Tess Lucas and Craig Richmond have been friends for fifteen years.  In all that time, they have never crossed the romantic line until one night a few weeks ago.  After they slept together, once, Tess began avoiding Craig.  Deciding enough is enough, Craig heads to Tess’ apartment and refuses to leave until they have a talk.  He even brought along supper.  Tess takes one look at his offering of food, turns green, and proceeds to rush to the bathroom.  Craig knows that Tess being sick means one of two things: she either has the flu or she is going to be a mother – which in turn means that Craig is going to be a father.

Tess is secretly excited about being pregnant.  However, she refuses to settle for the marriage of convenience that Craig proposes.  She wants the entire kit and kaboodle and will not settle for less than Craig’s love.

The Marriage Solution is poignant and sometimes steamy. I found myself rooting for Tess and her principles, and I so wanted Craig to voice his love for Tess.  The attraction of these two main characters was evident, but past hurts kept them from being able to verbally commit to the love they each felt for the other.  Once that was able to happen, I was resting easy!  All in all, The Marriage Solution is a great read that I enjoyed very much.   Brenda Harlen is now on my Silhouette author radar.