Strong Premise Leads to Keystone Kops Antics and a Weak Ending, 15. Februar 2008

Wife for Hire will mainly appeal to those who want to see what kind of a writer Janet Evanovich was before she began writing about Stephanie Plum. The deftness of the Stephanie Plum numbered novels becomes more apparent when you see Ms. Evanovich struggling to find a way to conclude Wife for Hire.Hank Mallone, a young man with a reputation for not being serious, cannot convince his family, friends, and acquaintances that he's determined to make a success of being an organic apple farmer in Vermont. His solution? Pretend to be married. How? Hire someone to act as his wife.Maggie Toone, a Jersey product, wants to escape from her life as a teacher to write a novel about her Aunt Kitty's career as a madam. She mainly needs peace, quiet, and some low-cost living. On a whim, she takes up Mallone on his offer.From there, the story becomes an expected romance punctuated by some funny misunderstandings. I thought the most interesting part of the book came in reading about a Grandma Mazur prototype, Elsie Hawkins, who is Mallone's housekeeper/cook.Misunderstandings abound, and some fun arises in the process. If you decide to read the book, focus on the fun.The book gallops along at a nice pace until near the end where it takes an inauspicious turn away from being interesting. My impression is that Ms. Evanovich ran out of ideas for making the story interesting and simply limped to the finish.If you like lots of schmaltz and predictability mixed in with your humor, you'll probably think this is a good romance novel. I was not amused enough to feel that way.

      Janet can do better than that!, 27. Dezember 2007

If you expect it to be like the Stephanie Plum or Alex "Barney" Barnaby series, "Wife for hire" might disappoint you a bit. There are some quite funny and romantic parts, but most of the time the story is too simple and predictable. However, if you're looking for a light read for a cold winter evening, you should definitely go ahead and read it!

      4.5 stars, 28. November 2007

Hank Malone was the town bad boy. He's returned to take up his inheritance--an apple orchard in Vermont. He has plans to turn it into a serious organic business, but in the town's eyes, he's still the same troublemaking stud he used to be, and the bank won't take him seriously for a loan. To change his image, he decides to hire a wife for six months, to give the illusion of stability and hopefull get the business loan. He hires Maggie Toone in New Jersey and brings her to his farm. She's eager to escape her small town life and job as a teacher, and relishes the chance to fulfill her dream of writing a book based upon her aunt's diaries. One small problem--her aunt was the local madam.!! I would also recommend, if you missed reading TIN0 GEORGIOU'S masterpiece--THE FATES, go and read it. With fascinating and brilliantly created characters in `THE FATES' coupled with two intertwining plots makes for a completely enjoyable and page-turning read.

      Predictable, wacky romance, 8. November 2007

This is one of Janet Evanovich's first published books (prior to the Plum series) - one of nine that are now being re-released. The main characters - Maggie Toone, a writer and Hank Mallone, a farmer - have some great romance scenes in the book. Hank hires Maggie to pretend to be his wife in order to finally appear more settled down. All this is needed to receive a credit from the local bank (the bank's president being his father). Hank needs the money to expand his business, built around the apple orchard he inherited from his grandmother. Maggie, a former teacher turned writer, takes on the job in Vermont as it will get her away from the dreaded New Jersey suburbs and her meddling mother and aunt. She thinks this is the best opportunity to turn her "madam" grandmother's diaries into a novel. The story and plot are very predictable. Some of the characters are so whacky it is actually cringeworthy. The romance and fun factor of the book are however pretty high up. Fans of the Plum series will most likely be a little disappointed. It's clear the Evanovich's writing has much improved since these first few publishing attempts. Some the character traits and phrases used in this book will probably remind the reader of the Plum series.All in all it's a fun, but very light read.