BRIDE FOR A DAY – Carolyn Brown
Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN: 978-1-7282-4580-5
March 29, 2022
Contemporary Romance

Ryan, Oklahoma – Present Day

Note: Originally published in 1997 as Love Is the Answer under the pen name of Abby Gray. It was updated and expanded a little for its 2022 release.

Cassie is on the run from a man who sold her into sex slavery. She is at a bus stop waiting to reboard the bus when two lawmen come into the restaurant asking questions about a woman (Cassie) who is wanted for questioning. The man she had ran from had reported to the law that she stole from him. Spotting a man sitting alone at a booth, Cassie slips into the seat across from him and asks him to pretend to know her. This is relevant when the lawmen stop at the table to question them. The stranger, Ted Wellman, informs the men that Cassie is his fiancée, and they are on their way to get married. The lawmen are suspicious and become “helpful” in assisting them to get married that day.

After spending their “honeymoon” platonically in a hotel room, Ted brings Cassie back to his family’s ranch after she explains why she is on the run. Cassie will be twenty-one in a few months and then will have access to a trust fund left to her by a relative. Ted and his family insist that Cassie stay with them until then to stay out of the way of the man still looking for her and they also offer her a job and their home as a place to stay. Besides, Ted will be filing for an annulment, and she needs to be around until it is final. But an attraction has developed between Cassie and Ted. Will they end up making it a real marriage? Will Cassie stay beyond her twenty-first birthday? What about the “charges” hanging over her head?

Cassie and Ted never expected that they’d end up married to each other in BRIDE FOR A DAY, but when that happens, they make the best of the situation. Along the way, they fall in love with each other. Ted is a sweet guy who will do anything for people, while Cassie has felt like a doormat since she was sixteen and her mother died, leaving Cassie in the guardianship of a couple who used her. His family barely blinks an eye at Ted and Cassie being married and welcomes her with open arms. Secretly, they are hoping the new couple learn to care for each other enough to make it a real thing. Cassie is a hard worker and proves invaluable to those around her. Once she has access to her trust fund, she plans to go to school for a nursing degree. That caring attitude helps endear her to Ted.

BRIDE FOR A DAY is a sweet story that will have you rooting for Ted and Cassie to make it work. She deserves to have something good happen to her, while Ted, who still misses his late twin, John, needs a reason to move on to a better future. Be prepared to smile, laugh, and cry as you read BRIDE FOR A DAY.

Patti Fischer