Overall Grade: B+
Tropes: friends to lovers; runaway bride; unrequited love; he falls first; Vegas wedding; fake relationship; surprise baby; age gap
J. Saman’s Undeniably Married illustrates an upgrade for her next-gen couples. The couple of this fourth story in her Boston’s Irresistibly Billionaires series, Sorel and Mason, are downright feral in their physicality. Saman has “next-leveled” this next-gen. She’s forgone a more profound development of story and characterization — like she had with her earlier stories — for a smuttier romance. I don’t dislike that; it’s an observation of her evolution as an author.
What did I love about this story?
- I’m an absolute sucker for a man who adores a woman from afar and falls deep. Mason Reyes pines for Sorel, a woman who is seven years his senior. He has reconciled a friendship with her, but, given the chance, he goes hard for her. Saman utilizes this reality by forgoing the third-act breakup. Because Mason adores Sorel and fights hard for her love, Saman gifts her reader with plot tension through other ways, ways that are easier on your heart.
- While Mason’s love for Sorel is my favorite part of Undeniably Married, the plot twists are the book’s driving forces. In looking at the trope list for this book, you’d assume a lot, but Saman has crafted a story rife with complications that her characters must delicately work through.
- The extended cast continues to excite Saman’s readers because she has many characters to work with for later stories. Honestly, this series could encompass SEVERAL books. I love how the characters from several of her series are entwined in this series. It feels as though you’re gifted Easter eggs of a sort throughout it.
Besides the imbalance of smut to story for Saman, one other aspect of this book and the other books in this series is how much the older generation has taken a back seat. They are mentioned, and we encounter the parents, but nothing is usually deeper than a quick scene. We see this in this book when Mason seeks out the advice of his parents, but it’s brief, and they play little part in the rest of the story. Even the lack of Sorel’s parents in the face of a broken engagement is a lacking plot point.
Mason and Sorel’s Undeniably Married holds a balance between teeth-achingly sweet and romance spice. I absolutely love this series, and I cannot wait for more stories from this crew of next-gen J. Saman characters.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 