Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee

Story: 5.5
Presentation: 5.5
Total: 11
Publisher: Catherine Bybee
Contemporary Romance
To Purchase

Blurb: Blake Harrison:

Rich, titled, and charming… And in need of a wife by Wednesday so he turns to Sam Elliot who isn’t the business man he expected. Instead, Blake is faced with Samantha Elliot, engaging and spunky with a voice men call 900 numbers to hear.

Samantha Elliot:

Owner of Alliance, her matchmaking firm, and not on the marital menu... That is until Blake offers her ten million dollars for a one-year contract. All she needs to do is keep her attraction to her husband to herself and avoid his bed. But Blake’s toe-curling kisses and charm prove too difficult to combat. Now she needs to protect her heart so she can walk away when their mercenary life together is over.

Review: I was really excited to check this book out. As soon as it arrived in my inbox I immediately saved and opened the PDF....and fell flat on my face.

As a general rule I am a fan of the marriage-of-convenience romance plot. Even though most are a lot alike, I still dig them. But this one for me just didn't measure up to the hype. Clunky sentences bogged down the flow. Editing issues ran rampant. Several scenes just seemed to be missing the B in the A to C journey.

I was scratching my head at times about the apparent massive concern of the hero about the heroine just after this temporary marriage began. Not that it would have been a bad thing if he had questioned why he was suddenly experiencing the strong feelings toward her, but he never did.

While I thought the story was cute and had great potential, I think that with stronger editing it would have really made this one shine. There were a few to many spots where things just felt awkward or a step was missing or emotions seemed forced.

It wasn't a total wash though. In the end everything works out and I was left with a good feeling even though the journey was a little bumpy. The story line was cute, but as I said, I think that with more editing it really would have been breathtaking.