Practice Husband

Mao Karino / Judith McWilliams – Harlequin – 2011 – 1 volume

Another Harlequin e-manga! Honestly, with these Harlequin eManga, it makes little difference to me which one I read. This was on the front page, probably added a few days ago. I picked it and read it just now.

It was slightly more interesting than usual. A woman named Addy has made the decision to move back to her hometown. It’s a big decision for her, since she grew up teased and very unhappy due to being overweight throughout her childhood. But now she’s thin and fit, and on her way back to meet up with childhood friend Joe. Joe is currently a very wealthy and successful business owner, but grew up poor and with an alcoholic mother. Joe and Addy get together in order to try to find Addy a husband. Joe is out of the question, since he’s a dear friend and is currently living the good life as a rich and very unkind bachelor. But is Joe really out of the question? Probably not, since this is a Harlequin story.

Addy was an interesting character. Being teased throughout childhood leaves her in a position where she doesn’t believe she is attractive and is convinced no man will want her. She is constantly unsure of herself, and while Joe is a jerk to just about everyone else, he is a gentlemen around Addy, even taking her out on several practice dates and telling her what men expect at certain parts of the evening. Addy also balances out Joe’s jerk tendencies, helping him to see the light when it comes to his alcoholic mother who blamed all her troubles on other people. There’s an interesting scene where they sleep together, then both have a meltdown the next morning. The story shows both sides of the misunderstanding, and I thought that was quite interesting.

Unfortunately, it looks as if eManga has recently raised their prices. Rather than the 400 point rental, you now must permanently purchase all the Harlequin titles for 499 points. Bummer. I don’t really care about being able to read them again, and it’s hard to justify a 130-page digital book that I can read in 20 minutes for $5, when I can buy a regular volume of manga on sale at the Right Stuf for about $6.50.