Life of Bliss by Erin McLellan

Life of Bliss by Erin McLellan

Review by Lauren

source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own

Official Summary (add on Goodreads): Nobody plans to accidentally marry their frenemy with benefits.

Todd McGower and Victor Consuelos do not like each other. They can’t have a conversation without insults flying, and Victor seems to get off on pushing Todd’s buttons. The fact that their antagonism always leads to explosive sex . . . well, that’s their little secret.

Victor has a secret of his own. His full-blown crush on Todd is ruining his sex life. He hasn’t looked at anyone else in months, and he’s too hung up on Todd to find a date to his cousin’s wedding.

In a moment of weakness after a heart-stopping night together, Todd agrees to be Victor’s fake boyfriend for the wedding. Victor will have his plus-one—which will get his family off his back—and Todd will get a free mini-vacation. It’s a win-win.

But pretending to be fake boyfriends leads to real intimacy, which leads to too much wine, and suddenly, Todd and Victor wake up with wedding bands and a marriage license between them. That was not their plan, but a summer of wedded bliss might just change their minds.

Review: When I requested to read Life of Bliss, I didn’t realize it was the companion novel to Life on Pause. Luckily, I’d already read the latter (my review here). If you have not, you could still read Life of Bliss as a stand-alone as it explains how Victor and Todd met each other (through mutual friends – Life on Pause is about them). I really like the friends to lovers and enemies to lovers tropes when it comes to romance, but what’s especially intriguing about Life of Bliss is that it mixes both of these. It’s almost enemies to friends – get married one drunken day – and then friends to lovers. For me, it really worked, and I definitely rooted for Todd and Victor to open up more and more to each other and make it work.

I really liked that Victor and Todd already had a history with each other. They worked physically together, so Life on Bliss was more about them opening up emotionally and realizing that they actually liked each other. I thought it was kind of fun to see them navigate a new marriage, after having drunkenly tied the knot (and signed the papers -so it’s legal). It’s not always easy for them as they are really different people, and Todd ends up moving away from the people and life he knows to live with Victor (it’s not very far, but it’s still a big adjustment).

As we’re officially into Spring, I think this book about a newly married couple is the perfect book to dive into!