What a Woman Wants (Manley Maids #1) by Judi Fennell

"A fun, sweet and gigglesnort-worthy read" ~herding cats & burning soup

Resort entrepreneur Sean Manley was all set to buy an historic mansion at a great price, making a name for himself while making millions, when the seller and a poker bet change the game. Now he’s in the place as a hunky male maid and there’s one more complication: Livvy Carolla.

The house is Livvy’s inheritance. Her plan? Unload it to the highest bidder and use the cash to start her own bakery business. One look at "the help” and she’s hot to take him with her. Until she finds out he’s got a secret agenda.

But when Sean falls for the free-spirited, strong-willed Livvy, he has new ideas for the estate—and Livvy’s part in it. If all goes well, they’ll both be getting what they want. And then some.

Type: Contemporary Romance
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5
Cover: Adore it!

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What a Woman Wants was a fun, sweet and gigglesnort-worthy read. Yall I had such a good time with this one. After seeing the premise of the series--a trio of brothers losing a poker game to their baby sister and having to work for her cleaning company as maids for a month--I was all in. It just sounded...fun and light hearted and like something I'd enjoy. And it delivered on every count!

So the quick of it is that Sean has been in negotiations to buy a piece of property but the owner up and dies before things are finalized and much to his dismay has left the property to her estranged granddaughter--if said granddaughter can figure out a string of riddles before time is up. And in comes Livvy--who will be his boss for the next month thanks to that bet he lost-- and her whole menagerie of crazy animals--from geese to alpaca and cheeky birds. Leaving poor Sean all in a tither and questioning his plans to talk her into letting him have the property as originally planned or convincing her she deserves her birthright and her ancestral home. Ahh yeah. It was a fun little ride for these two.

Oh hell. The animals were doing it in the middle of the room. On the half-eaten rug.

Sean started laughing. Insanity. Crazy, absurd insanity. Here he was in a room furnished with priceless antiques, planning to convert it into a reception room for no-expenses-spared weddings, and there was alpaca copulation going on. And one of the sexiest women he'd seen in a long time--whom he'd just kissed at great risk to his job and his company's future--was standing there in almost see-through wet clothing with a parrot on her shoulder.

A singing parrot. Whose off-key rendition of "I'm in the Mood for Love" was hysterically appropriate.

"Shh! Orwell! Bad boy! Bad boy!" Livvy tried to clamp the parrot's beak shut. "Ow!"

Yeah, she wasn't successful.

But Rhett, ol' boy, sure was. With a back-shivering grunt the alpaca removed himself from his lady, then took to preening around the room as if he'd just performed the greatest service int he world.

Sean glanced at Livvy, whose nipples were still outlined beneath her shirt. He wasn't about to begrudge Rhett one second of crowing. Lord knew, he'd do the same thing if it wouldn't get him fired--making love to her and crowing about it, that was.

Sean was quite the hero. I really loved this guy. Even though he wasn't an animal person there at the start and was utterly horrified by them he's an entertaining one. He's hard working, all kinds of sexy and fighting a fierce battle with himself over his attraction to Livvy and his desire to own her estate. And in a different twist he's also dyslexic. I thought that was an interesting addition and brought a great layer to his character as he worked around his dyslexia and dealt with both the "physical" problems and emotional issues that came with it. Though, I do wish though that it had been explored more in some ways such as Livvy finding out and them talking about it. Felt like a little bit of a missed opportunity there.

Livvy took me a little while to warm up to. She's fighting a lot of hurts and insecurities where her family is concerned and has quite the chip on her shoulder when she first arrived and it caused a good bit of emotional waffling on her part on if she wanted to fight for her inheritance or give a big 'screw you' to her Gram and walk away which after a spell got a bit tedious. She's a health nut too which can drive me a little batty. But she's also kind hearted, creative, fun to be around and absolutely adores her herd of animals which is something I can totally relate to and in the end won me over.

I enjoyed these two together. They balance each other out nicely-she mellows him a bit and he keeps her focused. And I enjoyed watching them discover the clues her grandmother had left and having to deal with real life things like caring for the animals--who were an absolute riot and endearingly naughty-- cleaning and keeping up with their jobs. And I loved seeing her finally heal from all the abandonment issues over the years because of her family with his help--I was bawling there at the end (well done, Judi, well done lol). Things eventually heat up very nicely but for a good portion of the book there's not more than some heavy kissing--though that was rael nice too.

All in all, this one was cute and kept me smiling. I really enjoyed What a Woman Wants and can't wait to see what happens with the rest of Sean's siblings as they take on their clients and the role of maids for a month to settle things up with their baby sister. From the little teasers during the book they sound like they're going to be incredible reads.

Have you read Fennell?
Do you have a favorite hero or heroine that deals with a disability of some sort?

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