I’ve loved many of Lynn Painter’s books so I was down to review this one. And, at first, I was charmed. Maid for Each Other begins when Abi decides to stay in an apartment that she’s cleaning while her apartment is being fumigated for bugs. The owner, Declan, is out of town so she thinks no one will notice, but his parents show up and–it’s a rom com– think she is his girlfriend. But, although I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it quite as much as I love Painter’s other works.

It turns out Declan has been pretending he has a girlfriend named Abby so his parents will quit pressuring him to find a girlfriend. When he sees how happy his parents are about meeting Abi, he asks her if she will go with him to a cocktail party for work and pretend to be his girlfriend. When they are at the party, everyone loves her (and Declan thinks she’s pretty great too) so he asks her if she will pretend a little longer. Declan comes from a wealthy family and is a successful executive at an investment company. He’s got a big shareholders’ event coming up the following weekend and he’s in line for a big promotion at work. He thinks fake dating Abi might help him clinch it.

Abi is struggling to get by, working several jobs and going to school and is not excited about being his fake date. It makes her uncomfortable to be around wealthy people with mansions and fancy cars, while she sees so many other people struggling to get by. But she has a lot of school loans to pay off so when Declan offers to pay her to be there with him, she decides to go for it.

It’s fun when a glam crew shows up to do her hair and clothes. She impresses everyone at the event and has fun teasing Declan by telling fake stories about romantic things she says he’s done – everyone laughed (including me). The two begin to see each other and, as they do, their fake relationship becomes real.

One of the things that was awkward in the second half of the story was Abi’s dislike of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It felt like this cast a shadow over her and Declan’s romance. But I still enjoyed this romcom full of witty banter, spicy times and funny situations. Declan was a sweet book boyfriend who came through with the perfect grand gesture in the end to win Abi.

It’s no secret that Lynn Painter is one of my favorite authors and while I had some quibbles with this story, it ended up winning me over with its entertaining situations and playful romance. It gets a qualified recommendation from me.