Review: A great  "second chance"  love story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 28, 2013
I received a copy from Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review.The name of the book made me think this will be another book about an arrange marriage where the hero and heroine got married not for love but for other reasons so I was very happy to discover that Wife in Name Only is not about an arrange marriage and the plot is very different from my initial reaction to the title.The story takes place on a tiny island in Tonga where the heroine Zoe lives and run a unique honeymoon resort.Zoe is married to Rory, a very successful businessman known as the Ice Man" but in the last year the marriage are in name only since Zoe left LA and Rory and moved to the island.Since Zoe is running a honeymoon resort she doesn't want anyone to know that she and her husband are separated and are far from being a happy couple and so she photoshop pictures of her and Rory that make them look like a perfect, happy couple.When Zoe is asked to do an interview with Rory for a honeymoon magazine that would bring more exposure and hopefully increase bookings for the resort she realized she has to call Rory and ask for his help.I had a lot of problems with Rory's characters in the beginning of the story, he came across as a workaholic, very selfish and self centered person that didn't understand why Zoe is so happy on the island and couldn't see how unhappy his wife was months before she left him.As the story progressed I got to see other sides to of Rory and discovered he had a very hard childhood with drunken parents and the fact he was poor as a kid had a very strong impact on him. Also, it was very hard for him to express emotions and for him making as much money as he can in order to be able to provide for his wife Zoe was the way he showed her how much he loves her.At some point in the story Rory does realize that Zoe is happier on the island than she ever was in LA and it's hard for him to see how sad he made her near the end of their marriage.I thought Zoe was a great heroine, she was strong and wasn't willing to give up her happiness just to pleas her husband. I loved the fact she wasn't afraid to say the truth to Rory even when it hurt him. She was honest in telling him the reasons why she left him and why she was so unhappy.During Rory's stay on the island he changed his behavior in baby steps-when he first got to the island he couldn't see the beauty and the appeal of the simpler life there, for him the only life is in LA working around the clock in order to make more money and never be poor again.When he got to meet the people that live on the island he started tocare and found himself helping them with building their houses and learing more about their life and customs.Throughout the story we get to discover how Zoe and Rory met and how happy they were when they first got married but at some point Rory cared more about his business and closing another deal than spending time with his wife.Zoe and Rory had to overcome a lot of issues during the 10 days Rory was stuck on the island and at times I wasn't sure if they'll be able to overcome all their problems.There was a small suspense plot in the story that I found interesting and it added some drama.The thing I loved most about Wife in Name Only was how it showed that sometimes love is not enough to a successful marriage and that money is not the solution to problems.I really enjoyed Wife in Name Only and I highly recommend reading it.