BOOK REVIEW- THE SUBSTITUTE BRIDE by Kathleen O'Brien

athleen
The Great Wedding Giveaway - Book 7

Once upon a time, Marly Akers had believed that, for better or worse, people made their own luck…

Marly wonders how she could ever have believed it. Jilted and pregnant, she’s come back to Marietta with her tail between her legs, the blow to her ego huge as she begins working at her family’s small newspaper, the Copper Mountain Courier, and sharing a tiny apartment with her disapproving mom.

Things can’t get any worse. Or maybe they can. Drake Everett, who secretly captured her teenaged heart and then publicly trampled on it, decides to make her re-acquaintance. Though Drake isn’t the sharp, funny, cocky, arrogant rich boy of yore. These days he seems sharp, funny… and supportive and decent, and Marly realizes she could fall for him all over again… if she listens to her heart. But what about her reporter’s head, which has sniffed out a story that paints Drake as the sweet talker she’s always known…?  AMAZON  3.5 Stars

This book was a quick often charming story.  
Both Marly and Drake had a lot more depth to them than one might think at first glance.  I really liked honorable, kind of quirky Marly.  She had a humorous way at looking at things. Even with being really serious about things as well.  Drake has a lot more going on underneath his charming, laughing ways.  It has been his way to cope with a lot of pain in his growing up; something that most people didn't know about.  Most people just assumed he was the golden boy and that included Marly.  
The secondary people were interesting as well. One of those is Marly's mom who was also more complex than she first appeared.    
There is no cliffhanger and there is a H.E.A. coming.