I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
It'S A Wonderful Wife on August 25, 2015 Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Suspense
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Goodreads
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Spellbound Falls novels comes a delightful new romance set on the coast of Maine…
Jesse Sinclair and his two brothers spent years dodging the women his grandfather threw in their path. But then the matchmaking old wolf died, and his brothers did the unthinkable: they ran off to Maine to get married.
Now Jesse wants to join them. Convinced the Pine Tree State must have another eligible woman to spare, he buys a small island just off Bear Harbor to build a home for his future family. But as he discovers, finding the woman of your dreams isn’t as easy as his brothers made it seem. First of all, the only woman capable of filling those wedding shoes is Cadi Glace—and unfortunately, she’s already engaged…
So imagine Jesse’s surprise when he finds the aforementioned Miss Glace hiding out in his camper, charmingly, adorably drunk. And apparently single….
Janet Chapman is an author I’ve been reading off and on for a while now, and although her heroines often nearly cross the line for me in adorable wackiness, I’ve enjoyed reading most of her contemporary romances. I read the first two books in her Sinclair Brother series back when they were on the Scribd ebook subscription service, and liked the premise of the beloved grandfather setting up his three single grandsons to find true love with the women of his favorite area in Maine.
Unfortunately this third and final book in the series – IT’S A WONDERFUL WIFE – takes all the wacky adorable charm of the others and turns it up to a level so high that it was all I could do to make myself finish reading instead of throwing the book (figuratively) against the wall in frustration. Everything I loved about the other books is made nearly unbearable here, especially the laughable attempt at a suspense plot which ended up being told more than shown, including its completely unsatisfying resolution which seems to be an offscreen afterthought.
Our hero Jesse Sinclair is jealous of his brothers’ happiness with their own adorably wacky Maine wives so he decides to build the perfect family home in an isolated wooded area in the hopes that he’ll soon find the perfect wife to fill it with the perfect family. This leads to his impromptu meeting with Cady Glace, her adorable wackiness attracting him instantly even as he discovers she’s already engaged. But all is not as it seems with that, and her supposed fiancé, and which one of them actually designed the house he’s having built in the Maine woods.
If this sounds at all convoluted, then you get an idea of how this book went for me, and how I became increasingly frustrated even when I was already making allowances for a certain level of unbelievability based on my experience with the previous books in the series. Add to that the need to keep track of dozens of secondary characters, some old and some new, and an extra dollop of magical realism at the very end, and it’s no wonder IT’S A WONDERFUL WIFE left me more annoyed than entertained. I would normally say that you should read the other books before attempting to read this one, but honestly, just read the other books and leave this one be. I’m not sorry I read it because I did like Jesse Sinclair and was happy to see the previous couples turn up one more time. But if you’re not prepared to constantly roll your eyes while keeping a spreadsheet updated with a constant parade of additional characters, then IT’S A WONDERFUL WIFE is probably not the book for you.
