Honeymoon Phase Book Summary: Amy Daws’ Fake Marriage Rom-Com
Honeymoon Phase by Amy Daws: A Marriage Contract With a Hidden Catch
Addison “Roe” Monroe runs her late father’s lumber supply company in Boulder, Colorado, and she has built her life around work instead of people.
A legal clause in her father’s trust, however, requires her to be married before she can take full ownership of the business.
Rather than risk her heart, she decides to hire a husband on a one-year contract. What she does not know is that her rugged best friend, construction worker Luke Fletcher, has been in love with her for years.
Honeymoon Phase by Amy Daws is the third book in the Mountain Men Matchmaker series.
It follows a fake marriage, a snowbound cabin, a meddling teenage matchmaker, and two friends who must decide whether their arrangement is fact or fiction.
TL;DR: The Short Version
- Who: Addison Monroe, a guarded lumberyard owner, and Luke Fletcher, a mountain man and construction worker who has loved her silently for years.
- The setup: Addison needs a husband to inherit her father’s company, so she shops for a transactional spouse. Luke proposes instead.
- The plan: Luke’s nineteen-year-old niece Everly designs “Operation Turn My Uncle into a Lumberjack” to help him win Addison’s heart.
- The tension: A blizzard, a shared cabin, and one real kiss break down the walls of their contract. Then Everly’s schemes come to light.
- Themes: Fear of vulnerability, found family, grief, friendship as the base of love, and honesty versus manipulation.
- Vibe: A witty, warm, sensual romantic comedy with a snowy mountain backdrop.
Who’s Who on Fletcher Mountain
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Addison “Roe” Monroe | Owner of Monroe’s lumber supply company in Boulder and the novel’s female narrator. |
| Luke Fletcher | Thirty-three-year-old construction worker on Fletcher Mountain and the novel’s male narrator. |
| Everly Fletcher | Luke’s nineteen-year-old niece, a college student who orchestrates the matchmaking plan. |
| John Monroe | Addison’s father, founder of Monroe’s lumberyard, and the creator of the trust stipulation. |
| Johanna “Jo” Fletcher | Matriarch of the Fletcher family who plans Luke and Addison’s winter wedding. |
| Wyatt Fletcher | Luke’s older brother, a construction worker married to Trista, who builds the wedding pergola. |
| Calder Fletcher | Luke’s older brother, a custom furniture craftsman, and Dakota’s partner. |
| Max Fletcher | Luke’s oldest brother, CEO of Fletcher Brothers Construction, married to Cozy, and Everly’s father. |
| Trista Fletcher | Wyatt’s wife, an animal rescue advocate, and a friend to Addison. |
| Dakota | Calder’s partner and a T-shirt shop owner in the local friend circle. |
| Cozy Fletcher | Max’s wife and a charcuterie board entrepreneur. |
| Stevie Fletcher | Wyatt and Trista’s baby daughter who serves as flower girl. |
| Ethan Fletcher | Max and Cozy’s young son who serves as ring bearer. |
| Judy | Owner of The Mercantile, the local mountain bar in Jamestown. |
| Aaron Monroe | Addison’s late younger brother, whose love of nonfiction inspired the “Fact or fiction” phrase. |
| Robyn Whitaker | An ex-flirt from a decade earlier whose actions caused the Fletcher brothers’ anti-marriage pact. |
| Matt Whitaker | Robyn’s husband, involved in lumber and construction acquisition attempts. |
| Sharon | The mountain wedding officiant. |
| Rufus | Luke’s pet rooster, who crows on the cabin’s front porch. |
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Honeymoon Phase Summary: What Happens in the Book
Spoilers ahead. This section walks through the full plot, including the ending.
A decade before the story begins, Luke Fletcher and his brothers Wyatt and Calder made a pact at a mountain lookout point. After a manipulative woman named Robyn Whitaker left them heartbroken, the three swore never to fall in love or marry.
Years later, Wyatt and Calder have both settled down, leaving Luke as the last holdout on Fletcher Mountain. He has been hiding a long-standing love for his closest friend, Addison Monroe.
Addison runs Monroe’s, the lumber supply company her father John founded. Her mother abandoned the family and her younger brother Aaron died, leaving her wary of closeness and romance.
She finds comfort in work and in late-night sourdough baking. When she learns a trust stipulation requires her to marry within a tight window to inherit full ownership, she starts interviewing candidates for a cold one-year contract.
Luke cannot stand the thought of her marrying a stranger, so he writes her a proposal of his own. Addison laughs it off, and Luke turns to his niece Everly for help.
Everly, who calls herself the family’s mastermind matchmaker, builds a secret strategy she names “Operation Turn My Uncle into a Lumberjack.” To prove his commitment, Luke enters a local “Man of the Mountain” competition.
He suffers a brutal fall during a ninety-foot pole climb and ends up on a stretcher in front of paramedics. Moved by the gesture and convinced he is her safest option, Addison asks him to marry her on the spot.
The two hold a quick courthouse wedding with a notarized prenuptial agreement. Their post-ceremony kiss immediately produces unexpected sparks, unsettling the purely platonic terms they agreed on.
Addison moves into Luke’s rustic cabin on Fletcher Mountain. John Monroe then insists the couple host a traditional winter wedding before Christmas as a condition of his blessing.
Jo Fletcher takes charge of planning, while Luke’s sisters-in-law Cozy, Trista, and Dakota welcome Addison into a supportive circle that contrasts with her isolated life.
Addison suffers from chronic insomnia and spends her nights baking sourdough for Luke and his construction crew. After a bachelorette bar crawl on Pearl Street, she demands that Luke show her what a real kiss feels like.
He delivers a passionate kiss against the cabin hallway wall but stops himself from going further. He is determined not to rush her emotional readiness.
A massive blizzard then snows the pair in on Fletcher Mountain. The physical and emotional distance between them collapses, and the two spend an intimacy-filled night that drops their fake-marriage pretense in the bedroom.
Addison still hesitates to say “I love you,” because she associates love with inevitable loss. Luke, meanwhile, continues to carry the weight of Everly’s behind-the-scenes setups.
Tension rises when Robyn Whitaker and her husband Matt return to town and try to buy Monroe’s lumberyard directly from John. On the night of the wedding rehearsal, a guilt-ridden Luke admits to his brothers that Everly helped orchestrate the setups that pushed Addison closer to him.
Addison overhears the conversation and reads it as calculated manipulation. She confronts Luke in the snow, says she cannot trust him, and announces she will file for divorce right after the ceremonial wedding.
On the wedding day, under a snowy outdoor pergola on Fletcher Mountain, both Luke and Addison walk down the aisle expecting a sham. Standing before their families, Addison recognizes that her fear of vulnerability has been pushing her away from the strongest love she has known.
She halts the officiant’s script and delivers her own vows using the game she and Luke have shared for years: “Fact or fiction. I’m a fool… Fact or fiction. I love you.”
Luke answers “Fact” and responds with vows of his own. They exchange diamond-embedded Cartier bands and seal the marriage with a kiss.
John Monroe gives his blessing and reveals that the “Fact or fiction” game originally came from Addison’s late brother Aaron. In the epilogue, set a couple of years later, Luke, Addison, and the rest of the Fletcher family are settled into life on the Fletcher Mountain compound.
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Quotes from Honeymoon Phase
“To all those a part of the Dead Dad Club. We can do hard things.”
“Because the woman I want doesn’t want me back.”
“Marry me because you’re my best friend and I need you.”
“Luke Fletcher and Addison Monroe . . . I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
“Trust me, Addison Monroe, when I kiss you with intention, you’ll know it.”
“For better or worse, Addison Monroe . . . I got you.”
If You Liked Honeymoon Phase, Try These
- Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws — Book one of the Mountain Men Matchmaker series, with Luke’s brother Wyatt in a grumpy-meets-sunshine story built around a baby contract.
- Seven Year Itch by Amy Daws — Book two of the series, following Calder Fletcher and Dakota through a banter-heavy romance.
- Last on the List by Amy Daws — A connected standalone about CEO brother Max Fletcher and nanny Cozy.
- Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score — A small-town contemporary romance with strong family ties and community dynamics similar to the Fletcher Mountain setting.
- The Marriage Effect by Karla Sorensen — A fake-marriage romance that emphasizes family bonds and a slow shift from friendship to love.
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Book Details at a Glance
- Genre & Subgenre: Contemporary Romance; Small-Town Romance, Mountain Man Romance, Romantic Comedy, Friends-to-Lovers, Fake Marriage / Marriage of Convenience
- Core Narrative Tropes: Marriage of convenience, friends to lovers, mountain man, small town, secret crush, pining hero, matchmaking family member
- Tone & Atmosphere: Humorous, witty, warm, sensual, with a cozy winter mountain aesthetic of snowy pines, fireplaces, sourdough baking, and mountain pubs
- Primary Conflict: Addison’s fear of vulnerability and abandonment set against her father’s trust deadline, plus Luke’s struggle to earn her real love without relying on orchestrated setups
- Pacing Style: Fast-paced and character-driven, told in alternating dual first-person points of view
- ISBN: 978-1335498434 (ISBN-10: 1335498435)
- Pages: 432
- Book Structure: One prologue, 48 chapters, and one epilogue. Every chapter title uses the recurring “Fact or Fiction?” format.
- Publisher: Canary Street Press, November 11, 2025
