To escape her cruel relatives, the painfully shy Evangeline Jenner seeks out the most dangerous rake in London, Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent, with a shocking proposition: marriage. The bargain is simple: Evie’s fortune in exchange for Sebastian’s protection from her family.
What begins as a pure business transaction is complicated by Sebastian's unexpected vulnerability and the genuine connection that grows between them. Lisa Kleypas masterfully transforms a marriage of pure convenience into a story of healing and profound love, making it a benchmark of the genre.
Vanessa Mazur has just quit her demanding job as an assistant to top NFL quarterback Aiden Graves. But when Aiden realizes he’s lost the only person who can manage his life, he shows up on her doorstep with an offer she can’t refuse: marry him for a green card and a hefty paycheck.
Their arrangement is meant to be temporary and professional, but living together forces the intensely private Aiden and the warm-hearted Vanessa to see beyond their contractual obligations. This slow-burn romance excels at showing how a partnership built on necessity can gradually, and believably, blossom into a deep and unshakeable love.
In this unique fantasy romance, a marriage is arranged to foster peace between two disparate kingdoms. Human noblewoman Ildiko and the Kai prince Brishen are wed sight unseen, and their first meeting reveals they find each other’s species physically repulsive.
Rather than focusing on instant attraction, their relationship is built on a foundation of shared humor, mutual respect, and intellectual companionship.
Grace Draven crafts a moving portrait of a political alliance that gently evolves into a true partnership, proving love can emerge from friendship and understanding, even across vast cultural and physical divides.
Set in medieval Scotland, this historical romance begins with a royal decree: the English baroness Jamie is to marry the powerful Scottish laird Alec Kincaid to secure peace between their warring peoples. The arrangement is purely a political strategy, and neither Jamie nor Alec expects more than a truce.
However, Jamie’s fierce independence clashes and then combines with Alec’s protective nature, igniting an undeniable passion. Garwood perfectly illustrates how a forced marriage can blossom into genuine romance, complete with compelling dialogue and the rich backdrop of the Scottish Highlands.
In a small Georgia town during World War II, pregnant widow Elly McKinney takes a desperate step: she advertises for a husband to help her raise her children. Answering the call is Will Parker, a quiet ex-convict seeking a fresh start. Their union is founded on mutual need and practicality, a quiet arrangement between two lonely souls.
LaVyrle Spencer crafts a deeply touching and realistic story where love doesn’t arrive in a flash of passion, but grows slowly and steadily through shared daily routines, quiet support, and the building of a family against all odds.
Set in 1950s post-partition India, this sweeping epic centers on Lata Mehra, a university student whose mother is determined to find her a suitable husband. The novel explores the complex world of arranged marriages, where family, religion, and social standing are weighed far more heavily than romantic love.
Lata finds herself torn between three suitors—one her mother approves of, and two she is drawn to for different reasons. Seth’s masterpiece offers a richly layered examination of how societal pressure, familial duty, and personal desire intersect within the framework of a marriage arranged for practical purposes.
The Duke of Ashbury, scarred in war and notoriously reclusive, needs a wife for one reason only: to provide him with an heir. When he meets Emma Gladstone, a struggling seamstress in a wedding dress, he makes her an offer on the spot—a marriage that is strictly a business arrangement with a list of rules.
He gets his heir, and she gets a life of security. Full of wit and charm, this novel turns a cynical bargain into a heartfelt romance as Emma’s spirit and kindness begin to penetrate the duke’s hardened exterior, challenging the boundaries of their cold-hearted deal.
To claim her inheritance and save her beloved family coffee shop, Rose has one option: get married. She finds the perfect candidate in Jack, a handsome and aloof lawyer who agrees to a contractual marriage for his own mysterious reasons.
Their arrangement starts as a sterile, professional agreement, with both parties living as roommates and nothing more. However, cohabitation begins to chip away at their carefully constructed walls, revealing the hidden depths beneath Jack’s reserved demeanor and the true warmth of their connection.
This novel is a perfect example of how a deliberately transactional beginning can lead to an organic and deeply felt love story.
During the American Civil War, Elle Burns, a formerly enslaved woman with a perfect memory, returns to the South as a spy for the Union. Her mission is complicated when she meets Malcolm McCall, a Pinkerton detective also embedded in the Confederate elite.
To maintain their covers and get closer to critical intelligence, they enter a pretend courtship that blurs the lines between duty and desire. While not a formal marriage for the entire plot, their high-stakes partnership functions as one, a union of convenience forged in danger where developing real feelings is the greatest risk of all.
To save her family from ruin, Cassandra needs to marry a wealthy man. Her solution is Joshua, a notorious rake who needs her respectable name and dowry. They marry with a clear understanding: they will live separate lives and not interfere with one another.
The deal works perfectly for two years until Joshua's reckless lifestyle brings him crashing back into Cassandra's quiet, ordered world. Forced together by circumstance, they must navigate the terms of their forgotten marriage, discovering that the stranger they married might just be the person they were always meant to love.
Set in the rugged American West, this western romance features Low Down, a plain-spoken and pragmatic young woman who saves a man’s life. In return, the handsome stranger offers her a proposition: a temporary marriage of convenience so she can claim a plot of land next to his.
Theirs is a union born of pure necessity and survival in a harsh environment. Maggie Osborne captures the gritty reality of the frontier while crafting an emotionally authentic story of two guarded people whose practical arrangement slowly and believably deepens into trust, respect, and finally, love.
Theresa is devastated when she learns that her marriage to Italian billionaire Sandro De Lucci was arranged by their families for financial reasons—and that her husband has resented her from their wedding day. This novel delves into the emotionally turbulent side of a marriage of convenience, beginning with a cold, resentful dynamic.
Natasha Anders provides a compelling and angsty portrayal of two people trapped in a loveless union, as they navigate misunderstandings and deep-seated pain to see if it’s possible to build a real connection from the ashes of a calculated arrangement.
To escape the pressures of the London social season, Madeline Gracechurch invents a fiancé: a brave and handsome Scottish Captain named Logan MacKenzie. For years, she maintains the fiction through elaborate, one-sided correspondence. The problem?
Captain Logan MacKenzie is a real person, and when her letters unexpectedly summon him to her door, he insists she honor the engagement she created. Filled with humor and heart, this story puts a delightful twist on the trope, forcing a reluctant heroine to enter a very real marriage of convenience with her fictional hero.
In this contemporary take on the trope, Noura and Calder enter into an arranged marriage purely as a business deal to benefit their powerful families. Their relationship is meant to be a public-facing partnership, emotionally detached and governed by a contract.
They navigate their new life with a cool professionalism, but the forced intimacy of marriage slowly reveals hidden vulnerabilities and truths that complicate their carefully constructed arrangement.
Lilley offers a modern exploration of how two strangers can find an unexpectedly deep emotional connection within the pragmatic and complex confines of an arranged union.
When Captain Adam Deveril inherits a title and a mountain of debt, his only option for saving the family estate is to marry for money. He dutifully sets aside his love for the beautiful Julia and proposes to Jenny Chawleigh, the shy and decidedly un-glamorous daughter of a phenomenally wealthy industrialist.
Heyer’s novel is a masterful and realistic portrayal of a marriage of convenience, focusing less on sweeping passion and more on the quiet, practical work of building a life together. It’s a subtle and deeply rewarding story about the growth of affection, respect, and companionship within a union founded on necessity.