The Rented Husband

by Tara Sampson, Adelina Clonts (Editor)

Olivia Murray, a 29 year old successful attorney has had enough with her families intrusion on her personal love life. Mother, father and siblings included have all gone above and beyond the call of duty to try and get her hitched to a man. Just how far is Olivia willing to go to stop the incessant meddling? Will the strong independent woman that Olivia has come to be accept help when she needs it the most, when her own life is threatened and more importantly what will she do when something so much more fragile is put at risk, something like her heart?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Adult, Humor, Fiction, Ebooks

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2012

About the author

aka: T.J. Sin & MercyRose

Reviews

[KristenReviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Horrible editing issues. I will not waste my time on books that are poorly edited.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only reason I finished this book at all was because I am an optimistic. I truly hoped that the hellacious butchering of English grammar would find an end. To compliment the atrocity we will call grammar issues, occasionally a character or two would have their names spelled differently. Really? I don't know why I was surprised that spelling errors were rearing their ugly heads when the "editor" didn't know the difference between there/their/they're. I would not recommend this overly wordy, grammatically faulty book. This book feels like it was written at a romance writing workshop and this was the homework that needed an extra 2,000 words to receive a passing score. Adding redundant to the list of sins of this novel would not be a harsh evaluation. Several times it felt like I read the same paragraph three times in a row with just a word or two altered. Waste of time. This is a good one to skip.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the book was good. A little dragged out but i have read worse.

[Michelle ♥ The Romance Vault ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, it was lighthearted, it was fun and it was easy to read. Predictable yes, but then you kinda know that before you read it. I could actually see this being made into a film and doing well. If you don't want deep but something light and romantic then this should appeal to you.

[Michelle [Helen Geek]]

Free on Amazon 07/24/2012.

[Kel (Faerie-bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story.

[Lindsey]

Amazon freebie 5/18/13

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

started at noon and just finished at 4:15am...loved this book!

[Samantha Karll · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of typos

It’s a decent story to fill space. It seems a little jumbled together with the story line......but there are a lot of typos.

[Muriel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This storyline in this book was not great, but it was passable. What was not ok was the writing. A number of people referenced the poor editing, but I couldn’t see that the book was edited at all. I wonder if the plethora of books being published online actually go through the classic publishing process, including editing and revision. Having taught over 37 years, 12 of them as a journalism advisor, I am always very conscious of errors in writing. By the seventh chapter, it was clear that the writing in this book was seriously flawed. Others pointed out some of the problems: incorrect usage of their/there/they’re in multiple places (“There doing fine Ms. Murray.” Loc 1226, Olivia straightened up and looked around, realizing there were on a plane. Loc 2242), awkward word usage (Olivia adverted her gaze and refused to look up at him. Loc 2004, They both prattled in between the nun and the security officer and walked out the door. Loc 3846), incorrect or missing punctuation (And that same spark that ignited her brazen temper; was the same one that tended to set his own system ablaze. Loc 4411), run-on sentences, fragments, and on and on. (More examples follow, if space permits.) Some of the writing errors reminded me of writing patterns of some of my non-native English speakers. All in all, this writing was a train wreck, and I couldn’t keep from reading on in hopes that it would improve. Sadly, that did not happen. Ms. Sampson’s writing would greatly improve by using an editor.

(Oh, my! I just saw that there is actually an editor's name listed. Incredible.)

He put his hands on his hips and widened that knowing gin of his. “Your newlywed’s right?” (Loc 3809)
Tip toeing to the bed, he reached over her and carefully grabbed the empty pillow. (Loc 3907)
… donned herself with light make up … (Loc 4028)
… after she killed the bitch that dared to try and sink her paws into her man. (Loc 4135)
“Dam Newlyweds, Get a room,“ he laughingly chucked, remembering when Ashley and he were first married. (Loc 4484)
Brody holding onto Olivia’s hand, reveling in the softness of her skin as he led her through the parking lot that would lead them to the beach. (Loc 4577)
He eyes widened as he took a minute to fully appreciate his beautiful wife. (Loc 4760)
Even after all these years of being with her; she still had this amazing ability to steal his breath away. (Loc 4760)
“Please- let me open the door.” (Loc 4801)
…panting for more, much… much more. (Loc 4817)
Her eyes half lidded as she stared at him, lost in a moment of frenzied passion. (Loc 4829)
He was eager to reveal the secrets that were so lavishly hidden from him. (Loc 4829)
She wasn’t a complete innocent but she had now where near the experience of Brody … (Loc 4864)
… she was cooking something up in that sharp, calculated mind of hers. (Loc 4917)
The sooner this is ended- the better off we’ll all be. (Loc 5074)
Blinking several times, she looking above her and saw nothing but bright white. (Loc 5405)
“I don’t know why you’re here Mr. O’Connor, but I want you to leave- now!” (Loc 5445)
He was way to male and way to dangerous in her opinion. (Loc 5483)
Chewing on her lip, she aid for the umpteenth time, … (Loc 5556)
I can read it in you mannerisms. (Loc 6097)
“Oh yeah, this is defiantly going to work.” (Loc 5631)
“I hope your right,” … (Loc 5654)
The doors opened and what seem like forever was finally here. (Loc 5682)
… the bride and groom had just exited the building for a honey moon of their own. (Loc 5756)
Those that were left all seemed to be absolved in their own little worlds. (Loc 5766)
Both, Brody and Olivia snapped their heads to the side to see a Nun standing three rooms down. (Loc 5912)

[drey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't even know where to start with this review. I've been under the weather and wanted something light and fun, and I'd picked up The Rented Husband when it was a free Kindle read so I figured it'd be just the thing. Right?

WRONG! Oh so WRONG. It serves me right for (a) picking up one of those free Kindle reads (how on earth did this get anything other than 1 star?), and (b) thinking Amazon's ratings meant anything. Because holy cow this book was horrible.

Even if you can get past the almost implausible premise (A woman has to get someone to pretend to be her husband so her family stops setting her up with losers. Like, hello girl, how about you find a boyfriend instead? Much easier to play that off...) and a heroine who likes to kick, stomp, and generally abuse the poor fool who agrees to her charade, I don't know how you'd get past the horrible writing.

The basics must've gone AWOL, because there's no excuse for bad grammar and punctuation in a "published" book. They're, their, and there are NOT interchangeable, thank you very much. And even if I could excuse those mistakes, the author also needs editing for correct word usage (in addition to plot & storyline, etc.). Heroin as in the drug, is not the same as heroine, the crazy abusive woman mentioned above. Never mind just spelling errors, there are also entirely incorrect words. Conscious used in place of conscience, defiantly instead of definitely, taught vs. taut, to name a few. *Shudder* (Y'know, there are online dictionaries that can be used to quickly look up the words you're thinking of, and they're free!)

Don't even get me started on punctuation. Commas took over, showing up in all the wrong places, gone from where they should've been. Missing (and extra!) periods, missing hyphens, missing quotation marks for some of the dialog, it was like watching an accident happen in slow-motion, wanting to avert your eyes but you Just. Can't. Stop. And so you kick yourself for being dumb enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Hopefully hard enough so you don't repeat the mistake!)

I did try to find something nice to say about The Rented Husband, but about the only thing I can come up with is, ... Nope. I got nothing. Save yourself the time and the irritation, if not the money.

And a note to authors everywhere - please, please, PLEASE use a good editor before putting your book out there for consumption. Emphasis on "good," because if this was actually edited I'd ask for my money back.

drey’s rating: Do not bother. The 1-star rating is only because you have to pick one when posting to other sites, otherwise I'd go with zero.
This review was originally posted on drey's library

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I tell ya it was a lot of fluff but so freakin cute! The idea that Olivia was one of 4 kids and her parents, being traditional, wanted her married, was adorable. They all had a hand in setting her up with someone. She had a brother and two sisters who constantly tried to get her to go out with friends and associates. The reason for her wanting a husband was to have a nice time at her sister's wedding. At her law firm is a big player named Brody O'Connor. She picks him because she "knows" she wont fall for him. Of course he is hot, dates, and is an all over catch, but Olivia pretends ignore that. So she asks him to go to Hawaii and pretend for a week they are married. He thinks of it and by the time he gets back to his office his Mother shows up. Clarice is sweet and a great Mother who wants her son to marry and have children with a well bred Connecticut woman. That is when he high tails it to Olivia's office and says yes he will do it.

There is a little mystery when Olivia gets a few calls and strange text messages. Overall I liked it and the ending was perfect for me. I guess other reviews complained about plot and grammar. I guess someone fixed it because there was no issue for me. I don't know where the author is, I tried twitter and facebook. so I only have the Amazon link. http://www.amazon.com/The-Rented-Husb...

I had to add my quotes:
Then, for the first time tonight she looked at him, really looked at him.  She studied his strong jaw line and the high cheek bones that were a trait of his Native American ancestry, took in the dark lashes that framed his eyes and the cleanly shaven face that was remarkably more handsome that she had ever considered before. 

She had always thought he was cute but in more of a play-boyish way rather than the maturity that she was seemingly viewing for the first time now.  He was down right sexy and as quickly as that thought entered her mind, she pushed it back out.

                She jogged down the steps and made her way to the kitchen, skidding to a halt when she saw him.  He stood at the stove, with a spatula in one hand, wearing nothing but SpongeBob boxers.

[Amy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a great book. i thought it was only going to be a romance book but it also had a great mystery!

olivia murray was a great attonery. She had it all. the perfect career, great family, and a nice house what else could anyone want? well, her family on the other hand constantly set her up on dates to get her a husband. Not just any dates, but when you go visit your mother and she has a man there for you and telling you he is the one is another story!

well, olivia was tired of this blind dates between all her family so she decided it was time for a change. she was going to pay someone to be her husband to get her family off her back the only question was who would do that? Olivia had a very attractive co-worker named brody. he was a ladies man and had no intention on settling down. olivia approached him with this offer and he accepted not thinking what actually came along with it.

meanwhile, olivia has been getting threating phone calls and text messages about how long she has to live before this stranger kills her. this mystery even follows her to her baby sisters wedding and will have to sitting in you seat to want to know what happends.

this is the classic fairytale, and i loved it. it was funny, romantic, and even had some suspence in there. yes the grammer wasn't perfect in the book, but it wasn't bad enough that you couldn't read it. or could give it bad stars because of it.

[Aubrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked the hero just fine. HATED the heroine. First of all, why pretend to be married just to get your family off your back? She could have just brought her "boyfriend" and had the same effect, considering they were going to fake a divorce from their fake marriage a few months later anyways (Um, then you are just right back where you started with your family trying to set you up). So I pushed that whole thought process aside and decided to just enjoy the story. Couldn't. The heroine was terrible. She was just mean, a real definition of a bitch to the hero. Very physically and verbally abusive to a man that SHE approached with this terrible idea and he agreed to eventually (yes, some of the agreement was for his own purpose with his mother, but still...she brought it up and he agreed). And oh he played the part well, and she was mad at him for it! WTF! On top of that, the pet names and the slang phrases and words were very uncomfortable (in sound and in placement, not derogatory or anything like that), and for me just not said in real life. I still gave it two stars. I should give it one, because I won't read this one again, however, I did like the hero and he was the reason I finished the book at all. So for him, I upped it to 2 stars.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main idea of pretending someone is your husband, for whatever reason, is not new, so I hoped that there would be something more to this book to set it apart, but there wasn't. In fact, part way through, I considered not finishing the book, but hoped for a pleasant surprise, but alas there was none.

Some attempt was made to distinguish it from other books with similar plots, by the addition of a stalker, but that whole scenario seemed like an afterthought. The character that turned out to be the stalker was a late introduction, and lacked the foundation for a true mystery.

Grammatical errors were abundant. There were a plethora of incorrect words- as if someone ran the spell check and accepted the first word that came up, even if it made no sense in the sentence. The punctuation errors were even more numerous, the formatting of some paragraphs was different for no apparent reason, and at times the wrong tense of words were used.

Overall, this story lacked the polish of a professional work. It was a free book from Amazon, and I am glad I didn't pay for it.

[N. Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stared out really enjoying this book, to an extent. It made me laugh. I thought it was cute. But there are some downfalls. It needs editing. There's lots of wrong words, not mispelled, just the wrong word. The let's pretend plot has been done so many times. But, this was done cleverly and I liked that, but then the author ruined it. The heroine was way too violent. I enjoy spunky, strong characters, but violent? For no reason? It was a little over the top. What man wants a woman who beats on him? Also, what you think is just a cute little chick lit romance, turns into some stalker suspense. I feel that the book would have been just fine without that. The author took what was already a good story and ruined it with the stalker plot. It wasn't necessary and really didn't lend much to the story at all. With a little work, this could be a good story. Seriously, the author nows how to be witty, and loving, but it just feels like too much was added to just make it longer, and it wasn't needed.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of negative reviews on this book. I understand why, but don't believe they're big enough issues to condemn it. Keep in mind it's a free book. I read this story on Wattpad. Therefore, I'm sure she doesn't have a professional editor. It doesn't hurt to read this one and see for yourself whether or not you like it.

The storyline flowed nicely and tied well in the end. The behaviour of the main character was reasonable, taking into account of her history, personality and the situation she is put in. This book is better than some of the professionally published books I've read (ignoring the grammar). Other than grammar issues, I honestly think it was well written. Nothing is worse than terribly written stories and bad grammar, that's where I would draw the line. Grammar isn't the end of the world. Again, it's FREE.

I say give this book a chance. It's FREE (I'm not sure about the ebook versions now, but it's free on Wattpad).

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this.
There were so many mistakes in it I actualy thought about just leaving the book midway... and that has never happened before.
It sounded good. Had an interesting cover and I was in the mood to read something probably very fluffy. So at first when I started reading confusing sentences I thought, "maybe, you're tired and English isn't making a lot of sense in your head" It could happen... but picking up the book the next day I kept finding the same things.
The story in itself wasn't bad. It was just what I expected, really. The were some mmistakes with things that happen in one moment and then they said it happen in other. The was one crucial thing that in my opinion ruined a big part of the plot.
The characters were pretty entertaining though so, that was good at least.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story and the way it was developed, but what I don't like are all the typos. "he" was supposed to be "the", "hear" instead of "hair", and that's only the beginning. There is also no clear way of breaking up the parts between the chapters, and it can be confusing sometimes when it throws you into some other characters head right in the middle. Also, there are times when someone will start speaking, but there are no "" to indicate it, or there is only one at either the beginning of the end.
The book is rife with mistakes, and detracted from the story too much.

All this is something that needs to be changed, and why I only gave it 3 stars. Otherwise, I would have given it 5. That is how much of a down grader it was to encounter these problems. It really detracted from my reading enjoyment.

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for an exciting plot, this isn't the book for you. However, if you enjoy a good laugh and fiery and steamy couples, and it is currently free on Amazon, then this IS your book. Lawyers Brody O'Connor and Olivia Murray had me laughing out loud at some of their antics. Some of my favorite moments involved a feminine hygiene product and nude shuffleboard. There was an issue with proofreading--which other folks have mentioned in their reviews--since it appears that it needed another round or two before publishing, but if a book can make me laugh, it is still a fun read.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like Olivia. She was a spoilt, bad-tempered, childish brat who acted like a twelve year old. The constant repetition of how they were falling for each other was boring and I simply wanted them to get it over and done with and put me out of my misery. The 'sub-plot' was far too thin to have any real justification in the story. SPaG needed serious work - e.g. 'we'll' instead of 'well'. It could have worked really well, but it was a wasted opportunity that ended up neither humorous, erotic or a good crime thriller.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poorly edited, too many times did I have to read a sentence over and over due to that. That to me was the worst part if this book. It was free, so not a huge loss there. I won't read it again, though.
Plot was decent but switched to often between first person it threw me off on who was taking.
The father character was too much, in fact he was an a$$.
I liked Brody & Olivia, but the suspense piece was not well developed. It had more potential.

[Christine C · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. I wanted an easy, entertaining read that didn't require me to think. It was.
The characters were flat, no depth. The writing and especially the dialogue was very juvenile. The stalker bit was not enough of a storyline to seem necessary. But, a few parts were funny and made me laugh.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not a bad book story wise. It was funny, cute and cheesy. After a dark read this was what I needed. The story kinda dragged. I think that with some editing and changes it could have been a really good book. I did NOT like that some parts were taken from movies and not original. All in all for a free book it was cute.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second read through. I was quickly reading the first chapter to see what I remembered...it all ca back to me. Even though I knew I already read the book....I couldn't put it down. The perfect fairytale...the kind that only happens in books and we only dream about in real life. Easy read...enjoy!

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story line, although far fetched. Wondering why the main character couldnt just "rent" a boyfriend to get her family off her back.

Poor editing I have no idea how some of these mistakes slipped by. Does No one proofread anymore?

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute...although not noteworthy. The character basis was good, the plot not bad in theory but the wtiting sytle let it down. The narration was all over the place. Pity,had the makings of a good light read

[Nicole Walls · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can learn to overlook all of the grammatical errors and butchering of the English language this story is not really that bad. I actually quite liked the plot line and the twist at the end. It's a nice fluffy read. I finished in 2 hours.

[Vivien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never really thought to connect it to that Patton girl, why was she even put there? *sigh* and also it was like the story just jumped and didn't explain how they came to the conclusion of the end.. It was nice and ok XD

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haha it was cliché but it was a fun read. I'm sure it was a a lot of grammatical errors, so much that it made several readers drop the story but I didn't notice any or rather didn't care. Maybe I should actually since I tend to state that as a reason sometimes.