Review: The Kept Woman by Susan Donovan

Reviewer: Rowena
The Kept Woman by Susan Donovan
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: June 27th 2006
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
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WHEN A GOOD-GIRL DIVORCEE
Playing by the rules has left Samantha Monroe with an AWOL ex-husband, maxed out credit cards, and the task of raising three children on a hairstylist's salary. It's time for a new game plan. When Sam learns that politician Jack Tolliver needs someone to play the part of his fiancee for six months in return for a generous paycheck, she's ready to sign up on the spot.

MEETS A BAD-BOY POLITICIAN
Jack needs Sam and her kids to help tone down his image from womanizing cad to dependable dad. But he was expecting Sam to be a frumpy single mom, not a wickedly smart, sexy redhead. Keeping nosey newshounds from discovering that his engagement is a charade is going to be a tough job, but one mind-blowing kiss from Sam and suddenly Jack is ready to put in all the overtime necessary...

LOVE WINS IN A LANDSLIDE...
Now, with scheming opponents itching to bring Jack down, Sam's ex returning to stir up trouble, one stubborn pre-schooler, two squabbling teenagers, a crazy dog, and some out-of-this-world sex, Jack and Sam are discovering that playing make-believe can be complicated--but not nearly as much as falling in love...

I started this book yesterday because I just couldn’t finish Crazy Sweet, it’s gonna have to be a DNF read for me because I just couldn’t get into it. I hated the whole Red Dog crap and I’m still peeved that Jane isn’t Travis’ heroine, though I did like C. Rydell Smith sounds like a really hot character, but meh…I couldn’t be arsed to finish that story right now, maybe I’ll go back and read it later but I don’t want to right now.

Instead, I picked up this book from the hundreds of books that I stole from Holly the other weekend. And I read it all in one sitting. It was a fast read and just a really cute book. I enjoyed the characters, the storyline and the hero…man did I enjoy the hero, so much so that don’t be surprised if you see the hero featured in an upcoming Hero of the Month because I was totally over the moon for him.

You see, the story is like this….Samantha Monroe is a divorced mother of 3 who is trying to make ends meet day in and day out and though she loves her job, it’s starting to not be enough to pay her bills, keep her kids happy and a roof over their heads, one night while out for drinks with her friends, she muses out loud that she would gladly be a kept woman if she could find herself a sugardaddy.

Imagine her surprise when she’s given just that chance….for sexy politician, Jack Tolliver who has to clean up his image before the elections or the primaries. What better way to clean up his image then to start seeing a divorced mother of 3 who turns him into a family man, instead of the womanizing cad that everyone thinks him to be.

They set it up where he hires Sam and her family to play the role of doting fiance’ and family for Jack and as you all know, things get complicated because they are fiercely attracted to each other and Jack can kiss like no other and so they start to slowly fall for each other and of course, Jack’s ex girlfriend is a psycho journalist who won’t get over his callous dumping of her years ago. Then add a dead beat dad and gay ex husband who wants to make some money and you get one funny, witty and just all out cute stories ever.

I really enjoyed how this story came together. I loved how Sam and Jack fell in love and I loved Sam’s kids and the relationship that Jack built with all three of them. I loved the bonds he formed with all the kids and I totally loved his potty training game with Dakota, Sam’s youngest.

This book was a light funny read that had me laughing, sighing and saying, HOT DAMN! all throughout the story. There was so many things that I liked about this book, I loved Jack, I thought he was a fantastic hero, sexy, smart and hot damn sexy! His sense of humor made me laugh and the way he was so hung up on buying lingerie for Sam made me laugh, a lot.

I thought that Sam was a great heroine too, I loved her friendship with Monte and the love she had for Monte’s kid, Simon. I thought that it was sweet the way she had formed her own little family when Mitch, her gay ass husband left her high and dry with 3 kids, I loved how she built a life for her family and tried her very best to make them all happy. I loved how her kids weren’t just her kids who did what she said, but who were apart of her plans, she didn’t do anything without running her ideas by them, they were a team and I really enjoyed that.

One of my favorite laugh out loud scenes was when Jack and Sam came back from dinner at the steakhouse and they had that episode in the car and then one of my favorite awwww moments was when Jack made peace with his mother and everything was laid out on the table and they hugged…it was so cute!

One thing I hate to read in romance novels, is when the heroine lies to the hero to protect him, I hate when they lie because they think they can save him, like the hero isn’t strong enough to save himself. And it happened in this book and that was the only part of the book where I was like, “YOU IDIOT, JUST TELL HIM! Love him and trust him enough to help you!” But of course that’s not what happened and it all got just so stupid but Jack made everything all better and so I was a happy camper but goodness, through the part where Sam thought she was doing the right thing, I wanted to backhand her dumb ass!

Regardless of that little issue I had with Sam, I didn’t hate her. I thought she was still a great heroine and the story was great. You guys should definitely read this book because it’s just a great, light romance that will have you laughing at the same time you’re sighing with delight. The characters were fantastic, the storyline was easy to follow and it was just all sunshiny and happy go lucky fun and perfect for a beach read in the summer time…READ IT!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

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