"An excellent beginning for the new "Contract Brides" series."

Rena Lambert has spent her entire life trying to atone to her father for the fact that her birth cost the life of the one woman he ever loved. She has endured intense and unreasonable emotional abuse from him in the hopes that someday he will forgive her and show her a little of the affection she longs for. She is forced to face the fact that this will never happen when her father tells her he has contracted to marry her off to neighbor Ford Harlow, and that Harlow has only agreed to the marriage in exchange for some land he wants. This is the last straw for Rena and she decides the only answer is to pack up and leave Lambert to find a life of her own somewhere. But first she needs to see Ford and tell him she will not go along with the agreement. Ford convinces her that he really needs that land and that the arrangement can be mutually beneficial. He doesn't tell her that he is also agreeing to the marriage because he is secretly attracted to her; he believes this knowledge will frighten her off. He does tell her that he expects a real marriage and wants to try to make it work out. She agrees to the marriage but is terrified by the realization that she is falling in love with Ford, thus giving him the power to hurt her much more than her father ever has.

I have become an immense fan of Susan Fox's direct, no-nonsense writing style. I know that when I open one of her books I will be shedding not a few tears for the heroine, and that by the end I will be ever so thankful for the hero's strength, loyalty and love.

MARRIAGE ON DEMAND is a fine example of this style, and has joined the list of my favorite Fox books. This is the first in a new Harlequin Romance series called Contract Brides, and Ms. Fox has set the bar high. MARRIAGE ON DEMAND will be a tough act for subsequent series authors to follow!

Reviewed by Janice Bennett
Posted March 10, 2002