ARC Review: What a Woman Needs by Judi Fennell

Bryan Manley, a famous movie star, loses a bet with his sister and has to work for her. The Manley Maids is her business and she ropes her brothers into helping her. Bryan is assigned to Beth Hamilton. She is a widow with five children. Her husband was a pilot and killed in a plane crash. She had to deal with the press and gossip surrounding the accident. Now a gorgeous man is cleaning her home and helping her raise her children. He offers advice and makes the children keep the house clean. The youngest one falls hard for him. Maggie is five and misses her father. She would love for Bryan to be her new dad. The attraction between Beth and Bryan grows and the neighbors start to notice. So does the paparazzi. They swarm the town and approach Beth and stake out her house. Bryan tries to appease the fans and the frenzy surrounding him. Beth sees all the attention and doesn’t want it near her children, but it’s a part of Bryan’s life. He leaves to begin work on a movie, but he misses Beth and the kids. Will he be able to balance his career with his love life?

Beth is too calm about her life and future. Her worries disappear when Bryan arrives. She cedes her authority to him with her children. They ask him and defer to him. Beth should step up and remind her children who’s in charge and stop asking the stranger in the house. She accepts him joining them on family outings and doesn’t take things slow. She jumps into the relationship knowing her children will be very hurt if it doesn’t work out.

Bryan is beyond perfection. He is attracted to Beth immediately and never wavers. He dispenses advice to all the children who listen to him and follow his directions. He goes out of his way to clean the house and fix things, even building a better clothesline. He begins to see himself as the father of five children without a moment of hesitation. He’s too good to be true and a caricature of the perfect man.

The kids are stereotypes too. The rebellious oldest son with shaggy hair which Bryan gets him to cut. The lonely teenage girl has a crush on Bryan and wants to be popular. He sets her down softly without breaking her heart. The twin boys fight with each other and finish each other’s sentences. Bryan gets them to work together and be there for each other. And Maggie is the sweet youngest child who loves Bryan immediately and unconditionally. He wants to be her father, no questions asked.

Too neat and too sweet.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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