Lynn Painter (The Love Wager; Mr. Wrong Number) expertly combines heartfelt romance and charming comedy in Maid for Each Other. Abi Mariano is down on her luck. She's a part-time student juggling loans and two jobs when an infestation in her apartment building leaves her with nowhere to go--until she realizes the penthouse she cleans is vacant and nobody will be the wiser if she spends a couple nights there. She's proved wrong when she wakes up to two strangers in the kitchen, eating the muffins she baked the night before, who are not at all surprised to see her there.
Declan Powell, an executive at the country's biggest furniture store, always puts work first. That's why he created a fake girlfriend. When his parents claim to have met "Abby," who is definitely notreal, he doesn't know how to react. Eventually, he formulates the perfect plan. The weekend's big work event will be the ideal place to showcase Abi (the real one) and finally prove to his bosses that he is the "family man" they want him to be.
Abi's razor-sharp humor is a perfect foil for Dex's serious demeanor. Fancy parties, family 5Ks, and private plane send-offs provide entertaining settings for fun, flirting, and thrilling looks inside the life of a millionaire. But at the end of the day, the glitz and glamour fade, and genuine, endearing moments highlight Abi's true feelings and Dex's soft side. What began as pure fiction becomes an unmistakably authentic love story. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer