Review: "Husband Wanted" by Charlotte Hughes (Chick Lit, Womens Fiction, Contemporary Romance)

	Husband Wanted by Charlotte Hughes Publisher: Victory Editing Genre: Chick Lit, Womens Fiction, Contemporary Romance Publication Date: February 24, 2016 (Affiliate links)
Description from Publisher: Frannie Brisbane knew it was an impossible scheme, but unless she went through with it, the daughter she had given up thirteen years ago and who now wanted to visit, would discover that Frannie had painted a very different picture of her life in the letters they’d exchanged. Frannie’s close friends rally around her, and next thing she knows, she is living in a mansion and wearing designer clothes. The only thing missing is a husband. Confirmed bachelor, Clay Coleman, has ulterior motives when he agrees to play the role of loving husband, but Frannie, who nursed a crush on him for years, fears she is flirting with danger in their role of let’s pretend. But Frannie and Clay aren’t the only ones keeping secrets. Sooner or later, the truth comes out, exposing everyone involved. Can Frannie ever get past her hurt when she discovers the truth about Clay?
My Rating:	Sexiness Rating:
I received an ebook ARC from the publisher through Netgalley.com in exchange for an unbiased, honest review. This in no way influenced my review. My first "DNF" (Did Not Finish) review. As much as I don't like writing and posting bad reviews, it's part of the entire process and I know how much I, myself, value the critical reviews. When I saw this book available for request, I was excited to read it because it sounded like it would be a fun and cute story. I liked the description and the cover (the cover in particular is so cute!). I have picked this book up twice now, with a week and a few other books in between each time, and I just can't get into it. The biggest problem I have is that it is overly verbose, with way too much "telling" in too few pages, and all that exposition is repeated multiple times (She had a baby in high school that she gave up for adoption and the small town judged? Walter is a "womanizer" and is cheap? The town's called "Hanahan" and is in Georgia? Ya don't say... Oh wait, no, you do say, about 50 times over and over!). All of the unnecessary information given (and repeated information) really gets in the way of the story. I really didn't need to know exactly what was being eaten (toast with the crusts trimmed with butter, served on a plate... Is the fact the crusts are trimmed important?!) or exactly how Frannie knew Clay (she sat next to him in biology class her junior year of high school, but he never noticed her despite the fact that she had the biggest crush on him for years... Um, just leave it at "She had had the biggest crush on him throughout high school," perhaps?). That, and the third person is just not working here. When writing from the third person, you shouldn't be writing as though all of the characters minds can be read, or describing things like "an elegant bun" or "gorgeous green eyes" or "She was looking at her compact mirror. Not that she needed to. She was beautiful." All of these adjectives feel too opinionated to be third person POV. And a lot of the overly verbose details aren't very believable. Frannie's address had been written on the high school boys' bathroom wall in high school (in "magic marker," no less)? Seriously? I skimmed quite a bit after about 10% and also found it odd the amount of detail given and then the complete lack of detail during the "sex scenes." The most detailed one has some undressing, then "He lifted his leg over her and entered her in one swift motion. They moved together and climaxed." (Paraphrasing, but it's pretty close to verbatim). Erm, I am not one to want hardcore erotica, but I don't understand why there are more words describing the breakfast served to a diner patron than to some of the romance happening between two characters we are supposed to believe are lusting for one another and falling in love.