Practice Husband

3.5 stars-wounded and flawed characters

3.5 stars--PRACTICE HUSBAND is the second instalment in Noelle Adams’ contemporary, adult TROPHY HUSBANDS erotic, romance series. This is perpetual college student Samantha ‘Sam’ Greyson, and Hunter Ness’ storyline. PRACTICE HUSBAND can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from first person point of view (Sam) PRACTICE HUSBAND follows the marriage of convenience between former high school friends Samantha ‘Sam’ Greyson, and Hunter Ness. Years earlier Samantha Greyson was Hunter Ness’ high school tutor but along the way Hunter began to rebel against his father’s demands, and two years ago Hunter found himself in prison for committing a white collar crime. Having kept in touch while in prison Hunter seeks out Samantha in the hopes of finding a job with her grandfather’s company but finds himself on the outside looking in when the old man refuses to accept a former con with no place to live. To alleviate Hunter current predicament as well as getting her grandfather off of her back, Samantha offers up a marriage of convenience in the hopes of forcing her grandfather to accept Hunter for the man he could be. What ensues is the building relationship and romance between Hunter and Sam, and the potential fall-out as issues of trust and miscommunication force our couple in different directions.

Samantha Greyson is a bit of a nerd; a bookworm who has no idea about what she wants, or where she wants to go including thoughts of employment or future career. Having lived vicariously through her love of romance novels, and the love affairs between the heroes and heroines, Sam is desperate to experience everything and more but in reality Sam is frightened of it all. Comparing her newfound love life with that of a romance novel pushes Sam to overthink about the who, how, what and why of her sexual fantasies and married life. Hunter Ness struggles with issues of trust-from his father’s rejection to the probably that his wife is unhappy with his direction in life. Misinterpretation of events will force Hunter and Ness to look at their long-term goals including whether or not their marriage will become a permanent fixture.

The relationship between Hunter and Sam is a marriage of convenience wherein our couple barely know one another aside from their high-school tutoring sessions, and Sam’s twice weekly letters while Hunter served his sentence. Having thrown themselves into a marriage within days of Hunter’s release, our couple struggle more so than most newlyweds as it pertains communication, love and issues of trust. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Samantha’s colorful and equally troubled sisters play secondary and supporting roles including Melissa Greyson, and her husband Trevor Bentley (Part Time Husband), their sister Chelsea; as well as their demanding and uncompromising grandfather who pays the bills, controls the purse strings, and owns the business from which everybody works.

PRACTICE HUSBAND is a story of embattled family relationships, and a struggling couple whose direction in life is part fantasy and part reality. Each chapter begins a reference or scene from a classic novel as our heroine continues to compare her life to that of fictional characters. The premise is entertaining and engaging; the romance struggles in the face of mistrust and miscommunication; the characters are intelligent, wounded and flawed.