Hank Mallone knows he's in trouble when Maggie Toone agrees to pretend to be his wife in order to improve his rogue's reputation. Will his harebrained scheme to get a bank loan for his business backfire once Maggie arrives in his small Vermont town and lets the gossips take a look?

Maggie never expected her employer to be drop-dead handsome, but she's too intrigued by his offer to say no . . . and too eager to escape a life that made her feel trapped. The deal is strictly business, both agree, until Hank turns out to be every fantasy she ever had.

This is a very funny and witty book. Hank and Maggie's relationship is romantic and sexy. The dialogue is classic Evanovich - she easily writes in the rhythm of natural speech so the reader feels as though he/she could step right into the conversation. Hank falls in love with Maggie right off the bat and plots to make their marriage a real one; she is not so sure that she wants to be stuck in another small town. Elsie Hawkins, a reoccuring character in Ms. Evanovich's romances, is present here as a temporary housekeeper. She is the prototype of the Grandma Mazur character of the Stephanie Plum series - a feisty, blunt-speaking senior who drives a '57 Cadillac, packs a gun, and is in serious pursuit of the male species (in her age group, they tend to drop dead unexpectedly so she tries to act quickly).

Hopefully, someday these early Evanovich books will be reissued, but until then, this definitely one used-book worth finding.


Wife For Hire   April 6, 2008
 37 out of 37 found this review helpful

Maggie Toone is taking a sabbatical from teaching to write a book based on her Aunt Kitty's diaries. Aunt Kitty was a madam, so this book would be great in Maggie's opinion. Since she still needed some type of income to pay bills, she was looking for something she could do that would allow her to concentrate most of her time on the book. Hank Malone needed a wife. He didn't want to get married or do anything drastic like that, so he contacted an employment agency about hiring a wife. As it turns out, Maggie was the only one willing to move up to Vermont and pose as Hank's wife. He was trying to secure a loan to help his business Malone Apple Orchards, and needed to prove his stability. Hank had grown up in the area, and was quite the hell raiser, so he needed to prove to the community that he had indeed settled down. To make matters worse, his own father was the bank president, so he needed to prove himself to his father also.

As Maggie settled into her new temporary home, she found herself incredibly attracted to Hank. The feeling was mutual, and left Hank wondering if he had make the right decision bringing her to his home. He introduced her to everyone as his new wife, and had the entire town fooled including his family. As the weeks went by, both started feeling guilty about their deception, and even guiltier because they wanted their marital status to become reality.

This was a good light read. An earlier work of JE that doesn't compare to her work today, but it was enjoyable.



Good early Evanovich, even tho a nearly plotless love story   March 30, 2002
 29 out of 31 found this review helpful

I didn't know Janet Evanovich wrote romance stories earlier in her career, but I stumbled across this title and couldn't resist seeing how she did before she got famous with her Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series. The good news is: Janet is just as funny and whimsical here as are her better known recent works. The bad news is, the plot synopsis can be stated in about 20 words: man hires woman to pose as wife, they immediately fall insanely in love, and will they stay together after the gig?? Bet you can guess! Between the heated blood coursing through their veins at every touch, to -- well you get the drift. I guess that's why they call these bodice rippers! For a nice easy read, no mental stress, little doubt about the story line, and some heart warming (I guess) relationship study (with no explicit sex), coupled with that great Evanovich sense of humor, give it a try. Supposedly she did a few others for Loveswept, but I'll take my chances on missing those.


Not Real Deep, But Cute   November 25, 2007
 29 out of 29 found this review helpful

This is a re-release of a book originally published in 1990.

Maggie is a New Jersey girl and a little unconventional; she drives her mom and aunt crazy with her ways. She quits her teaching job in the hopes of writing a book about the family Madame.

Hank was a bad boy growing up and now he is fighting to shake off that reputation. He has returned to his hometown in Vermont and just wants a loan to help with his organic apples. But his father, the bank president, won't give him the loan because he feels he isn't grounded or responsible enough. So Hank hires Maggie to be his fake wife on his Vermont orchard for 6 months, just long enough for her to finish her book and for him to prove his stability.

OK, so this isn't the most emotionally deep or content heavy book on the planet... but it's cute. I hate that word but that is really the one word that popped up in my head over and over while reading... cute.

Longtime Janet Evanovich fans will recognize some similarities between the characters in this book to some of those in the Plum series. Elsie Hawkins is a character in this book as she is in a few of the other early romances written by Ms. Evanovich.

The mystery portion of this book was weak and beyond silly; I think I had it solved as soon as it began, but it does add a few chuckles here and there. This book won't win any literary awards, but I found it enjoyable just the same. Hank and Maggie have some chemical attraction and there are some sexy and sweet moments between them. It helped me pass a gloomy Saturday afternoon curled up on the couch; it was short and sweet and just what I needed.




Pure crap   November 9, 2007
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

I fell for it; went and bought this book. Read it in no time flat, though very soon into the book I already knew it was a piece of junk. Stupid, unbelievable characters. We're supposed to believe that Hank (the main guy character) in madly in love with the girl character in a single day.

I love the Plum series, even though I am getting sick of it, too, since it never advances, but these little previous books of Evanovich's show the practice work before she came up with Stephanie Plum. Every character and setting and even the dialogue is the same in all the books. The only exception is that by the Plum series, Evanovich finally got it right.

Don't waste your money or time.