Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores

"As Will's twenty-eight-year-old second wife, I'm something between arm candy and dinner theater to most of his friends. A spectacle to be sure. At best, I am a strange interloper, someone new who doesn't know any of their inside jokes. At worst, all the wives jeer at me like I'm the Ghost of Christmas Future, a harbinger of younger second wives to come. Never mind that Will's divorce from his first wife, Constance, is well behind him---a divorce she initiated."            -from the novel

 

I really enjoyed this novel! I am not sure if I would have liked it quite so much if the setting had not been in my own backyard, Winter Park, Florida. Normally, I would not choose a book that sounds like a romance. This one did involve a romance but also a mysterious disappearance that kept me turning pages. I will give it a 5 rating for its entertainment value.

Nora Davies is a newcomer in Winter Park and working two low-level jobs to eke out a living when she meets Will Somerset, a rich, well-respected lawyer who hob nobs with the elite. He is almost 20 years older than she but there is undeniable chemistry between Nora and her "mean, hot lawyer." This is the backstory because...

The real plot is woven when Will disappears after the birthday party Nora has thrown for him. Gone without a trace! While Nora and others try to find clues as to Will's whereabouts there are flashbacks to the beginnings of their romance and marriage.

When Nora feels she is a suspect in Will's disappearance, she is desperate to find who is really responsible.

I mentioned that the novel is set in the city where I live. It was so much fun to be familiar with so many places in the story----Rollins College and Annie Russell Theatre, Park Avenue, the Morse Museum, the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, Fiddlers Green Irish Pub, Hannibal Square, the Farmer's Market and the famous peacocks of Genius Drive. And much more!