Review: “A Chance for Us” by Corinne Michaels

Series: Willow Creek Valley #4

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: February 8th, 2022

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CW/TW: characters with cancer, death (on the page)

My marriage started as a lie.

But some lies are worth telling.

My father’s dying wish was to walk me down the aisle, and I’d do anything for him.

Even marry a man I don’t love.

So when my fiance jilts me only days before the ceremony, I turn to my college friend, Oliver Parkerson, and convince him to marry me.

My family hasn’t met either man, so I’m confident we can pull this off.

But the feelings, our touches, the way my heart beats for him… none of it feels pretend. The way he holds me at night and carries me through loss tells me he’s not acting either.

I didn’t mean to fall for my fake husband, but real love was the one thing I couldn’t predict.

Except, nothing built on lies can last—I know that better than anyone.

But the truth might tear us apart forever.

 

Phew. Going into this book, I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. But let me just say that Corinne Michaels took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute I was laughing and enjoying the Parkerson family shenanigans and dynamics and the next, I was weeping into my pillow. But when a book can make you feel so much and put you through that kind of chaos in 300 something pages, then you know you’re in for a treat. An emotional one, but still a book that you must have in your life.

While you don’t have to read the rest of the series to read this book, it’s definitely better to get a full understanding of the Parkerson siblings and the situation they’re in currently. The first three books in this series were great, with each sibling going through something hard and beautiful at the same time and I cannot recommend them enough! A Chance for Us is the last in the series, even though there is a sibling still left. But as Corinne said at the end of the book, she has no immediate plans to write that book and I completely respect that!

A Chance for Us is a fake relationship/marriage of convenience, friends to lovers romance featuring Oliver Parkerson and Maren McVee. The two of them met in college and were friends for a period of time. Oliver and Maren never had any feelings for each other, they just got along really well and their friendship worked. Since then, their lives have changed. Oliver now works with his siblings to open a resort in their small town of Willow Creek Valley and Maren works for a security company as an analyst. However, Maren is supposed to be getting married to a man she met through work (also named Oliver!) and the wedding is supposed to happen at the Firefly Resort, owned by the Parkersons. The only problem is, her fiancé suddenly backs out of the wedding because he believes that they’re not really in love. After all, everything happened in a hurry and to ensure that her father will be able to walk her down the aisle, Maren does what she needs to. With the intention of cancelling the wedding, she shows up at the resort and makes a quick decision to ask Oliver Parkerson to marry her and lie with her in order to give her father his one dying wish.

I was so nervous about how this whole romance would play out, but I have to admit that through the chuckles and some tears, I really enjoyed this book! Maren’s father’s cancer is progressing faster than they thought and with only a few months left to live, she makes the decision to enlist Oliver to marry her just for the sake of her father’s happiness. But as you can imagine, things change, because feelings and forced proximity and all that good stuff, of course.

“This is supposed to be fake. All of it, and yet, it felt so damn real. The entire time, I just kept thinking about who else I could see myself with and there was no one. Each time I tried to picture the girl at the altar with me, I saw Maren. ”

Oliver and Maren were so great! Oliver’s been hurt and lied to before and after two failed relationships, he’s given up all hope of ever falling in love or getting married. In fact, he doesn’t even believe in the concept of marriage, but he knows that it’s the one thing Maren needs, so he steps up. I mean, talk about being a hero! I love how much time Oliver spends berating himself for thinking this was a good idea and all the emotions and processes he goes through to convince himself that it’s not the end of the world was very understandable. Maren, on the other hand, does want romance and love and everything that comes with it. But she’s more focused on making sure her father is happy in the last days of his life and I understood that as well.

One of my favourite things about this book was how much time we spent getting to know these characters before they went ahead with the fake marriage. It wasn’t a case of ‘I need you to marry me as a sham’ and then they got married, there was so much leading up to that moment that I fell in love with them as a couple and as individuals. I also really liked that while they know each other and have been friends for years, they really get to know each other through the course of being fake engaged and married. Something about the way that relationship fit made me feel like I was falling in love as they were falling in love and it felt so good! The chemistry is explosive between Oliver and Maren and the minute they decide what to do about their relationship, gah, it’s just so beautiful! 

There’s a lot that happens between them getting married and their happily ever after that will make you laugh and cry, so keep tissues handy. It’s all kinds of wonderful, though. The journey these characters go on, the struggles and love they have to sort through and of course all of the familial responsibilities. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this book and while I’m definitely gonna miss the Parkerson siblings, I have loved their stories so far! I can’t wait to see what Corinne Michaels has coming next!

Thanks to Corinne Michaels & Valentine PR for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.