Maid for Each Other

When I need a good laugh and a fun story there are a few authors I know I can count on, and Lynn Painter is up there with the best of them. Witty banter, loads of sarcasm, great chemistry, dynamic main characters, and messy situations are a frequent staple of her books.

With the bar set so high by the three previous books I’ve read of hers which all got four stars, I know it’s going to look like I’m disappointed by this one and nothing could be further from the truth! This still had all the things I love in Painter’s books … it just didn’t work QUITE as well for me as the others. Having said that, I think I’m in a phase with all rom-coms where I’m getting burnt out on some of the tropes, so it’s likely my issues are a ‘me’ thing and not a book thing.

In this Cinderella/Pretty Woman-adjacent rom-com, Abi Mariano is a maid and part-time grocery clerk taking classes to get her MFA in creative writing. When her dumpy apartment needs to be evacuated temporarily due to an infestation, she sees an opportunity to “borrow” one of the ritzy apartments she cleans. The owner is out of town, so what will it hurt? 

Except … oops. She wasn’t counting on the owner’s parents showing up! They assume she’s their son’s girlfriend and find her utterly charming. Multi-millionaire executive Declan Powell who owns the place does NOT, but comes up with a plan that could help both of them: He’ll pay Abi and let her use his penthouse for the week if she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at his company’s shareholder weekend to appease his parents and move up in his family-minded company. 

Cue the fake dating, enemies to lovers, miscommunication, forced proximity and third act break-up tropes, among others, and you have this book in a nutshell. It’s charming, the chemistry is sizzling and the ending is everything a rom-com lover's heart could desire.

There’s just one thing that kept this from being another four star book and that’s this:

The FMC. Abi was a challenging character. I ended up really liking her in the end, but it took time. She’s got built-in biases and a huge chip on her shoulder about the wealthy after growing up with a man-chasing mom who struggled to make ends meet for the two of them. She’s understandably guarded, but her hypocrisy and biting sarcasm at times with Declan made me feel bad for him and made her look juvenile. He was far more patient than I would’ve been! In the end, it was his acceptance of Abi and their entertaining chemistry that won me over.

One teeny, tiny other complaint and this applies to the romance/rom-com genre as a whole, not just this book: for the love of everything, can red hair (Abi) and green eyes (Declan) not be the prevailing physical description of a main character in EVERY book? Live a little. Mix it up!

I did enjoy this book a lot, so don’t let the three stars scare you off. It only means in comparison to the others of hers I’ve read, I liked those just a little bit more! I assure you I’ll be waiting for her next book just as eagerly.

★★★ ½