BLURB:

Unsettled… that is the word Desire Chambries uses to describe how she feels. Although her preschool students bring her joy, her personal life needs resuscitating. She’d love to get married, but the dating scene lacks quality men. Most were barely boyfriend material and definitely not fit to be someone’s husband. At thirty-five years old, her hope of finding the man of her dreams and becoming a wife is fading fast, as is the idea of having children of her own.

One lonely Friday night, after being stood up for the third time, she sees an ad for Arranged Hearts on social media. Her interest is piqued, and before she second-guesses herself, she completes the online profile. Once she presses submit, things move rapidly, and she finds herself agreeing to spend the rest of her life with a man she’s never met.

Aziel Harris has to make some lifestyle changes since he plans to run for a second term as mayor of his hometown. His image has taken some major hits as of late, with women coming out of the woodwork to stake their claim on him. Not to mention, he’s raising his sassy three-year-old daughter, Azaria, alone, and single fatherhood as a forty-two-year-old is harder than running the city.

Unbeknownst to him, his assistant completes a profile for him with Arranged Hearts. Initially, he refuses to go through the process, but knowing a team of people are counting on him to continue his reign as mayor, he agrees to marry a woman he’s yet to meet.

Desire and Aziel don’t expect marrying a stranger to be easy, but neither of them are prepared for the obstacles thrown their way. Will the arranged hearts commit to forever, or will ‘I do’ turn into ‘I don’t’?

MY THOUGHTS:

Thank you, NetGalley, for setting me up with the ALC of Desire by Kay Shanee. This was my first dive into Kay Shanee’s world, and let me tell you, it hit me with some major “Married at First Sight” vibes, which happens to be my guilty pleasure (I mean, bring on the new season already!). Unlike the show’s couples, who usually take things slow, Aziel and Desire wasted no time! The story zoomed by, but hey, no complaints here. The narrators did an amazing job bringing the story to life, but umm, Aziel, sigh left me feeling pretty baffled and he did not make it to my book bae list.

His statement on their wedding day:
“……..from this day forward, it’s me, you, Ria and the seeds I plant in your womb”

If someone said stuff like that in front of my family on our special day, I’d feel really embarrassed and weirded out. It’s totally not cool for a Mayor, or anyone for that matter, to make those kinds of comments in front of family on the wedding day. Aziel seemed way too fixated on “planting his seed” and Aziel’s womb, which made me super uncomfortable. His vibe came off as fake, and I ended up tuning out of the conversation after just two hours. Everything became related to sex and I am no prude, but, he was rubbing me the wrong way. I also found it inappropriate to criticize his child’s mother due to her mental health issues or postpartum struggles.

Despite this, the cover of this book is indeed stunning and angelic and I truly cherished the relationship Ria and Desire established.

Happy Reading Folks!