Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bybee's seventh and final Weekday Brides contemporary (after Seduced by Sunday) is an exquisitely written and complex story brimming with pride, passion, and pulse-pounding danger. Hard-hearted businessman Hunter Blackwell approaches Alliance, an exclusive matchmaking service, in hopes of finding a wife and ending the barrage of mail from fortune hunters. Gabriella "Gabi" Masini is assigned to evaluate him, and she declares him not up to Alliance's standards. Furious, Hunter decides to blackmail the sexy and sassy Gabi into being his temporary wife. Though Gabi is still traumatized by her dead husband's abuse, she accepts-and in turn demands $1 million a month for 18 months, to be followed by automatic divorce. Despite this inauspicious beginning, Gabi and Hunter soon begin to see around each other's public personas. Trust, revelations, and smoldering desires begin to crack the armor around their hearts, revealing wonderfully complex, flawed characters. Readers will gladly make time to savor this winning finale to a wonderful series. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After Gabi Masini rejects billionaire Hunter Blackwell as a client of her elite matchmaking service, he blackmails her into becoming his temporary wife, setting in motion a series of events that will endanger their lives and, to his surprise, his heart. Hunter is used to getting what he wants, no matter the cost, and his hard work and determination have served him well. So maybe it's a little lonely at the top, and he finds it hard to trust people, but that's never been a problem before. However, when he's in sudden need of a wife and is rejected by Alliance, the matchmaking service that, apparently, money can't buy, he turns his sights on Gabi, the matchmaker who rejected him. A bit of digging proves that Ms. holier-than-thou Masini has some naughty little secrets he can use to coerce her into marrying him herself. He actually likes the woman, so he makes the terms generous, and when she counteroffers with an eyebrow-raising settlement, he is amused and intrigued enough to agree. Gabi is stunned when Hunter concedes to her ridiculous demands, but more disturbing is the information he used to bully her, a shadow from her harrowing first marriage to a drug-smuggling con artist who wound up dead. Gabi knew nothing of the offshore accounts Hunter discovered in her name, but now that she does know, she makes a critical error that brings her into the sights of some very dangerous criminalsand as she, Hunter, and her loyal circle of friends try to untangle the mess, Gabi finds herself falling for her enigmatic and lonely husband. A mistake, she knows, since Hunter is nothing if not clear about his lone-wolf existence. Bybee (Seduced by Sunday, 2015, etc.) concludes her popular Weekday Brides series in a gratifying way with a passionate, troubled couple who may find a happy future if they can just survive and then learn to trust each other. A compelling and entertaining mix of sexy, complicated romance and menacing suspense. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
