The Boyfriend Contract by Victoria James – a Review

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Description:
Emily Birmingham has had it up to here with men.

Growing up with an overbearing father and then her brother inherits everything she’s worked her whole life to build. Now she’s living in her grandmother’s dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere Canada, jobless, and dealing with the most annoyingly sexy contractor on the planet. Exactly when did her life become an anti-Hallmark movie?

Cooper Merrick learned the hard way that love is definitely not worth the risk. He’s happy running the family contracting business alongside his well-meaning but overly-opinionated brothers…happy enough until polished and perfect Emily enters his world. Nothing prepared him for the ways she turns his life upside down and reaches the parts of himself he’s closed off from the world.

But when he finally gets up the nerve to ask Emily out, she says her next date will need to come with a written contract and some very particular ground rules. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but why does he find himself wanting to sign on the dotted line?

Review;

I think it’s safe to say I’ve become a fan of Victoria James novels and thanks to The Reading Café I’m able to review another well written story by her. 

The Boyfriend Contract by Victoria James is everything I now come to expect from one of her stories.  Yes it’s a quick read, but it’s fun, and flirty with just the right amount of drama and backstory to bring depth and substance to her story.  I really enjoyed the main couple of Emily and Cooper from their first appearances in the story. Both characters are down to earth, real and easy to relate too.  They make it very easy to read, become attached that you don’t want to put the book down as you follow along on their adventure.  Added to the mix is a nicely rounded out batch of secondary characters in Cooper’s family with his brothers, sister and parents. I just loved the family dynamic there.  They are a close-knit family who love to joke with each other, aggravate one another etc, but in the end they love one another and will always have each other’s backs.  It’s because of that family dynamic they were able to welcome Emily in with open arms and root for Cooper and Emily to get together. I loved the way his sister and brother’s bugged and heckled him over his feelings for her, it was just sweet sibling love coming through. 

Of course it wouldn’t be a true romantic read without some drama to wreck a little havoc with the main couple. We learn of Cooper’s past with his wife, and that she died of cancer at a young age. It’s taken him five years to finally come to terms with everything and finally move on and want to start over again with Emily.  It wasn’t  easy for Cooper to navigate but thanks to the support of his family he was able to do just that and find love again with Emily.  Cooper wasn’t the only one dealing with life altering events.  Emily is still grieving that death of her parents thanks to a car accident a year ago, and how her older brother who wasn’t very nice to her growing up and still isn’t nice to her, inherited the family business that she loved. However, she inherited her grandmother’s old family house in Maple Hill and it brings her to Cooper and his family.  Their romance is very slow to build, but not too slow, just slow enough to appreciate the build-up and enjoy their slow fall into love with one another. I enjoyed their romance even with all it’s ups and downs, humour and all around charming appeal.  Victoria James has another hit on her hands I’d say and I look forward to reading more from her, hopefully with Cooper’s siblings having their own romances.

Until next time, happy reading everyone!

Reviewed by Marcie

Copy provided by Publisher