#Review: Wedding Date for Hire by Jennifer Shirk - 3.5 Wine Glasses

Title: Wedding Date for Hire
Series:  Anyone But You
Author: Jennifer Shirk
Format: Kindle
Published : Entangled: Bliss (October 12, 2015)
ISBN : ASIN: B014CS5P3M
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: NetGalley
Rating:  3 1/2 Wine Glasses

A sweet category romance from Entangled's Bliss imprint...

Hottie for hire...

Maddie McCarthy is single, between jobs, and (oh, the shame) lives with her mother. To make matters worse, she's the maid of honor for her sister's wedding, and desperately needs a date. Then she sees her salvation-Match Made Easy, a service for women in Maddie's exact position. If she can't find a boyfriend, she'll do the next best thing...

Hire one.

Trent Montgomery isn't actually part of Match Made Easy. He's just doing a favor for his cousin, but one look at the blonde who hired him, and he's totally hooked. Now Maddie thinks that the attraction sizzling between them is just "part of the package." And Trent is running out of time to prove to her that her date-for-hire might just be her happily-ever-after...

Linda's Thoughts:
She hesitated a moment then slipped her arm through his. "Just remember, I lead, you follow."
"Okay, but when we're dancing at the wedding, I lead, you follow."
She sighed dramatically. "I guess I can agree to that."
He chuckled. "See? I have a feeling this the beginning of a beautiful fake relationship."
She worried her bottom lip as they walked toward the kitchen together. "I'm sure glad one of us feels that way."

WEDDING DATE FOR HIRE by Jennifer Shirk is a predictable, but quite enjoyable contemporary romance. It is the second book in the author's Anyone But You series, but it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone. For those who have read FIANCE BY FATE, this book features Sabrina's friend, Maddie McCarthy, from that book as the heroine with newcomer Trent Montgomery as the hero.  I have not read the first book, but I did not feel that affected my enjoyment of this story.

As the story begins, we learn that Maddie's sister's wedding is just around the corner and Maddie is the maid of honor. Maddie is going through a rough period, having just lost her job and her boyfriend. Even worse, her cheating ex-boyfriend, a true cad, will be the best man at the wedding. Maddie's family believes that their first-born daughters are cursed and cannot hold on to a man. Maddie would like to dispel the curse, not have her sister worry about Maddie's love life at her wedding and show her ex that she's not mourning his loss. So... she hires Match Made Easy to set her up with an attractive, attentive date for the wedding festivities. She's dismayed to discover that her hired date is Trent Montgomery - a high school football star who Maddie crushed over in high school - but who paid her back by making her life miserable.

Trent no longer plays football due to an injury. When he quit playing, his fiance walked out on him and his parents gave him the cold shoulder. Only his cousin, Kennedy, stood by him. So... when Kennedy started her Match Made Easy business, he stepped up to the plate to finance her endeavor. Now he needs the money to pay back a loan he'd taken out on the three gyms that he owns. Kennedy approaches Trent with a deal he can't refuse. She has a lucrative potential contract - but no escort. IF he agrees to play escort with a woman who needs a date for her sister's wedding festivities, she can pay Trent back his seed money. What a shock to find out that the woman is Fattie Maddie from high school.

This was a sweet clean romance. There's some kissing and sparks galore, but no hanky panky. I enjoyed watching both the hero and heroine move on from their high school issues and learn to trust each other.

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from this read:

Desperate.
He rolled his eyes. That was the third nail in the coffin to this whole fiasco. Kennedy wanted him to pose as a paid escort (which embarrassed him) to a desperate woman (which scared him) and take her to a wedding (which nauseated him.)
---

"I do think you should change in private. You don't see me ripping off my clothes in front of you, now do you?"
He gave a deep fake sigh. "Sadly, no."
---

He cocked his head and sent her a dimpled smile. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Where am I going? "I don't know. Probably the library."
"On a Friday night?" He made a show of horror. "What the heck are you going to do there?"
"Oh, what most people do at their local library—three way orgy, summon up the dead, if there's time, jam up the copy machine with Canadian quarters. Same old same old."

This is the first book I've read by Jennifer Shirk, but I don't plan on it being the last. I loved the epilogue at the end that wrapped up the couple's story with a pretty bow. I would recommend WEDDING DATE FOR HIRE to anyone who enjoys entertaining contemporary romances.


Suggested Reading Order: 
FIANCE BY FATE (book 1)
WEDDING DATE FOR HIRE (book 2)