A Marriage Inconvenient
Janet Lane Walters
New Concepts Publishing

Highly Recommended 5 stars

Carrie Graham has a dilemma, in order to receive her grandfather's sizeable inheritance she must have the approval of her husband to use the money. Carrie wants to use the money to set up a trust to care for her beloved mother. Mom, a single parent who was dismayed to find her child disavowed by her deceased husband's father worked two jobs to support Carrie during her child hood. Mom wants no part of Josiah's money. RN Carrie, on the other hand, is working two jobs and thinking she has only two choices if she is going to be able to care for her now invalided Mom. She can either take on a third job, or she can scare up a husband darn quick.

Dr. Tony Flynn comes to mind. He is the older brother of the little boy Carrie scrapped with as a youngster. Tony's Mom was Carrie's babysitter while her own mother was working those two jobs. Carrie has always carried a secret torch for Tony. Tony married a grasping woman and is now the father of a seven year old. His wife has moved on to bigger and better game when Carrie decides to ask Tony to enter a sham marriage with her in order to fulfill the requirements of grandpa's will.

The resulting tale is at times the most hilarious romp as Carrie and her secret fantasy of love ever after enters into this marriage with Tony who carries his own secret torch for her.

In her Marriage Inconvenient writer Walters has captured the frustration, apprehension and at times unrealistic expectations harbored by Carrie, Tony and Tony's seven year old son Chad. The premise for this tale is not all that out of the ordinary. Most of us have a friend from whom we feel we might ask almost anything. Tony was Carrie's. The narrative is at times so funny it is hard to not just howl with laughter while at others this reader wanted to yell, "open your eyes you idiot, he/she is mad for you."

Walters has carried off a difficult task in presenting both what her characters were saying along with what their skewed thoughts were at the same moment. Carrie and Tony stumble all over the obvious in a most plausible manner. Chad is truly believable as the seven year old who is nothing more than an inconvenience to his selfish mother.

Marriage Inconvenient is filled with a group of on the whole likeable characters the reader can really cheer. Despite the ex wife's small actual presence in the work, Marilyn is fleshed out through Chad's dialogue with his father and Carrie. Walters shows great skill in creating a narrative in which dialogue flows naturally between her characters. The miscues and miscommunication between Carrie and Tony is fun to watch.

Delightful work. Romance is not my favorite genre, however this one has me hoping writer Walters is busy working on the sequel in which Marilyn, that scheming ex wife, is brought to reckoning.