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Once More with Feeling Series: Mr. and Mrs. Wrong by Fay Robinson
 | Mr. and Mrs. Wrong Fay Robinson Harlequin Superromance #1012 9/2001 Rating: B+ |
"Lucky and Jack Cahill have been married for less than a year when Jack decides to move out. The two of them love each other very much, but they cannot get along. Lucky is impulsive and intuitive. Jack is protective and logical. Lucky loves her riverside cabin and the great outdoors. Jack thinks the cabin is a dump and spends his free time playing golf. The one thing they have in common and never argue about is their attraction to each other.
This attraction leads to a little snag in their separation. On one of his trips back to the cabin to "look for something," Jack manages to leave a little something behind: a baby. And since neither of them wants a divorce, they have to figure out just exactly how to make this marriage work.
In the middle of all of this emotional sorting out is a little mystery. Years ago a woman named Eileen Olenick was killed in Potock, their small town, and the murder was never solved. Many assumed that a local autistic boy killed her, and he was sent away to an institution. Now due to a change in laws about the disabled, that boy, now a man, comes back to live in Potock, and things begin to happen again. Things that make Lucky question if he did actually kill Eileen Olenick.
The mystery in this story was tightly plotted and kept me guessing. There were also little twists and turns in Lucky and Jack's relationship that I wasn't expecting. New things kept cropping up to interest me. I have to admit I'm a sucker for the old unsolved mystery plot, especially ones that involve old gossip and entangled relationships. This one was all of that and more.
The romantic plot was equally satisfying. Lucky and Jack have a frustrating but fun relationship, and they do enjoy each other's company when they aren't fighting. Reading these marriage-on-the-rocks romances can be an interesting change from the norm. In this case, what is sacrificed in sexual tension is more than made up for by the emotional depth these characters have for each other. Which is not to say there is no sexual tension here. The love scenes were fun, perhaps because Lucky and Jack were so comfortable with each other that they could "play" in bed.
The only problem I had with this book was that the resolution of the mystery was a little melodramatic, and that was followed by another, and somewhat silly separation between Jack and Lucky.
Mr. and Mrs. Wrong restores my faith in Fay Robinson. She's definitely a category author to watch. I will be looking for her future books, especially the next one, which is about Jack's sister Emma."
[Addendum: the sad thing is, I've had the sequel to this book in the TBR pile for years now, and I've never read it. And, sadly, Robinson passed away some time ago, so there will be no more books to watch for.]
The original review is here.
This book is available cheap at half.com or at Bookmooch .
I loved this book too and gave it the same grade. I love troubled marriage
stories and this was very well done. The Notorious Mrs. Wright and
Christmas on Snowbird Mountain were also a B+. Very sad she passed away.