Reviewer: Annie
This novel is not for someone that wants to dig-deep in to any characters or story. This novel is best chosen for those looking for a simple light-hearted romp. Quick to read, which is sometimes great; but I just found myself waiting for the story to take off. It did not deliver.
Eva Charles is in a huge dilemma. She is left penniless! Her husband; Ben, skips out on charges of fraud, etc. by leaving the country. Without notice! Ben calls Eva twice in one year to say how sorry he is..blah, blah, blah. Eva has two children, Alex her teenage daughter, that was a product of a weekend sex-capade with a man named Lucas 15 years ago. She and Ben have a son, named Liam together. Yet, to Ben’s credit he does treat Alex as his own.
Goran is her “jack-of-all-trades” who has kept their house in good working order on a daily basis. Once she is left penniless, she finds another job for him, still with her as the boss. He was my favorite character. He has an excellent background story, which Ayn Bootham could choose to write about.
There are so many character introductions, that don’t go anywhere. Like her closest friend, Amanda – The person that knows her best, and invests in a company for Eva to run, called; “The Cleaning Agency”. Amanda invests, helps come up with the name….yet, we never hear of Amanda, again. Ever! So many others are introduced, yet not worth mentioning. They could have been left out, as far as this story was concerned.
The hitch was that the girls in this cleaning agency were hired to clean in the nude. Eva somehow naively believes that this is not going to turn in to a prostitution ring. She gets arrested by a man that she runs over and kills with her car. She has a neighbor named, Helga…with cancer and a cat that she asks Eva to help her locate. Eva locates the cat, yet; the story does not lead to her telling Helga this.
I felt there were a lot of plots Ayn could have expanded on. This book had a good overall plot, yet she did not develop on areas where there was potential to improve this novel. How Eva got away with so much was unimaginable.
This could have been an outstanding read, but; fell short.
