s brother Brody and Emmy’s siblings Jane and Andrew.

Even though My Darling Bride wasn’t for me don’t let my thoughts deter you from reading it.

This is such a cute and fun read! I love Emmy. She quickly became one of my favorite female main characters written by Ilsa Madden-Mills. Graham is so swoon-worthy and the love he has for his brother is everything! Great characters and just a great story. If you love sports romances with fake dating/marriages, this book is a definite must-read!

Sweet, heartfelt and aching, My Darling Bride is a wonderful read.

With great characters, full of depth and dimension, each plagued by their own demons, past and trauma, an engaging plot and a whole lot of banter, humor and spice, Graham and Emmy captured my heart. This is one of those little piece of magic stories, that's just impossible to resist, and honestly my darlings, why would you want to?

4 stars and a heartbeat

I really wanted to love this book but it just didn't hit for me.

The characters felt two dimensional and everything about their relationship felt forced, I just didn't feel the spark. Unfortunately, this book just couldn't hold my interest and got chucked on the DNF pile at around 40%

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book (given by the author)...

The moment Emmyline and Graham meet hilariousness ensues and their meet cute was definitely that. I loved the progression and pace of the story, but I did feel like at times the romance part of the book wasn't the main focus point at certain aspects. I did enjoy the fact that they had to overcome some obstacles as a couple and not everything was completely easy and overly happy.

The ending felt a bit rushed to me, but that be because I didn't want the book to end, maybe we could get some books on the side characters :)