Wife for Hire

by Janet Evanovich

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Edition: Mass Market Paperback

Publication Date: November 01, 2007

Publisher: Harper

ISBN: 0060598883

Amazon.com Sales Rank: 7994

Average Customer Rating:

List price: ~~$7.99~~

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Reviews

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book lover, December 8, 2008

This was a great book.. A very quick read on a Sunday afternoon.. If your looking for something with alot of twists and turns or alot of depth into the story and characters this book is not for you.. But if you want something light to read that will give you some laughs then I would definitely recommend this book.

Who would have thought I guy would hire a wife, November 16, 2008

You could sort of figure out some the plot but the characters did not
seem to understand what was happing. You just knew if the guy hired
the woman to pretend to be his wife that he would evently marry her.
But the author kept that the story going.

An OK book to read, August 11, 2008

Generally I find Janet Evanovich's books to be very entertaining. I love the Plum series and recommend it. This book, however is just OK. I think that Evanovich jumps in to the attraction between Hank and Maggie way too soon. I really think that there should have been some time in there before their relationship started to blossum. It would have made the book a lot more interesting. I do have to say that parts of it are hilarious. I think that the housekeeper, Elsie Hawkins is a very strong character. She reminds me a lot of grandma from the Plum series.

Cute tale, but only republished because of the Evanovich name, July 17, 2008

Amusing, lightweight fun. Almost a novella, but the printer and publisher have stretched it to book size. If it had a bit more depth or plot to it, I would have given it another star.

Local bad boy Hank inherits an apple orchard and wants to turn over a new leaf. In order to realize his dream and go organic he needs a loan, but the whole town knows his history and he can't raise the funds. He wants to look responsible, he needs to be taken seriously...he needs a wife! Not a real one of course, just to get the loan, so he hires Maggie from New Jersey as a "pretend wife" for six months. She wants time to write a book from her aunt's diaries, so it seems the perfect business arrangement. Of course, they fall madly in love, but she isn't sure if she wants to stay at the end of the agreed term. It is all terribly predictable. In essence, a bit more of a teenage novel than one written for adults. It also seems a bit dated. Hank needs to grow up and take responsibility for his actions to be taken seriously, so who would think he had achieved stability just because he pulled a wife out of the hat? Okay, it is a ludicrous plot, so you have to disregard that to enjoy the juvenile, slip on a banana skin, style fun.

In the characters you can see the prototypes for later Evanovich stalwarts - Elsie Hawkins is definitely Grandma Mazur, packing a gun, after a hunk (all about 80+ and dying from the excitement) and she even drives the same car as Grandma Mazur later inherited from a relative in one of the Plum books.

A couple of weeks after reading it, I am finding it hard to recall much of the story and the names of some of the characters, which says quite a bit about it.

Janet Evanovich's work all has a similar feel to it. That is not necessarily bad, but it means it doesn't matter if you skip a book or two because you will get pretty much the same dialog and situations in another book. This was originally written for a publisher of Romance books, so of course it has the predictable happy ending, which you knew from page one.

You'll read it in a couple of hours, tops. There are a few laughs in it, and it is not nearly as contrived as the later books in the Plum series, but nor is it up to the standard of the first few Plums. These early Evanovich books are being republished as there is money to be made from the Evanovich name. Janet has her whole family employed at Evanovich Inc, which means she has to squeeze everything she can from her back catalog and current publications. If people are prepared to buy it why not? It probably also accounts for the tacky merchandise she hawks as well.

To be honest, if it had been written by an unknown author it would have never have been republished. Fans of Evanovich will probably buy it, and although it is an okay book, I doubt if anyone else would, and she wouldn't get new fans on the back of this book. I wouldn't pay the publisher's list price for it.

Hilarious, July 13, 2008

Janet Evanovich books are so much fun to read. Wife for Hire is so funny, and can be read so quickly it feels as though you have just watched a little television show. She is quickly becoming my favorite author. Highly reccomend.


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							January 9, 2009


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