"A master storyteller"
America's wealthiest heiress Honor Witherspoon marries its
most famous security recluse Bram Bennett. Last year,
Honor was a kidnap victim; Bram makes the security devices
that keep "Celebs" safe. Many skeptics figure this is a
business deal brokered by her daddy to provide affluence to
Bram and security to Honor. The cynics think that Daddy
Witherspoon brokered the deal, blackmailing and forcing
Bram into marrying his daughter with the real threat to
destroy his hometown of Hot Springs, California. Bram still mourns for his deceased wife, but Honor wants
her marriage to work and not as a convenient deal sponsored
by her dad. As Bram struggles to keep Honor safe and she
still recovers from her harrowing experience, the
impossible happens and they fall in love. However, can
this
couple turn their marriage of convenience brokered by an
interested third party into a lifetime of happiness with he
carrying eight years and she one year of baggage? The device seems to have been used, as many times as there
are stars. The baggage seems to have been used as many
pieces of sand. Put together, THEN COMES MARRIAGES should
be a trite disaster, but in the hands of a magician readers
receive a warm uplifting contemporary romance. The story
line overcomes the banal almost corny mechanisms through
the delightful lead couple, each unknowingly seeking
someone to believe in even while they deny their love for
one another. The townsfolk add a feeling of homecoming and
a bit of wackiness, but Christie Ridgway's latest Hot
Springs' novel resides with the couple avoiding that
elusive butterfly. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted December 10, 2002
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