The Husband She Never Knew
Cynthia Thomason
Harlequin SuperRomance, Jan 2004, $5.25, 296 pp.
ISBN: 0373711808

In 1990 Orlando, the Orange Blossom Diner short order cook arranges for one of his co-workers Vicki Sorenson to marry Irishman Jamie Malone. Vicki will receive money that she desperately needs while Jamie will remain in America avoiding deportation to Belfast and probably prison.

Thirteen years later in Fort Lauderdale, Vicki plans to marry a Massachusetts blueblood. Before she can wed Graham, she must obtain a divorce from her first husband, whom she has seen for the sum of ninety minutes. A detective easily locates Jamie via the Internet and Vicki journeys to Bayberry Cove, North Carolina to end her marriage. She finds James' isolated houseboat off of Pintail Point, but a storm washes away any return trip for now. Sharing his abode, Vicki and Jamie fall in love. However, his fantasy and her dreams are not the same or are they?

THE HUSBAND SHE NEVER KNEW is a solid contemporary romance that at first blush seems trite, but the lead duet and several support players turn the tale into a fine reading experience. The story line contains some intrigue, but for the most part is a straightforward love story between a couple whose marriage leaves both a bit wary and suspicious of the motives of their spouse. Cynthia Thomason turns her Green Card romance into a wonderful story that will please sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner