Review of The Marriage Effect by Karla Sorensen

The Marriage Effect
By Karla Sorensen

Ooooh, baby! I have been waiting for the Logan and Paige book for what feels like forever, and gotdamn Karla didn’t let me down! The Washington Wolves series has been my first deep dive into the Sorensen world, and she was also my first go at sports-romance. The reason being: I played collegiate sports, and I was always worries that the books would reveal a lack of knowledge about the sport that was contained inside it’s pages. Well, Karla, you absolutely did your homework.

You know what you’re talking about, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by the reader. It amplifies your book and gives it that next level feel, and it so damn good that your readers are buying Washington Wolves jerseys! That’s incredible.

So, to get to the actual book:

Paige has intrigued me since the moment we met her in The Bombshell Effect. The long-legged, redheaded, beauty with a spitfire mouth to boot. I immediately wanted more. I needed to know why she quit modeling, and I needed to know who was going to “tie her down” so to speak (because let’s be honest, no one can tie her down).

“Do you critique every man who approaches you?” he asked.

“No,” I said easily. I shrugged one shoulder. “But the things is, most women feel like they can't be honest when a man comes up to us in a social setting and says something stupid or annoying or cheesy. And my thing is, how will they ever learn? We’re taught to smile and be nice and be charming because that’s what a good girl does. But if a guy comes up to me and smacks me on the ass and hands me a drink that he so graciously bout, shouldn’t I be allowed to tell him that I don’t particularly appreciate the gesture?”

Paige is everything I want to be as a woman in a bar. Or really any setting.

Logan is the broody little shit I couldn’t wait to learn more about—in the most loving way. The man that didn’t want to talk to reporters, be in the limelight, or do ANY kind of publicity. He’s handsome as hell and single. What was his story?

 “Things I didn’t have time for: mouthy redheads with million-mile-long legs who made me want to sit and talk to them when I shouldn’t have been at the party to begin with.”

I might be a little broody, too, if I’d stepped in to raise four little girls. Yes, you read that right: Logan stepped in to the role of caregiver for his four sisters and has kept that a secret from virtually everyone he knows. 

This explains, well, everything. The fact that he’s grumpy, his reasoning for staying out the media. All of it. He was trying to protect his sisters.
 *cue sighs*

From the literal moment that Paige and Logan interact things get crazy.

Like, Paige claims to be Logan’s fiancé in order to get his phone back to him in a hospital and his asshole brother overhears and now they have to enter into a marriage pact crazy—deep breath.

And, they both have something to lose if things don’t go exactly as planned.

“This will work, I repeated. This has to work.”

Logan and Paige enter into one of the most hilarious and heartwarming dances the day they enter into marriage. Logan is dead set on keeping her at a safe distance, and Paige isn't shy about the fact that she wants to rip off his clothes. I was howling with laughter and squealing with joy at the tension that Karla built throughout their story—and let me just say, you want to be there when that bomb finally goes off.

My favorite part of the whole novel, though, can be nailed down to two single moments in particular:

“Lia grab my phone, I want pictures of this,” Isabel whispered.

“No way,” I said. I pinner her with a look. “You listen to me, smart girl. It might be funny to watch your sisters get in trouble, but the four of you are a team, got it? You don’t ever give outsiders a single piece of ammunition to use against your teammates.”

I literally cried reading this. I borderline neverrrr cry in books. And the relationship that blossomed between Isabel and Paige was fucking beautiful. Paige steps into the exact role she’s needed in, and she slays. She’s a caretaker and a sister and a friend, and she does her damnedest to instill that fierce familial love a protection in all those little girls.

Karla, I was completely blown away by Paige. Enter Isabel and moment number two:

“So what if she doesn’t wear pearls and lace and belong to some stupid club. That bullshit isn't important. She’d fight the devil for us, she told me so, and that’s what matters. Our own mom wouldn’t even do that, and if you try to take us, she’ll fight you too.”

Mmmmkay, I’M A MESS. I know this is a long review riddled with quotes but damn it the relationship between these two tore me UP! And don’t get me started on the warm fuzzies we get to see from Logan when he watches them with pride.

“She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my entire fucking life. She if she walked away at the end of this, when her role in our life was fulfilled, I’d never be able to forget it. It was the knowledge that I’d crave this feeling until the day I dies. Crave her. There might be a hundred women who could manage in our life. But she was the one who fit us perfectly.”

This story was Karla’s best. I mean that in every way. The story itself was captivating, and if an author can get me to laugh out loud while reading I consider it incredible. And I was cackling. The love story is multifaceted. There is SO much character growth and development, and not just for Paige and Logan.

It’s no easy feat to plot a story that lives in the same world as two others that already exist, keep all those details straight, develop the new story naturally and masterfully, and add in four new supporting roles. Karla fucking nailed it. I was absolutely captivated by the four little girls that captured Paige’s heart, and I can't wait to learn more about them…

If you don’t know what I’m talking about you are going to have to one click this book and read to the veryyy last page to find out!

The Marriage Effect is a masterfully executed sports-romance that enhances the Washington Wolves series and also stamds proudly on its own two legs. It will no doubt become a Sorensen fan favorite for anyone that picks it up, and it will keep the readers coming back for every book that comes after.

Thank you as always to Karla & Enticing Book Journey Promotions for the ARC.
It’s always a pleasure working with, and reading for, you!