Proposition: Marriage has one of the best beginnings I’ve ever read in a romance. The hero and heroine meet in one of the most exciting ways imaginable, the hero is dashing and sexy, and the heroine is laugh-out-loud funny. After the amazing start, the rest of the book seems commonplace. Still, it’s a solid read series fans are likely to enjoy.

When Jane Smith finds herself chest deep in water hiding from men with guns, she knows her vacation to San Tomas has taken a turn for the worse. Not only is she getting filthy and likely to be discovered by the men at any moment – she also has a giant, ugly bug crawling on her arm. From another hiding place behind her, a man who calls himself “John” is watching. As a covert operative with bigger fish to fry, he knows he shouldn’t get involved in this situation. But when he realizes that the brave woman he has been watching is about to be discovered, he interferes, disabling the guerillas and helping Jane to safety. As they walk through a rainforest toward a safe town, the sexual tension sizzles between them, and an emotional encounter with a poisonous snake pushes them both past the boiling point. They end up having hot sex – and I do mean hot – in the forest. Then “John” takes Jane to safety and he leaves without even a goodbye.

Though she hasn’t stopped thinking about him, Jane is still shocked when he shows up in her home town of Atherton, Kansas and tells everyone he’s her fiance. Ostensibly, he is there to see if their romantic interlude has made Jane pregnant. He tells her his name is now Samuel Charmaneaux and that he has retired from his former profession. Jane isn’t quite sure what to think, but when she sees that he has a wounded hand, she can’t bear to turn him away. At first she resists having any kind of relationship with a man who will reveal nothing about his past, but she comes to realize that he is desperately seeking a family and a home, and she begins to fall in love with him. Though he very much wants to stay with Jane, Samuel has never been loved by anyone before, and he’s not sure he knows what it even means. Both of them will need to make themselves vulnerable before they can resolve their relationship.

At first, I really thought this book was going to be a Desert Isle Keeper. The love scene on the island is one of the most exciting I have read, and the sexual tension that leads up to it is perfect. Jane’s thoughts while she is being chased by guerillas and dealing with bugs and snakes are very funny, and the excitement in general is at a fever pitch.

When they leave the island for the real world, the book really loses the excitement. It’s not bad at all, but the momentum really shifts along with the locale. It’s just much more – well, ordinary. Fortunately, the characters are still likable, and Jane is still funny. The reactions of the people who live in the small town of Atherton are amusing, and the introduction of Jane’s family also adds to the mix.

Other than the slow-down of momentum, the only other fault I found is something of a nitpick. Samuel plans to start a new career as a professor of Latin American History. He has a real bachelor’s degree, but his master’s degree was concocted by the government when he left his job as an operative. In addition to being dishonest, this seemed unrealistic. While he had done “a lot of reading,” there is a vast difference between the type of education one receives for a BA than there is for a PhD, which is the type of degree most college-level history professors have. I realize this is fiction, but was bothered nonetheless.

Still, if you are a series romance fan, I think you might find this one worthwhile for the beginning alone. Sometimes you need a fun, quick read in the heat of the summer. This one hits the spot.