This fourth installment of the author\u2019s Ghosted series introduces Anna Benoit, who works as a housekeeper for Max Barone, the owner of a wildly successful jewelry empire in Geneva, Switzerland. For Anna, meeting Max was love at first sight, despite the fact that Max barely seems to register her existence: \u201cLooking at him was like looking at the desolate sweep of an arctic winter the moment before the sun rises for the first time in months. I was struck, pierced, and flayed by the promise of that sunrise.\u201d One day, while cleaning Max\u2019s library, Anna finds a sapphire necklace along with a brittle old note claiming that it grants wishes. On a whim, she wishes that Max loved her and that they were married. When Max walks in on her, however, he accuses her of stealing the necklace, which has mysteriously moved to Anna\u2019s pocket. Though she is immediately fired, Anna somehow wakes up the next morning in Max\u2019s chateau with everyone calling her \u201cMrs. Barone.\u201d She and Max are the only ones who have both sets of memories\u2014of Anna the housekeeper and of Anna and Max\u2019s happy seven-year marriage. Anna explains the wish she made, and she and Max go about attempting to reverse it\u2014first by wishing on the same necklace again, then by flying to Paris after Max comes up with an alternate theory. As they work together to put everything right, they begin falling for each other for real. But Max has foresworn passion and true love, which means they\u2019ll just have to forget about each other once everything returns to normal\u2014ifthey can undo the wish.<\/p>\n
Fans of the author\u2019s previous works will likely be delighted to revisit the character of Max, who pointedly did not get his happy ending in Ready\u2019s earlier novel, Fated (2024). Anna proves to be a worthy match for him; her over-the-top romanticism plays nicely against Max\u2019s stoicism. Just when the story seems to tip over into predictable romance tropes (they\u2019re falling for each other despite their differences!), Ready tips the scales and forces readers to reexamine their own preconceived notions of what \u201cshould\u201d happen (their plan to reverse the wish will work!). This blend of comforting romantic touchstones with witty dialogue and keen human observations makes for an enchanting read that manages to build genuine tension\u2014both sexual and narrative. Anna is clearly a genuinely good person and easy to root for as a protagonist, although her fixation on Max before she even gets to know him as a person sometimes comes across as a bit childish. But her relentless positivity and wry observations (\u201cWell, there\u2019s a word for optimistic naivety, and that word is tomorrow\u201d) are likely to eventually win over even the most hard-hearted readers. Ready, while crafting a sexy romp that ticks all the romance boxes, also manages to introduce heavier themes that provide a surprising amount of food for thought, including the fantasy of a person vs. the reality, fake happiness vs. real misery, and the ways in which memories shape the present. These elements, supported by smooth writing and briskly paced action, result in a genuine thinking-person\u2019s love story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This fourth installment of the author\u2019s Ghosted series introduces Anna Benoit, who works as a housekeeper for Max Barone, the owner of a wildly successful jewelry empire in Geneva, Switzerland. For Anna, meeting Max was love at first sight, despite the fact that Max barely seems to register her existence: \u201cLooking at him was like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}