Cinderella Wife

by Katherine Arthur

She'd be crazy to say yes

Powerful fashion mogul Davin Sigmundsen's proposal of a marriage of convenience was the most bizarre thing Susanna had ever heard.

She knew she'd be convincing in the role of Davin's adoring wife, but what experience had she really with his world--the world of the super-rich?

More important, when her year as Davin's wife was over, how could she bear to give him up?

Genres: Romance, Marriage Of Convenience

190 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 1985

About the author

Katherine Arthur was a romance novelist from 1985 to 1992. She was full of life. She described herself as a writer, research associate (she works with her husband, a research professor in experimental psychology), farmer, housewife, proud mother of five and a grandmother to boot. The family was defintely full of overachievers. She is also known as Barbara Erickson.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marriage of convenience between a Hollywood tycoon and an aspiring actress in order to facilitate custody of tycoon's orphaned nephew.

I liked the heroine, a feisty woman who can glam it up with the best of them but has never lost her moral center that comes from her small town upbringing. The hero needed to be an Alpha in this one. Instead we go beyond beta to a an actual wimp. He is a weasely liar who keeps the heroine in the dark over several key things that lead to Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstandings simply because he was too much of a coward to be honest: The plot moppet that he wants custody of ain't his nephew, it's his natural son. His pregnant girlfriend who was the Love of his Life left him for his more glamorous, show-off brother and they raised the heor's son. Instead of fighting for custody, hero waited til the ex and his brotherwere both dead to get custody of the nephew/son from the ex's parents.

Also we are supposed to believe that he loved the heroine from afar for a whole year but was too cowardly to ask her out. This makes no sense since he is a well-known ladies man. And also, how did he get the balls to approach her with a marriage of convenience proposal if he couldn't even ask her for coffee? LoL

Finally, he leaves for a long business trip where he is photographed by newspapers squiring another one of his ex-girlfriends around and is then SHOCKED that his wife gets angry and leaves him. Supposedly, he and the OW were involved in an elaborate plan to trap a thief who had embezzled from the OW. So he was perfectly okay scheming with the OW but not to let his wife in on the secret??? What a dummy!

[EeeJay · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all. Look at that cover. How can you not love it??? It's soooo sweet!!!!!

Very lovely story with confidently handled conflicts. Strong h (and h's mum too, come to think of it... in fact this book was littered with strong women...)

[Tatiana Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a long hiatus from reading romance novels (thanks a lot Real Life!) I came upon this book my usual way - I was checking out a different book that I had that just got sold and I wanted to see if there was a copy in openlibrary so I can read it in case I mistakenly let a good book slip my fingers, one of the links had a “BOOKS I CAN RE-READ” list from a user, I checked out the blurb and though hmmm, I feel up for this plot and tada(!) – started reading CINDERELLA WIFE. Here’s my quick plot summary. Starting-up actress Heroine has to pretend to be the pretend-wife for a year of the uber-rich and famous H for a noble reason. But you know, you know(!) that these type of contracts never ever go as planned – hee hee!

So, my thoughts. This book was nice sweet and the pace was steady. This is a Harlequin Romance so there’s not much of the cruel alpha hero antics other than H having a “different” face/persona – for a really “aww” let me give you a big hug reason wink-wink. I love the h. She was quite a strong, courageous and spunky character. Initially I was worried for the h. I didn’t think she should be so, hmmm, whats the adjective, throwing caution to the wind type of gal. But then I realized wow, what an impressive trait! She wasn’t scared of the “unknown” in regard to her heart and hey even in her chosen profession. You go girl! Since the h didn’t seem scared, I was scared of the possible heartbreak for her. So touching on that topic I move on to the H. Well, there’s a reason he is the way he is so I won’t spoil it. But going through the pages I was alternating with ugh what the heck is up with him, to ohhhh I see… to later on awwwww… In the middle of the book (coz I’m fantasy-prejudiced like that) there was a truth/fact that came up about the H. At first I didn’t like that info because I’m all what???? I’m not going to spoil even though the reader (at least I did) suspected it. For a few pages I thought the “secret” existed due to some horrible act of deception by H but no it wasn’t. When the truth of the matter came out I felt bad for him. I have to re-read the book again (as I have a bad habit of reading fast thereby letting some of the details pass over my head) but I want to make sure that H’s bad experience was just that and nothing too “deep” infatuation type of thing and that h truly got the H heart body and soul.

So anyway this isn’t really a deep, philosophical book or deception (well just a little). Nor does it contain alpha controlling H – just a sweet love story that I can see myself re-reading a couple of more times. So I give this book 3.75 stars.

[rm2h]

blurb:

She'd be crazy to say yes

Powerful fashion mogul Davin Sigmundsen's proposal of a marriage of convenience was the most bizarre thing Susanna had ever heard.

She knew she'd be convincing in the role of Davin's adoring wife, but what experience had she really with his world--the world of the super-rich?

More important, when her year as Davin's wife was over, how could she bear to give him up?

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this older Harlequin book. I really enjoyed following the main characters, Susanna and Davin (interesting name). They began their relationship as a marriage of convenience to help Davin gain custody of his young nephew, Bobby, but soon they both felt confused with the strength of their emotions. Bobby, the ten (or eleven) year-old boy was cute and lovable. Also, Olga, Davin's 80-year-old grandmother was a joy to read about. I didn't quite grasp all the Hollywood business atmosphere, but it wasn't completely necessary to understand all the facts. Enough to realize that here were two people, talented yes, but also too real to really fit in with all the Hollywood tinsel. A very nice read, sexy and romantic in one.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

This looked so good and the first few pages caught my attention, but then it seemed to go in super slow motion, glacial, and I lost interest.

[Aida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the main character Susanna, she is actually very funny. And really enjoyed the Pretty Woman aspect of the story too.. very sweet.

[Sorhija · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm totally discovering this author, the book isn't great, it's the hero's fault.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was kind of a beautiful book. Strangers becoming co-workers, co-workers faking a marriage to get custody of the hero's child and then falling deeply in love or secretly being in love the whole time I should say! Overall the storyline and plot is very strong. Each character has a developed background, so you aren't feeling left out. Even the ending was good but I'm picky and for some reason, everything just seemed too damn perfect. I wanted more drama and imperfections to keep me entertained, shame on me!

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t know about this book. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think it was good either. Didn't feel anything for, or between the characters. Didn’t feel any sparks between them. If this book was a relationship I think I would say to it ”It’s me not you”.

[StMargarets]

DNF Who talks like this? Who are these people and why should I care about their marriage of convenience for the sake of nephew Bobby?

I have tried to get into this book a least three times since this winter and I flake out by chapter four. It's dull, dull, dull and life is too short.

That's one more off my print TBR.

Yes, reading romances that are piling up is my spring housecleaning. These books aren't going to read themselves. *Wipes brow. Blows dust bunny off the next one*