The Wife Maker by Karey White
Charlotte has spent years as the husband maker, sending every guy she dates off to enjoy marital bliss with the next girl he dates. But things have now changed, and she's determined to use her husband-maker abilities one last time--on herself. And she finally knows exactly who she wants.
Angus has loved Charlotte since they were teenagers, but he's tired of waiting for her to realize how good they could be. She's broken his heart one too many times, and it's time to move on with his life. Maybe a position halfway across the country will be just what he needs to get over her. But when Charlotte won't let him go without a fight, Angus has to decide if he's willing to let her in again or if she's too late.
~Excerpt~
My phone rang before six the next morning. Who would call that early on a Sunday? I rubbed my bleary eyes and looked at the screen. The number was unfamiliar and a strange configuration. I almost shut it off, but on a hunch, I answered the call.“Charlotte, it’s Flynn.”
“Flynn? Is everything okay?”
“Aye. I think we should talk. Turn on your computer and call me.”
Ten minutes later, Flynn appeared on the screen of my laptop.
“What’s going on?”
“I think you should move to Kansas City.”
I laughed. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t laugh. I’m not jokin’.”
“I can’t move to Kansas City. My job’s here. My family’s here. And I don’t think Angus would even want me to.”
“Ah, he’d say he doesn’t want ya to, but I’d wager that what he wants and what he says he wants are two different things.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy. This is what you wanted me to call you for at this hour of the morning?”
“Aye. And hear me out. I’ve been chewin’ on this all day.”
I was touched that he’d been trying to figure out a way to help me, but this idea was insane. “I’m listening.”
“You say you’ll wait for him to come back.” I nodded. “What about him? You might be willing to wait for ten years, but what about Angus? He’ll be meeting new people. He won’t be waiting around. If ya want to cook a chicken, ya have to put him in while the water’s boilin’.”
I snickered. “I don’t even know what that means, Flynn.”
“Sure ya do. If ya wait ‘til the water’s all cooled down, good luck cooking the bird. Right now the water’s boilin’.”
“No it’s not. He doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“That’s ’cause the water’s boilin’. If it weren’t, he’d talk to ya all day long. He’s just tryin’ not to get burned.”
There was an absurd and comforting logic to what he was saying. “Keep going.”
“There’s not much more to say. Move to Kansas City.”
“That’s easier said than done, Flynn.”
“Tell me this. What needs more attention? The things in San Francisco? Or the thing in Kansas City?”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know what to say.
“Charlotte, give him a grand gesture. Show ’im he’s more important than the things you’ve left behind.”
“Wow. I should never have answered the phone this morning.”
We laughed. “Think about it. It might work.”
“It might not. And then I’ll be two thousand miles away from my family and I’ll have given up the best job in the world and . . . It’s all so scary.”
“But you’re brave. And if it doesn’t work out, you can go back.”
“I thought you were my friend.”
Flynn didn’t say anything right away. He just smiled. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft. “I am.”
Author Karey White
Karey White grew up in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Gifted, was a Whitney Award Finalist.
She loves to travel, read, bake treats, and spend time with family and friends. She and her husband are the parents of four great children. She teaches summer creative writing courses to young people and is currently working on her next book.
Charlotte has had a really tough go of it. She was nicknamed "The Husbandmaker" because all her boyfriends got engaged to the next woman they dated after breaking up with her. So, she hasn't exactly been lucky in love. When her best friend Angus professed his love to her, she was riddled with guilt because he was dating her friend and she was heading to Scotland to visit a man she thought might be "the one." Now that she's back from her vacation and Angus is no longer dating Aleena, Charlotte has realized that she's in love with Angus. Only now it's too late. He's accepted a fellowship in Kansas City for the next four years and he's doing everything he can to push her out of his life. What's a girl to do?
I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Wifemaker -- it was the perfect conclusion to this trilogy. Nothing is easy for Charlottle and Angus when it comes to relationship building. They both have preconceived plans and ideas of how things will work out, yet reality gets in the way. I love how Charlotte is so determined to make things work, but manages to find a little bit of balance and not completely back Angus into a corner.
Poor Angus is in complete denial. He's trying so hard to do what he thinks is right, but it just isn't working out because he's not being true to his feelings. I love how his parents set him straight in a way that he comes to the realization on his own.
I loved that I was able to sit down and read this in a few hours -- it was a fun, light-hearted story that left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside.
FYI ~ This is a clean read - no language or content concerns
Honest disclosure ~ We received ebook copies in connection with the blog tour to read and review
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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