Wife for a Day is the story of Sam Jones, an unemployed seamstress and aspiring actress. When we first meet Sam, she is in a heap of trouble. She has just gotten fired from her job, she’s living in her beat up old Volkswagen bug and is in debt for thousands of dollars to a loan shark who would gladly break her arm (amongst other things) if she doesn’t pay him back on time.

Sam thinks she has a stroke of good luck when she gets to opportunity to alter a tuxedo for millionaire restaurant owner/rancher Jack Remington. But before she knows it Sam is in over her head. She takes a gig impersonating Jack’s fiancé for the benefit of his sister’s engagement party to make money to hold off the loan shark. But, neither she nor Jack anticipated the attraction they would feel or the feelings that would develop between the two of them.

Jack leaves Sam to head to his ranch but through a series of misunderstanding with his sister, Jack is forced to fly Sam to Wyoming to continue the charade and, of course, their aborted courtship.

The pacing of Wife for a Day is quick, but Ms. Berg creates characters with depth and complex storylines. We get to know a lot about Sam and Jack both and because of it find ourselves rooting for them even more. Knowing the unhappiness the two of them have faced earlier in their lives makes it even more sweet when they find each other.

I especially liked Sam’s character and the complex history that has been created for her. She managed to pull herself together after a particularly tough upbringing and has that particular blend of good humor and scrappiness that I find so attractive in heroines.

The secondary storylines and characters were so compelling that I am crossing my fingers that one day we may see a story about Mike, Jack’s childhood friend or Jack’s son Beau after he ages about a decade or so. And one about Jack’s sister wouldn’t be bad either. After all of her bad relationships she needs to find herself a good man!

I have never read any other books by Ms. Berg but if they are even half as delightful as this one I would be satisfied and I am eagerly awaiting to see what she offers up next.

-- A.B.


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