Wife For Hire by Janet Evanovich

Hank Mallone is looking for a wife, but only for six months or until his bank loan is approved. Whichever comes first. Hank has a bad boy reputation in his small home town and thinks a wife will lend him some credibility.

Maggie Toone needs to get out of town. Feeling smothered by her life, getting out of New Jersey seems like the thing she needs to do. This could be a great opportunity for her to write the book she’s always wanted to. As long as they keep it strictly business, no problems, right?

I’m the first admit that I haven’t been a big fan of Evanovich’s earlier works. I adore Stephanie Plum, and I keep trying these others in hopes of discovering a gem. Well, maybe this isn’t a precious diamond, but it’s at least a cubic zirconium.

There is definitely a formula to these romances, but it can be a comforting kind of predictability. While there were aspects that were far-fetched, I found that if I didn’t take it too seriously, I enjoyed it a lot more. Unfortunately I wasn’t always able to accomplish that. The characters fell so deeply in love in such a short period of time and I had a hard time swallowing it. Faking a marriage in such a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone else was dubious at best, but to try and convince his father, the bank president? That was just unbelievable.

Overlooking the blatant unconvincing parts to the story, I did love the characters. Evanovich has a wonderful talent for creating lovable characters and that goes a long way to forgiving implausible storylines.

Overall, I enjoyed Wife for Hire and thought it was a good read. The relationship made the story worthwhile. Just have a glass of water handy for the bits that are harder to swallow.

Reviewed By: Terri

Email: Terri@ck2skwipsandkritiques.com