Easy arranged-relationship romance read!

Rebel Soul is an arranged-relationship/hero needs a baby to fulfil the wishes of a dead relative kinda book. This trope has been done many times before, but I felt like this had a different take on it which ended up being the sweet, romantic story of Stacia and West.

West Larson is the heir to his grandmother's estate, which holds many childhood memories for him. However, his grandfather left instructions in his will that he needs to produce an heir before he is 25, or he won't get anything. What he didn't specify, was marriage, so West decides he's going to find someone who he can have baby with. His cousin's wife's best friend (promise it's not that complicated), Stacia has had her world tipped upside down when her father is accused of embezzlement and life as she knows it ceases to exist. West and Stacia have a brief history and a whole lot of chemistry. She is having money problems trying to help out her father and family, so in West's mind, they can have a mutually beneficial agreement. Howerver, she wants nothing to do with him and his proposition, despite how attracted she is to him. When a turn of events mean Stacia moves in with West, things go from friends to more quickly as they give in to the attraction. But there are other obstacles to face, in the form of West's family, his lawyer's disapproval and then the problem of actually making a baby. As a couple, they start to navigate their way through life together and it was a really sweet read.

Stacia was so great, she was stubborn and really didn't want to take any hand outs, which is why she stood her ground for so long. She acted like a grown up would, doing whatever it took to help her family in their time of need. I also loved how different she as from the clean cut heroines some stories have. West was full of boyish charm, but he knew when to act like an adult and assessed the situation maturely, he didn't panic and jump straight into a relationship to gain his inheritance. I loved how they had a friendship already, which was made stronger before anything more happened between them.

The only thing I was slightly disappointed with was the ending. It felt so rushed and abrupt, I thought we'd see more of the pregnancy and them as parents. Also, the lack of a twist was kind of unexpected. I am glad that it didn't go down the miscommunication drama route where one of the main characters misunderstands and the whole relationship begins to fall apart at the end of the pregnancy, but everything kind of felt too easy in the end. But then, I think because both the H/h acted like adults throughout, any dramatic twist would've felt forced. I'm not sure, it just felt a bit underwhelming at the end. I also wish they'd resolved a few things in more detail, like with her dad's court case and West's parents' relationship with the couple.

Overall, I really enjoyed Rebel Soul, it was a nice easy read, and I did laugh out loud a few times at the film references. West and Stacia were a great couple who were hot but had good witty banter too, keeping me interested and I read it in one sitting. I will definitely be working backwards to Brock and AJ's story soon!