Book Review: ‘Not The Girl You Marry’ Is Another Fun Rom-Com

Rom-Coms are written the same way. Two people meet that may not like each other or looking for anything. Then they find themselves together and falling for each other. Then something happens and they break-up and then one of them will do something to try and fix it. Whether they get back together always remains to be seen. It’s the standard way they’re written and most of the time are very good. Not The Girl You Marry falls into the very good category.

Jack Nolan is single and has been for the last six months. He’s been dumped again and wonders what he has to do to keep a woman. He’s a genuine nice guy. He’s good looking, funny and has piercing green eyes. He works as a journalist, who has to do fluff pieces but would really like to be doing Politics and isn’t like his a-hole buddies who are always on tinder swiping. He doesn’t believe in using apps like that.

Hannah works at an event planning company. She’s very good at throwing parties for her clients that want things over the top. She wants to move up in the company but has been pigeon holed in her specialty field. There’s a big-time wedding coming up with one of the Senator’s daughters and she’s helping to work on it against the judgement of her boss. Hannah is also down on men. She was dumped a while ago and really has no trust in men.

Then she and Jack are in the same bar on the same night. She notices his friends all swiping and thinks they are a-holes. Jack is at the bar and notices Hannah and it’s on. He likes her and she likes him. He likes her snarky attitude and she likes how he acts and thinks maybe a one night stand. They play the flirting game and he gets her number promising not ask her out on a date. They text back and forth and end up going out.

As much as they seem to like each other after they meet they have to use each other. Hannah needs him for two weeks to impress her boss she can get a man. Jack’s boss wants a new piece on how to make your girlfriend break up with you for being a douche. Neither one thinks it will go anywhere and then they find they really like each other. Even as Jack plays his games, he is falling for her and she is for him. But they each have their secrets and are not sure what to do. Then it all blows up at once and now they have to figure out if there was truly something between them or it was all a game.

Such a fun story with two characters that just want to find the right person and you get emotionally invested in them as their story unfolds. You root big time for them to be together. The characters are well-written and it’s a good twist that they both have their secrets and it wasn’t on just one of them, like typical rom-coms.

You can pick up Not The Girl You Marry in stores on Tuesday, November 12th from Berkley Jove Trade.