The Smut Report

Now that we’ve spent a whole week reading and talking about books featuring the Woke Up Married trope, we obviously can’t leave you hanging. If the recs from our podcast, or reviews by Erin, Holly, and Ingrid didn’t tickle your fancy, here are six more Woke Up Married books that we liked.

Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren

Like Lick, Sweet Filthy Boy features a single 1st person narrator with a messy family life and a mysterious husband. It is as riveting—maybe even more so—as Lick, as it becomes clear that Ansel’s keeping secrets from Mia even though he says he really wants their marriage to work. Mia and her friends marry Ansel and his friends during a wild Vegas night, but while everyone else goes to dissolve the marriage the next morning, Ansel invites Mia to his home in Paris for the summer, and to escape her overbearing father, she goes. If you like books that make you think “Is their whole relationship about sex, or are they gonna talk?” I have a book for you.

Screwed by K.M. Neuhold

These guys get totally hammered while in Vegas for their brother’s/friend’s bachelor party and, left to their own devices after the couples go to bed, bar hop all the way to the chapel. They plan to end the marriage, but when Ollie’s friends give him hell for getting married AGAIN, Daniel steps in and declares they oive each other and the marriage is real and they’ll prove it. Amazing playing house fantasies ensue. If you love soft construction workers and supportive partners, this is a good bet. 

Just Married? by Natasha West

I’ll just say the audiobook narration for this book was awful. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a British person do a bad American accent until I listened to this audiobook. That said, this sapphic romance was pretty fun. The beginning, from the introduction of our protagonists to the waking up after a night on the town in Vegas, was fun and engaging, and the fact that one MC ran out on the other was a nice spin. As we got closer to the dark moment, some of the reasoning the characters used didn’t totally make sense, and our MCs didn’t like to talk about their feelings at all, but it pulled together in the end.

The Romantic by Riley Hart

This new release really hits the trope perfectly, and it’s soft and sweet with a dual POV narrative in which both partners are trying to figure themselves out with the fallout from a surprise marriage. Elliott is probably demiromantic (he never completely self-identifies) and has never fallen in love or felt the urge to do so, whereas Parker has been dreaming of a sweeping romance for his whole life. They have a fantastic meet-cute, but it doesn’t initially go anywhere because of Parker’s terrible dating history, so by the time they get drunk in Vegas, they already know each other enough to know they’re interested. See also: So. Much. Praise kink!

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

This one really leans into the whole “this marriage is making me rethink my entire life” component of the trope. After Grace wakes up with a wedding ring on her hand and a note on her pillow, she starts pushing back against the structure she’s build around herself. In the process of finding and getting to know her wife, Grace also finds herself. Recommended for those who love lush writing and journeys of self discovery.

A Forest Between Us by Allie Winters

So, Harper thought that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” was—a real thing? And that Vegas weddings were just a marketing schtick, but that they weren’t real. Imagine her surprise when she discovers that that wild night five years ago actually resulted in a legally binding connection with a stranger. Obviously, this requires that Harper head to a twee small town in Oregon to find her social-media-averse husband and get an annulment. Too bad the judge is busy until next week, and Harper has to stay in town—and Owen’s cabin only has one bed.