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| WOULD YOU RATHER – Allison Ashley Denver, Colorado – Present Day Mia and Noah have been best friends since childhood and are always there for each other. Mia has kidney disease and she’s awaiting a transplant. Both work at the same architectural company but Mia has been dreaming of going back to college to get a dietitian degree. On a whim, she applied for a college scholarship and learns that she has been accepted. The only thing holding her back from quitting her job to get the degree is that she would lose her health insurance. Her medical woes mean that she needs health insurance. Noah is supportive of her dreams to go back to school and offers a suggestion. They should get married—in name only—so that she can get on his health insurance. Mia is stunned at the offer and though apprehensive, accepts his “proposal.” The caveat is that they must keep the real reason why they married a secret so that they won’t be turned in for insurance fraud. Once married, Mia moves in with Noah. She’s spending the nights in his spare room, and while they have known each other most of their lives, she soon learns more about her best friend. And she discovers that she is now attracted to Noah. Will their marriage become real, and if so, can they make their temporary marriage turn into one that will last forever? Noah is protective of Mia because of her illness and after losing his only brother in a car accident. He blames himself for the accident because he had begged his brother to take him to Mia after learning that she was in the hospital while he was out of town. As such, Noah hates to leave Mia’s side. She wants to be independent and hates Noah hovering over her. She agreed to marry him but worries that their friendship will be ruined if they have sex. Noah insists that nothing will change between them. Meanwhile, Noah is being blackmailed by a co-worker as the man overheard them discussing their “faux” marriage. Noah is competing with the co-worker for a job advancement. In exchange for Noah sabotaging his own job advancement, the co-worker won’t rat on him to their boss that Noah and Mia married in order to keep her insurance. As an aside, I don’t think there is anything Noah and Mia did wrong as it is not a felony to marry for health insurance as long as the marriage is valid. Mia is adopted and only learned about it a couple of years ago when the need for a kidney donor came up. Her adoptive parents hadn’t told her that she was adopted, and the shock caused her to shut them out of her life. Deep down, Mia feels guilt about all the sacrifices they made for her, including mortgaging away their home and not doing the things most families do. Part of the plot in WOULD YOU RATHER is a letter from her parents that so far, she has refused to open. Later on, she does read it. Will it make her change her mind about her adoptive parents? I must admit that I couldn’t understand why she was mad at them. They clearly loved her and wanted to do everything in their power to make her well again. WOULD YOU RATHER is an emotional read as Mia and Noah deal with her illness and the effects a marriage will have on their lifelong friendship. They are both likable characters but cling a lot to each other without really understanding why. Readers will be rooting for Mia to get a new kidney and for them to make their marriage work forever. Grab a copy of this enjoyable tale. Patti Fischer |
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