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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very misleading title. Rather disfunctional yet still enjoyable relationship, March 10, 2007
The title of this book may lead you to all kinds of wildly erotic thoughts, but that's not really what's inside this book. It's a rather different story with an often dysfunctional relationship. Interesting, but I daresay not for everyone.
Emma Mayson is a recent grad with a degree in architecture. But apparently it's tough to get into a good architectural firm. Rather than divert her attention with a regular office job, she decides to hire herself out as a maid so that she has a flexible schedule to fit in interviews for a real job. One of her clients decides to hire Emma to clean house for her brother and so Emma finds herself in the home of software entrepreneur Russell Carrick.
Russell is a wealthy, handsome and rather stoic man and, at heart, a bit of a geek - albeit a very sexy geek! One look at his fabulous, pristine, lacking the "lived-in" look house and Emma wonders what she's doing there. This guy doesn't need a maid at all. But a job's a job and so she begins to work for him fully knowing as the days pass, that he must be cleaning BEFORE she gets there!
Russell is a man adrift since the death of his older brother six months prior. He and his free spirited brother started their company together and when his brother died, Russell's sense of fun and spontaneity seemed to die with him. But Emma is a breath of fresh air and Russell finds himself seeking her out. He enjoys her company and knows she enjoys his. When Emma proposes that she perform other services for him in a convoluted conversation, the end result is a serious miscommunication. Russell believes he's hired her to cook for him a couple of nights a week and Emma believes he's asked her to become his mistress. Russell quickly figures out her misunderstanding, but cannot seem to bring himself to correct her.
Yes, the whole thing is based on the classic Big Misunderstanding, but on a certain level it works here. Emma and Russell embark on a rather dysfunctional and at times awkward sexual relationship that some readers may not enjoy. Emma's idea of a mistress involves props, costumes and role playing (a French maid) that Russell could do without. And Emma has issues that keep her from fully enjoying herself (if you know what I mean). Their time together out of bed is much more satisfying as Emma's blythe spirit slowly pulls Russell under it's spell. He begins to come to life, but wonders if they have any future. Emma is several years younger and just starting her career and he's stuck in a slump. Can they be together or have they simply met at the wrong time in each other's lives?
On the whole a pretty good read and I did like both Emma and Russell. One could tell that these two people really liked one another and that was nice. Some of the issues between them were realistic and I wanted to see them together in the end. Though at times these two did not communicate all that well and when the "I love you"s popped out it kind of seemed out of the blue. Ms Cach has a rather breezy style that likely appeals to twenty-somethings perhaps more than older readers. A good read but perhaps not worth paying the trade paperback price tag.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining and amusing romance, perfect for a quiet night in, March 10, 2007
Though she has a masters degree in architecture, 26-year-old Emma Mayson is having a hard time finding a position in her field. In the interim, she decides to work as a maid to support herself. In Emma's mind the position is ideal, since it will allow her to see the interiors of a lot of homes and get design ideas from them, and since she knows it's not a career path with a future, she won't get sidetracked from her real aspirations of becoming a successful architect. In fact, she's put so much focus on her career that she really hasn't had any time for a love life. Emma finds herself confessing to one of her clients that it might not be so bad to be a rich man's mistress, because then she would have her bills taken care of, she'd have the sex she's been missing, and she could still make her career her first priority.
The client to whom she makes this alarming confession is Russell Carrick, a handsome, successful older man to whom Emma is instinctively drawn. She finds herself offering to do his grocery shopping and cooking, even though she doesn't offer this service to her other clients. Russ doesn't need her services, but when he finds out her background and the hardships she's having (her roommate is moving out, her car needs work, and she has bills to pay), he wants to do something to help her. Instinctively, he offers to let her stay at his empty former apartment in exchange for her cooking and shopping services. Emma however, after her recent confession, thinks he's making her another offer entirely.
The Erotic Secrets of a French Maid is indeed a misnomer. There are no hidden tricks of the trade in the pages, and Emma is in no way French. In fact, the only mention of a French maid comes with a costume Emma dons for one of her interludes with Russ. Still, the book was as a whole pretty enjoyable. It's definitely a romance novel, though at times it borders on erotica. The sex scenes with Emma and Russ are steamy and the passion they feel for one another is evident. But their sexual relationship isn't the entire focus of the book. It's also about how Emma finds herself falling for Russ when it's the last thing in the world that she wants. She's put so much focus on becoming a successful architect that she's left all hopes of a successful relationship behind her. When she finds love rearing its head, she doesn't know how to react. The Erotic Secrets of a French Maid was amusing and entertaining, and I'd definitely recommend it for a night in with a glass of wine.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent!!!!, November 6, 2007
This book was a MAGNIFICENT surprise. I actually laughed out loud while reading this book, that is how much I was " sucked" into the story. The author did an excellent job.
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