Erin McCarthy Heiress for Hire

Heiress for Hire

Erin McCarthy

Berkley, Jan 2006, $13.00, 304 pp.

ISBN: 0425207617

Mark Johnson arrives in Cuttersville, Ohio to dump his eight years old stepdaughter Piper on her biological father, farmer Danny Tucker. Danny is stunned as he had no idea that he sired an offspring as the late mother Nina Schwartz of Xenia, Ohio never said a word to him. However, he believes Piper is his and welcomes the shy neglected child into his home.

With his mother out of town and unsure what to do, Danny turns to his ex-wife Shelby, who recently married Boston (see A DATE WITH THE OTHER SIDE) for help. However, visiting wealthy heiress Amanda Delmar takes charge of shopping though she never stepped inside a Wal-Mart before. He is desperate for a baby sitter while he works the field but Piper rejects everyone including his take the hill mom; everyone except Amanda and her teacup poodle Baby. Danny offers Amanda the position; since she needs the work as her dad citing tough love cut her off without a penny, she accepts. As the heiress, the farmer, and the child become acquainted, they fall in love with the help of the Weeping Woman ghost, but can these three different individuals forge a family? Perhaps with ghostly matchmaking they can.

This amusing paranormal contemporary romance contains serious undertones especially the neglect and mental abuse of a preadolescent. The strong cast including the return of the lead couple and a key ghost from the first Cuttersville novel makes the tale work with humor, sexual tension, and the patience to help Piper realize she deserves love and much more. Fans will appreciate Erin McCarthy's delightful pennies form heaven tale of opposites in love pushed together by a needy child and an even needier ghost.

Harriet Klausner