My Review: The Husband Lesson

The Husband Lesson (Harlequin Superromance)

About the Book:

There's been a mistake!

Karan Reece has no other explanation for this situation. Being assigned to work with her ex-husband, Dr. Charles Steinberg? She really must have offended someone to be forced to spend her days with him. The only good thing she can say is at least this arrangement has an expiration date.

Funny thing, though, is that working together for a shared cause forces them to look at each other differently. She's learning a lot about him and his strengths. And those discoveries are causing her to see him in a new way…a very attractive, can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-you way. Seems that life with Charles is a lesson she's willing to study again!

My Comments:

This is a book that could have been a lot better than it was.  Karan is the (ex) wife of a (actually two) wealthy doctors.  She spends her days flitting from this to that, involved in politics and parties, and one day at a party for a candidate, she did something she never did--she drank too much, and then got behind the wheel of a car.  She ended up in court in front of a judge with whom she went to high school "Wannabe Jenny" (who had tried out for the cheerleading squad when Karan had been captain, but who didn't make the squad at least in part because Karan had to make room for her friends).  Karan was sentenced to community service at a home for abused mothers, where she runs into her first ex-husband who is one of those running the program.  

I really didn't like Karan--even though she was long-past high school, many of her actions and ways of relating to people were high-schoolish.  Until the end of the book when she has this revelation, it is all about her.  

I liked the part of the book about the work she did with the home and with the women in crisis.  I enjoyed seeing her grow as a person throughout the book and of course the happy ending was nice.  The writing was a little over-the-top at times, and I could have lived with a few less descriptions of some people's physical attributes.

In short, it's a romance novel, not squeaky clean and not particularly well-written, but entertaining in its own way.  Grade:  C+.  

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.