My Darling Bride (The Darlings)

Name: My Darling Bride (The Darlings)
SKU: 106969
Availability: InStock

4.4 | 15,736 ratings

Price: 4.99

Last update: 03-08-2025

About this item

In a sizzling romance that sparkles with wit and depth, two wounded souls meet by chance in the desert and agree to get married, and their lives will never be the same.

On a normal day, Emmaline Darling isn’t a car thief. She’s just a simple girl who runs a bookstore and adores cats. But when she’s stranded in the desert and needs to get away from her dangerous ex-boyfriend, she picks her only option: swiping the keys to a famous football player’s Lamborghini and speeding away.

Football star Graham Harlan is in chaos. First he took a hit on the field that left him with a near-death experience, and now he’s promised his brother he’ll get married to secure the family inheritance. Trouble is he isn’t even seeing anyone.

Then a mystery woman steals his car. With his usual stubbornness, he tracks her all the way to Manhattan and gives her an ultimatum: marry me or I’ll press charges.

Her choice is obvious, only neither of them expect the sparks that ignite between them.

As the end of their arrangement looms, will Graham take a chance on love or let his darling walk away forever?

Top reviews from the United States

Brittany @happy.ending.always

Highly Recommend!!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2024

I stumbled upon this book, needing to read something to get me out of a funk/slump. Not only did this book do that, I loved it soooo much I grabbed the paperback. This is a book I will be re-reading constantly! It was so good. So happy and such a great story. The marriage of convenience/fake marriage is absolutely incredible!

????Bookstore Worker FMC
⭐️Football NFL MMC
????Marriage of Convenience
⭐️Fake Marriage
????Forced Proximity/One Bed
⭐️Incredible Found Family
????She Falls Hard, He Falls Harder
⭐️Both MMC & FMC Have Health Conditions
????Adorable Nicknames (Darling & Mr. Creamy)

The way that Graham & Emmy meet is hilarious and sad. She is running from an abusive ex and runs right into the arms of her knight and shining armor. Whereas Graham is running from a football injury looking for answers and finds Emmy. They soon realize they need each other and scheme to become fake married. But they never once thought they could fall for each other, or heck even care about each other. Their secret moments are soooo sweet and swoony!!! I fell hard for both of them. I wanted to be Emmy as she has this beautiful family who loves her soooo much. And she works in a bookstore!!! And as for Graham, he will melt your heart. All he does for his brother and for Emmy had me swooning. I love this book. It is laugh out loud funny and amazing!

I also all the side characters too. The siblings, Brody, Jane, Andrew were awesome! They brought so much fun and heart to the story. You could tell the characters were amazing people because their siblings stood by them no matter what. And Babs, the bookstore worker who is like an aunt to Emmy who will have you cracking up! This book is spectacular!

Filipino Bookworm

BOOKWORM REVIEW: My Darling Bride by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2024

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
SPICE: ????????????

The first meet-cute. The banter. The second meet-cute. The tension. All of that makes the heart of this fake marriage trope lover full.

A sketchy motel in the middle of the desert was not exactly the travel destination that Emmaline Darling and the mysterious "G" had in mind. Yet here they are, escaping from their respective lives and having their fates intertwined by a motel with an iguana mascot and an even shadier cowboy-wannabe trying to get in Emmy's pants. When the reason Emmy needed some reprieve at Motel Iguana shows up, she -- temporarily -- steals "G"'s Lamborghini as a getaway car.

It turns out that "G" happens to be Graham Harlan, the Super Bowl-winning tight end who almost lost his life on the football field. He also happens to live in Manhattan, where Emmy is also based. He eventually tracks her down, and while she is regretful and ready to hold up her wrists for police bracelets, Graham offers her jewelry of a different kind: an engagement ring. Graham needs a fake bride to secure the family inheritance so he can split it with his brother, and Emmy happens to be the perfect fit.

I love their chemistry. Ilsa Madden-Mills creates such a great connection between these two from the get-go. Graham checks off the boxes for a fantastic book boyfriend: his caring and gentle approach when it comes to Emmy and her family balances well with his broody overprotectiveness.

And their families? They are so adorable. Emmy's dynamics with her siblings and friends are so endearing. Graham's brother Brody and football teammates are also the best. Well, except Holden -- he is evil personified. (You will find out why.)

There are aspects of the plot that seem rushed, but they don't take away from the overall story. Madden-Mills provides a great build-up for Book 2 in the series, and I cannot wait for that to come out.

Jen Valencia

A darling of a read!

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2023

Ilsa Madden-Mills is back with a new full-length book, and it's a companion novel to her Strangers in Love series, albeit with a very loose connection! My Darling Bride is a standalone, and it features Graham Harlan, the twenty-nine-year-old star tight end for the New York Pythons who is dealing with an injury incurred in the middle of the Super Bowl that leads to a near-death experience, and Emmaline Darling, the twenty-seven-year-old manager of a small, independent bookstore called A Likely Story in Manhattan and who lives with her younger siblings, Jane and Andrew, and Jane's daughter, Londyn. In order to help his younger brother, Brody, secure the family inheritance, Graham knows he has to comply with the stipulation mentioned in his late grandmother's will: marry a woman. Now, for someone like him, you'd think it wouldn't be a problem. However, Graham isn't in a relationship with anyone--he isn't even seeing anyone, period. So, what's a guy to do? Well, blackmail the woman who stole his Lamborghini, of course. He won't press charges if Emmy agrees to marry him and stay until the inheritance is received. Then they can go their separate ways and Graham could focus his attention on his one true love: football. But what if Graham's true love is actually this super sassy bookseller turned darling bride...and soon-to-be ex-wife?

Darling! Simply darling! I adored this book, and that's saying something considering the whole marriage of convenience romance trope isn't my favorite. When I call this book a standalone, it truly is that. While Tuck Avery (Princess and the Player) is mentioned, he plays no role in Emmy and Graham's story whatsoever. River Tate (The Revenge Pact) makes a cameo here, but it's Jasper (whose last name continues to escape me, but he was a barely a blip on the radar in Beauty and the Baller and a true supporting character in Princess and the Player) who makes his charmingly persistent presence known, what with now being Graham's self-appointed bestie and shadow and the Pythons's starting quarterback. But it's the main characters, Graham and Emmy, who truly own this story. They're strike an agreement, one that is mutually beneficial, with both believing that they would walk away once the Harlan inheritance was released. Alas (not really), love comes along, and well, best laid plans and all that. These two were great because they had dimension to them, with back stories that offered up interesting personal histories without making things overly complicated. I was happy about this return to Ilsa Madden-Mills's Pythons world--fingers crossed for Jasper's book--and My Darling Bride receives five stars.

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