The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst wasn't really "reinventing the wheel" as far as contemporary romances go. It's a fairly common marriage of convenience plot where the woman needs money, a handsome billionaire needs a fake marriage, and in the end they fall in love for real. It's a basic plot everyone has seen at least a hundred times. The thing is, when this cliche plot is done right it comes out amazing and when it's done poorly it becomes a quick trip to eye roll city. Sadly, The Marriage Bargain was filled with sighs and eye rolls for me. 
 I happened to like the heroine, Alexa. She was feisty, loyal, a bookstore owner, and she rescues dogs... what's not to like? My major hindrance in appreciating The Marriage Bargain was the male lead, Nick. I was astounded that he was supposed to be a likable character. I just could not fathom how anyone would want to fall in love with him. For starters, his sexism was rampant. I'm not going to get into all the specific instances of this but basically he constantly has a belittling attitude toward women. To be honest, I don't think he even LIKES women let alone respects them. He's just a sexist piece of shit and behaves as such. I think we are supposed to forgive his behavior based on him having his heart hurt in the past. And I get it... his parents had a terrible marriage and his dad is a scumbag. HOWEVER, that still doesn't excuse his bad behavior in the present. He shouldn't get to go around being a jerk just because his dad was mean. He acts like a complete asshole to Alexa most of the time! (view spoiler)[Here are a couple of examples: he makes out with his ex after he starts having feelings for Alexa and has been somewhat physically engaged with her and when he finds out she's pregnant be basically calls her a greedy lying bitch and kicks her out. What. In. The. Actual. Fuck! (hide spoiler)] Nick seems to get away with a hot steaming load of sexism because he's rich and handsome. I just think that Alexa could have done better. 
 (view spoiler)[Alexa and Nick are having a whoopsie baby. AGAIN?! How do so many heroines in romance novels get knocked up? Who as an adult hasn't heard that antibiotics make birth control ineffective? That same whoopsie baby scenario is seen all over pop culture all the time in all different mediums be it movies, TV, or books. In my opinion there just isn't an excuse for now knowing that. (hide spoiler)] Commence a million more eye rolls... 
 For me, The Marriage Bargain was problematic. Surprisingly enough, I didn't necessarily have any issues with the plot. Yes, it was cliche but it definitely had its moments. The main issue I had was Nick's casual sexism. It just made for an intensely undesirable romantic lead. As much as I like Alexa, I felt like her personality could have benefitted from a bit of sprucing up. I think this would have been much better if the characters had a bit more going on for them because cliche plot or not, this wasn't terrible. It just wasn't very good either.