Marlee gets dumped just 2 days before her wedding. And what better way to get over it than to enjoy a weekend with her friends in Vegas.
Eli isn’t into serious relationships and definitely not in for marriage. But he is someone who takes care of people close to him. And it’s that very trait that has him accompanying his sister and her friends to Vegas. Only this time he is the one in trouble. He has married his sisters best friend, Marlee and their annulment has been denied.
Marlee is homeless and jobless, and has no choice but to move in with Eli while waiting for their divorce to get finalized.
I enjoyed reading Marlee and Eli’s romance. It was a cute, sweet and funny read. This is my first book by the author and I look forward to reading more.

5 - "What did I get myself into with you..?" Stars!

The third book in the Mile High Matched series gives us Eli’s book, I loved his dry humour in the previous two, and Christina had me crying with laughter at some of the antics he got himself talked into getting involved in, in Take it off The Menu.

"You make me feel too much."

Marlee and Eli are opposites in every way, while he is insular, low-key, not interested in commitment and from humble beginnings, Marlee is a people person, loves being in a relationship, likes attention and comes from a well-known and respected family. They push each other out of their comfort zones, and what starts out as a joke marriage while drunk in Vegas with Eli, after being dumped two days before her real wedding to her fiancé Scotty, turns into so much more as they wait the 90 days for their divorce to become final.

Nothing hugely new or unusual about the tropes used in this one, but it was hilarious in parts, poignant and touching in others and just a good all round read in general. Babuska gets up to her usual antics and it was good to see the rest of the crew from the previous books as well. The author also gave a hint at who the next book is likely to be about in the latter stages of this one too, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

I received an advanced reader's copy of Take It Off the Menu (A Mile High Matched Novel) by Christina Hovland from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first novel that I had read by Christina Hovland so I really had no expectations, but after reading, she is an author I would look for in the future.

Ever read the sort of romance that you want to hug the heroine and try to fix her problems? That's how I felt about Marlee from Take It Off the Menu. The poor woman starts off with a broken engagement when her awful fiance jilts her days before their wedding. The horrible situation is continued when that same fiance then gets coddled by HER parents and is sent off to a beach vacation (by her parents!!) to reconsider/recover. The jerk fiance also makes it clear that he wants to keep their house AND gets most of "their" friends in the split.

Poor Marlee can't catch a freaking break.

After this, she goes to her best friends - and by association, the brother of one of her best friends - for sympathy (because her parents and the other friends suck). When their sympathy trip takes them to Las Vegas, Marlee and Eli (the friend's hot older brother) wind up married and that's when the fun begins.

Obviously this is the meat of the novel so I won't spoil it, but I wanted to acknowledge how well-crafted characters were - primary and secondary - that the reader actually likes and cares about them. THAT'S a winner to me! Also, the pacing of the novel moved along nicely. Situations were explored/resolved without bogging down the book for twenty chapters. And last but not least, the steamy scenes were hot.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and I found it to be well written. I will definitely look for more novels by Christina Hovland in the future!

The premise of this book sounded so fun, I just had to read it. It’s technically the third(?) book in a series, but it absolutely stands on its own. Eli and Marlee have been friends (friendly?) since high school because Marlee is best friends with on of Eli’s sisters, and Eli has been the one to rescue their group of friends on several occasions. Marlee has been planning her wedding to Scott for about 18 months after being together for nearly a decade when he decides to break things off two days before the wedding. Marlee’s friends’ solution? Vegas trip!! While there, and while drunk, Marlee and Eli end up getting married by Liberace as a dare “for the pictures” but accidentally sign their own names on the license, and when they try for annulment it gets denied. Over the course of waiting for the divorce to go trough, Marlee and Eli bond and realize they don’t want a divorce after all.

The beginning of this book was really slow for me. Scott is basically dirt because not only did he break off the engagements two days before the wedding, he’d told Marlee’s father, his boss, before hand and had no intentions of leaving the job working for Marlee’s dad that Marlee had technically gotten him. He also wasn’t planning to leave the house they’d bought together, despite the fact he was the one breaking things off, and from things Marlee mentioned he was toxic if not downright (mentally, emotionally) abusive.

I didn’t start feeling invested until about 30% in during the annulment hearing because there’s a bit of miscommunication regarding who Marlee had been planning to marry that weekend and that scene made me laugh, though it’s also definitely got some cringe. I liked watching Eli and Marlee build their relationship and fall in love with each other, but my favorite part was definitely Marlee coming into her own. As repercussion for her marrying Eli, a mere caterer, when she’s essentially Denver royalty her parents cut her off from her trust fund unless she’s willing to try working things out with Scott until the divorce is final because they don’t want Eli having access to her money. Her response to her parents cutting her off wasn’t to grovel, like she believed they expected, but to go to her husband and find a job of her own. Her response to taxes being taken out of a paycheck was so relatable, but I loved her building a new community with real friends through Eli’s friend-group and finding something she loved in working at Jase’s floral shop.

The middle of the book was definitely fun and cute and had great romance elements, but then about 70% in it took a turn I couldn’t stand. Eli and Marlee used a novelty condom on their wedding night that had apparently been discontinued and it turns out Marlee is pregnant. Not only was there a surprise pregnancy but there’s also a point where Eli is thinking it has to be Scott’s because they’d used condoms every time they’d been together. Everything about that arc frustrated me, made me roll my eyes, and if I hadn’t been so close to the end I may have given up on the book. I guess surprise accidental pregnancies aren’t a trope I’m here for.

Overall this book had definite potential and had several fun, cute moments, but in the end it was only an eh read for me - not great but not terrible. I liked the characters and I liked the development of their feelings for one another and the ways Marlee especially grew throughout the story, but that ending really ruined it for me. Definitely a case of personal preference.

5 stars
I read this one one sitting! I love Christina Hovland's books. So when I started this one, I didn't want to put it down. I loved Eli and Marlee. They were perfect for each other. This entire series is fun and witty. It makes me laugh more than any other books I have red in a long time. Christina Hovland's writing is impeccable and the banter in her writing is amazing! It makes me laugh out loud!

A delicious treat that will have you asking for seconds! Sweet, sexy, and so full of fun. Take It Off the Menu is filled with humor, surprises and fantastic characters. Lothario and Babushka are definitely scene-stealers that will make you laugh-out-loud. A perfect read if you’re looking for a feel-good friends-to-lovers rom-com to smile and swoon over. Eli and Marlee’s story is a great addition to the Mile High Matched series whether you’ve read them all or not, but you’ll surely want to – once you read one, you’ll want to dive back in for more fun!

Marlee is dumped by her fiancé two days before the wedding so her friends do what all best friends do, take her to Vegas to get over it. Of course, her best friend's brother Eli, comes along too because he's the one who usually has to bail them out of whatever trouble they get into. This time it's Eli who gets into trouble when after a drunken night he ends up married to Marlee. From there on it's a rollercoaster ride of should they get a divorce or shouldn't they. Loved this romantic comedy!

Loved the story in this book. Very well written so you fall into the book and don’t look up again till the last page. Definitely one to read.

Glorious romantic comedy.

When your fiancé dumps you two days before the wedding, keeps the house, the honeymoon, his job in your family business and apparently your parents too, what's a girl to do? Well a blow-out girl's weekend in Vegas sounds like the answer!

Eli has been looking after his little sisters most of his life, when his sister's BFF Marlee's wedding gets cancelled (a wedding he was supposed to be catering BTW) he is there for Marlee as always, but when the girls decide to go to Vegas he knows this has trouble written all over it so he agrees to come along.

Long and short of it, Marlee and Eli decide to pretend to get married (it was a dare) but are too drunk to remember to sign fake names, then the judge refuses to grant them an annulment. Marlee's parents want her and her ex to get back together and are worried that Eli is a gold-digger so they cut off her credit cards and offer her an allowance if she'll move back home with them- like a teenager instead of a 30 year old woman! So Marlee does what any self-respecting woman would do, she calls the person she knows will have her back, her soon-to-be-ex husband.

I enjoyed the first book in this series but I thought that maybe it was trying a tad too hard to be madcap with the crazy Russian grandma, this time the crazy Russian is still around but the humour feels more natural, less forced.

I loved Eli and Marlee's romance, it was cute and sweet and steamy and adorable.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Take It Off the Menu is the first book I have read by Christina Holland and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It is part of a series but that doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of the story.

Marlee is dumped by her long term boyfriend 2 days before their wedding. Even worse, he told her father that he was going to do it a day before he did! Marlee and her 3 best friends head for Las Vegas with Eli, her friend's older brother along to keep the girls out of trouble. After much alcohol, tattoos and other dares, Eli and Marlee go through a fake marriage in response to a dare from Eli's sister Sadie. A marriage that later turns out to be real.

Improbably, the marriage is reported in the newspapers, Marlee's parents cut off her money and Marlee has to join the real world. Eli gives her a job and moves her into his apartment while Sadie helps them get a divorce. The events that follow are funny, heartbreaking and enlightening for both Marlee and Eli.

At first, this seemed to be another "poor little rich girl" book. Christina Hovland's well developed characters and carefully crafted plot keep the story moving and provide more than a few laugh-out-loud moments. I especially enjoyed Marlee's realization that she was a walking cliche and her determined efforts to become a better person.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily reviewing it.

I love this series!
Christina Hovland is one of my favorite rom-com authors.

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
The humor
Babushka
Lothario
Part of a series: Mile High Matched
Dual POVs
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue

I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Waited so long for this book.
Bride dumped before the wedding-check
Best friends to be there for her-check
Brother of one of best friends - check
Trip to Vegas- check
Too much alcohol-check
Waking up married- check
Babushka- YES

Loved this story.

A good old best friend older brother trope which oddly enough I I'm not the biggest fan of that was actually sorta kinda cute. From the get-go, your able to see the strong connection between Marlee and Eli, and how their relationship developed throughout the pages. Sure this didn't wow me like "Blow Me Away" but it was still entertaining to say the least. In conclusion, this was a cute romance filled with likable characters, some funny moments and old faces of whom we previously read and loved.

This is the third book I've read of Christina Hovland's. Everyone one of them are hilarious. Take If Off the Menu, is no exception. Just wait until you get to the orange dildos. No words can explain how hard I laughed.