Race car driver Hunter O’Malley has only come to New York City in order to attend the reading of his father’s will. He is astonished to find that the terms of his father’s will force him to spend six months working at O’Malley’s, the family bar, in order to inherit.  If he doesn’t, both he and Marley Sullivan, who has worked at the bar for years and is named as half-owner, will lose everything.  There are several problems with this, however: he doesn’t want to leave his career for six months, he doesn’t want to work at the bar, and he is very attracted to Marley!

Marley Sullivan never had a real home, or a real family, until she started working at O’Malley’s.  She loved Hunter’s father as if he were her own, and she wants to keep the bar.  She’s determined to work with Hunter to keep the bar, despite her dislike for him and her belief that he’s a spoiled playboy.  When she and Hunter work together and she begins to see the real him, though, she’s attracted.  Will Marley and Hunter end up with more than a bar in six months, or will Hunter leave like he plans to?

A Man for Marley has the standard two-people-who-dislike-each-other-forced-together-by-a-will premise, yet manages to keep from being clichéd because of the characters.  I liked stubborn, independent Marley, whose past made it easy for me to see why she was so set against caring for Hunter.  Hunter was a great hero—strong, sexy, vulnerable at times, and as stubborn as Marley.  The wide array of secondary characters helped flesh out the story, explaining Marley and Hunter’s pasts and adding interest to their present.  The conflicts were realistic, and the love scenes were well done.  While there were a few parts that seemed a bit slow or redundant, overall Arianna Hart’s story was entertaining and left me smiling as I finished the last page.