2.5 stars -- I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

Yeah, this one just left me feeling very meh.  I didn't end up being that captured by either character...we dive right into the story fairly quickly, and so we really don't get to see who either of them are before it's about the two of them together.  I think this kind of storyline, where there's the forced relationship that turns into love, just doesn't work well in novella format.  Or perhaps I'm just too cynical for love to happen to complete strangers in a few weeks.  I guess sometimes I'm OK with that, but I wasn't in this case.  In the end I really just don't understand what they each fell in love with.  I didn't see their connection, I didn't see enough chemistry.  I guess I could see if they were *starting* to fall in love and wanted to give it a shot, but this was a full blown "I'm totally in love with you" situation, and that was too far for me.

Both Vincent and Lilia seemed like fairly nice characters overall, but there wasn't a whole lot of spunk to either of them...they felt a bit boring to be frank.  I did appreciate how much they each loved their families, and that at least there wasn't anything screwed up there.  And I suppose that brought them together a bit in the end.  I couldn't figure out her twin though...but maybe it was supposed to entice me to find her story.

Honestly, I could try to dive further into the whys and hows of my feelings, but it all comes down to believability, chemistry, and how compelling the story was.  And this novella was meh in all those avenues for me.  *shrugs*

Lilia needed to raise a lot of money and now she was setting in a coffee shop. Lilia had a travel and food blog called Made To Wander. Lilia’s emotions were all over the place the last couple of weeks. Writing about stabilizing subjects had helped her feel normal again and not like and not like her world was falling apart around her with her father’s cancer diagnosis and the need for a lot of money for a new very expensive treatment. There was a very handsome man sitting Lilia but she was trying to ignore him as she had to make a miracle happen. There had to be a way to get her dad the treatment and Lilia was going to find it. The man needed a wife and if he didn’t marry he would lose control of his fathers company to his loser uncle Lilia said she would marry him for the right price she said half jokingly and half serious. The guy then asked Lilia how much after he found out she was single But it made Lilia feel dirty as they were talking about falsifying a marriage. But if the gut was for real and had enough money all her dads problems would be solved The guys name was Vincent Morganstein who is a workaholic who has no time to date much less find a wife. Then Lilia and Vincent came up with a one year contract.
This was a sweet fun romance. It was a quick read. I do have to say I have read the theme of this book many times a man needing a wife but I still enjoyed this book. I do wish this had been longer. I don’t really care for the insta/love-lust but it wasn’t too bad in this case for some reason. I liked Vincent and Lilia together. I wish I could have rated this as a 3.5 or 3.75 but couldn’t so three it will have to do.

I really enjoyed the book, it has everything I love in a novel from start to finish. I can’t wait to read what the author has planned next!

This story line had so much potential and unfortunately in the author's goal to write a novella it fell incredibly short. The characters were just being developed when the story comes up an abrupt end. Without giving away the end of the book, the ending felt like it came out of left field. I didn't feel like the romance or relationship had been developed enough to get to the point that the two characters were at by the end of the book.

Next time, take your time and write a full length novel where the story and the characters could be more developed.