He senses that something is holding her back from admitting her feelings for him and he patiently attempts to knock that wall down brick by brick. Deep down, he longs for a woman that is “wild, untamed, contradictory, and stubborn.” Maggie awakens this unconscious longing in him, he finds himself desperate to peel off her defences, one by one, and make her reveal her true self to him.

Michael wants a woman to challenge him, with a strong independent streak on the outside and a kind and loving heart on the inside. “Do you take them to bed to escape the loneliness, hoping it will end up to be more? Do you wake up in the morning with a sick feeling in your stomach, knowing you lied to yourself again? Do you wonder if you’re meant to be alone? Wonder if something deep down is holding you back?” They have been looking for the same thing in life, the same empty search for a ‘soul mate’ both troubling them as well as filling them with hopelessness. But while they are convinced to be all wrong for each other and to have nothing in common, Maggie and Michael are a lot more alike than they realise. Now they find themselves in Italy, Michael’s homeland, in an unconventional agreement of pretend-marriage and desperately trying to deny the sizzling attraction between them. Michael has been a thorn in Maggie’s sight ever since their failed blind date over a year ago. “Nothing was worse than that empty, gnawing feeling in her stomach when she rolled over and realized the man next to her was not The One. She is lonely, tired of being alone and her past traumas have made her believe that she would never be truly wanted by anyone, never good enough.

But Maggie craves to be loved, to have a man look at her with possession and devotion – her unemotional upbringing has made her hungry for affection, secretly hopeful that every man she takes to bed would end up “slaying the demons in the evening and be enough under the harsh morning light”. She guards her heart fiercely, her fear of rejection holding her back from believing in ever finding love. In this provocative sequel to The Marriage Bargain, our heroine is Maggie, a successful young photographer whose love life is as colourful as it is unfulfilling. Her delicious stories tantalise your senses, they keep you in a constant state of arousal and cheeriness, the only dilemma in your mind being – wine or chocolate? There are some romance authors that get it right every single time and Jennifer Probst is one of those authors.

The Marriage Trap by Jennifer Probst