Wife for Hire by Janet Evanovich

   Prior to Wife for Hire my experience with Janet Evanovich was limited to her Stephanie Plum series (two thumbs up). This book falls in the dreaded romance category. I say dreaded because it is almost the only genre that I am not familiar with and have always felt a bit leary of. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to a well-written, ably described L'amour scène, but I like at least a little meat with my dessert.
   Back to the actual book. Succinctly put, Maggie, eager to escape the close confines of her mother, aunt and neighborhood takes a job as a fake wife for six months. The job provides her pay and time to write a book based on her Aunt Kitty's diary. Hank, an apple farmer who needs a bank loan, hires Maggie as a wife to make him look like a better loan risk. Drop curtain. End scene.
   In all fairness to Ms. Evanovich her writing lacks none of the charm that I have come to expect from her other writing (see series reference above). The familiar eye twitch, quick repartee and zany characters are all present. I think the story development leaves something to be desired, but not being familiar with the genre, it could just be par for the course. I rather think the latter is the case, in which case, there wouldn't be much wrong with the book developmentally speaking.

Favorite Quotes:

Linda Sue's eyes got wide. "Holy cow, she said to Maggie, "you aren't a face rearranger like your grandfather, are you?"

"Dang, I got excited and shot too soon," Elsie said. "He wasn't even halfway through the window. I probably only shot him in the heart."

"That's some smile you got on your face. Shame on you. You two hardly know each other. I tell you, in my day we didn't go around smiling like that until after we were really married."

Overall Opinion:

It wasn't a complete waste of time; for what I found wrong with it, it was still better than Panic (see/revisit earlier review).

Rating:

(Either which way, I think it would remain a) 1 Time Read