Book Review: Chances Are by Traci Hunter Abramson

Title: Chances Are
Author: Traci Hunter Abramson
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean romance

Maya escaped an arranged marriage in India, survived a year in the US foster system after her beloved grandmother left her alone in the world, and still managed to get into a good college. But now, she's facing the biggest challenge of her young life-- a brain tumor. She needs to move to Washington DC for a last-ditch effort at an experimental treatment, and her best friend offers up her brother Ben's empty apartment for Maya to live in. Ben, who's a pro baseball player, returns early after breaking up with his girlfriend to find Maya in his apartment. At first, he throws her out, but when the man to whom her father promised her in India tracks her down, Ben decides that the best solution to all of their problems is for him to marry Maya (insurance fraud, anyone? not to mention immigration issues?). And then, of course, they start to fall in love.

I've read a lot of romances over the last few months, and the "marry first, fall in love later" theme seemed unusually prominent in them. This was a relatively successful attempt at the story. I really liked Maya (although I wanted her to have some flaws). Ben, on the other hand, was such a jerk in the early parts of the story that I wasn't sure I wanted her to marry him, let alone fall in love with him. The final chapter/resolution seemed to come too quickly, but the book was a pretty enjoyable read.