Rent a Friend
Grade : A

Take one pitiful girl who marries a man, and on their wedding night, comes out of the bathroom to find her brand new husband in the arms of her best friend. That's how this story starts off. The heroine, Serina Mann, believes she's hexed. Bad luck has run in her family for years, so Serina swears off relationships and seeks some psychiatric help. Her psychiatrist's advice? "Go rent yourself a friend, dear. You'll feel better."

Meet Max Evangelist, owner of Friends In High Places - in other words, Rent-a-Friend. Max is certain that his employees can be just friends with their clients, but they will not get emotionally involved; he feels there's no reason why they should want to get involved. Max's brother-in-law/business partner, Tony, totally disagrees with Max. Foolish man that he is, Max bets his half of the company that he can be a Rent-A-Friend and not get emotionally involved.

Yes, you guessed it, Tony picks Serina to be Max's client. Poor, pitiful Serina, who can't even get a man to the honeymoon bed. Everybody feels sorry for her circumstances, including her parish priest. But, when she finally takes her psychiatrist's advice and contacts Friends In High Places, she never imagines that the person assigned to her is Max, the owner of the company. In their first interview, she overhears a conversation that he has on the telephone with his friend, Mike. She doesn't want to disturb him but when she hears him say, "But of course, Mike, I still love you," she just can't believe it, but Max must be gay.

But then again, what better person to have as a friend? She doesn't have to get emotionally involved, she has a friend who's probably better at every womanly thing she does, and she can relax because she knows Max isn't about to put the moves on her.

Well, I can honestly say that this book went from pity for Serina to laugh out loud at Max, and everything in between. Valerie Kirkwood does a wonderful job of matching these two and writing their story. I loved Max because he fell for Serina hook, line, and sinker. Yep, you've got it, Max isn't anywhere near to being gay, except maybe from happiness.

Max finds Serina strong, her own woman, independent, and yet vulnerable, and he doesn't know how anybody could leave this wonderful woman at the alter. Everything in this book worked for me, even when I thought it wasn't going to. Once I got into the story, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. It was quick, like most Love and Laughters, it had good humour, both obvious and subtle. And yes, it is rated "G" because there isn't one moment of sex in it. But please, don't let that deter you from reading a wonderful little story about the ups-and-downs of a single lady who believes the world is against her, and a man who knows that he'll never get personally involved with his Rent-a-Friend. If you love this book half as much as I did, you're in for a great time.

Reviewed by Deborah Barber
Grade : A

Sensuality: Kisses

Review Date : April 30, 1998

Publication Date: 1998/04

Review Tags: friends to lovers funny

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Deborah Barber

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