Title: Marriage Auction
Author: Audrey Carlan
Publisher/Year:  Blue Box Press 1.24.23
Length:  324 pages
Series: Marriage Auction #2

Overview

Four young women enter into a clandestine auction to be married to the highest bidders. For no less than a million dollars a year, for three years, each woman will do what it takes to secure her future. Entangled in a high-stakes game of money, lust, power, and the hope for absolution, this group of women becomes a sisterhood unlike any other.

Once chosen by a man she’s never met and agrees to marry sight unseen…there is no going back. Hidden secrets, wicked desires, fiery couplings and intense family drama are all part of the deal when you willingly enter into The Marriage Auction.

You may now kiss the bride…

My Thoughts

The summary only gives you an idea of what book 1 was about – not book 2 – so this is where I get to step in. We met all of our main characters in the first book and now it’s time for us to enjoy seeing how their stories continue.

The sense you get from the auction in book 1 is that you are hoping that these men and women will find a partner that gives them what they were expecting to get out of the auction – no one really expects love – but instead a partner that will be an ends to a means for a least the 3 years of the terms. We saw through the varying dynamics of the relationships that some were far more complicated than others and in this book we get to see what that was.

Let’s start with Dakota and Sutton. These two have a history that was completely from left field – they are enemy families from Montana, and ironically – Sutton has been in love with Kota since he first met her. So what we get to see is how they go from ice, to fire, to ice and hopefully back to fire all in this next chapter of their story. What we learn throughout this book is that their family history is more intertwined and mis-communicated than ever expected and it’s an enjoyable time watching how it all unfolds.

Next we can stay with the family and go to Savannah and Erik. They are now back in Norway where Erik is from, and we get to see a bit more into the fast of Erik and what has made him into the man that he is now. The fist book hinted at something that happened years ago, and now we get to see the layers of the onion peel away as Savannah gets him to let his guard down. At the same time, we know that Savannah left someone at home – Jarrod – someone who she’s cared for quite a bit and who she broke up with to help out Kota, and he’s not going to take this new situation sitting down at all. He makes an appearance through both Kota’s story and this one, and the way that it unfolds in book three will be quite telling.

Next we can go to England where we have Ruby, Niles, and Noah. If you’ll recall, the twins went to the auction because there was a stipulation in their grandfather’s will that they had to marry for 2 years to get the majority shares of the family business. Ruby was given the chance to choose between the brothers, with rules in place to how they can woo her. What we see is one brother make a poor choice in their first date with the other coming to sort of save the day and smooth things over. This leads us to a decision being made sooner than we expected and then an interesting turn of events. Back home, we learn that Opal, Ruby’s sister has been attacked by their mother, with their mother stealing everything that Opal had. So Ruby sends one of the brothers to convince Opal to come back to England to be with her and where the story goes from there we can guess, but will have to wait and see.

Next we have Faith and Joel – they have had quite the rollercoaster. We knew that Faith was running from someone in her pas back in Vegas and we saw that Joel was a man who was able to protect her in the right moments that mattered. After Faith’s father was attacked and Eden, Faith’s niece was kidnapped, Joel was able to get the child back, get them all to safety and put plans into motion to make them all safe. They head off to Greece where Faith and Eden are welcomed with open arms by Joel’s family and even his daughter. They become a fast family but not one without their own stresses – we see how there are fears of what this blended family could be and there’s hesitation from Faith on the plans that Joel has for the future of the family as well (I.e. he wants more kids and I get the sense that she does not). We see that the kidnapping isn’t the end of what Aiden, the man from Faith’s past is able to do and he doesn’t stop there – arson and fear is still the name of the game and we have to wonder what’s going to be next.

What we have not quite gotten to in these stories are the weddings for most of the couples, so it’ll be telling to see how those net out – if they happen, what cold feet there are and what obstacles they will face. We get the sense in a lot of the relationships that there’s something potentially real there but who knows what real is given the circumstances. There are introductions of passion and chemistry across the board and i’m keen to see how it all plays out. So on that note- i’m off to find the next book so you guys please – Enjoy!