The Imperfect Husband is Now Available!

I’m very excited about this one. It’s a romantic comedy, and those are always fun to write. And for those who were upset that I didn’t resolve the subplot between Tony and Mark in Book 3 of this series, I did it in this one. So this wraps up all the loose ends in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.

Quickly, here are all of the books in this series:

The Bride Price is Sep’s romance. (Sep was Joel Larson’s brother-in-law in Shotgun Groom.)
The Rejected Groom is Anthony (aka Tony) Larson’s romance. (Tony is one of the twin boys Richard and Amanda had.)
The Perfect Wife is Mark Larson’s romance. (Mark is the other twin boy Richard and Amanda had.)
The Imperfect Husband is Annabelle Larson’s romance. (Annabelle it the daughter Richard and Amanda had.)
This is Annabelle Laron’s romance. She’s the daughter of Richard and Amanda Larson.

So, now that I’m done with Richard and Amanda’s children, I have started writing about Tom and Jessica’s four daughters. Nelly’s Mail Order Husband should be out before the end of the year. (I’m already halfway into writing it.)

But since this is about The Imperfect Husband, let me get to it…

the imperfect husband front cover

As I wrote above, this is a romantic comedy. The hero, Ben Martin, has a terrible time knowing what to say around Annabelle. In desperation, he decides to join Annabelle’s women’s group (disguised as a woman) so he can learn who she is as a friend, rather than a love interest. Keep in mind it’s all a comedy, and while I have a couple of serious moments, the overall tone is fun and light. Below, I’ll share a couple of snippets that are part of my favorite scenes to give you an idea of what you’ll be getting with this book.

This is my personal favorite in the series. It’s also the longest book, and again, it ties up all of the loose ends I left hanging from the previous books. Most of all, there’s a happily ever after ending.

If interested, here are the links:

Okay, so now that I’m done with that part of the post, here are a couple of snippets that made me laugh while I was writing the book:

Snippet #1 (Annabelle arrives at Ben’s house)

Annabelle’s mother was the first to talk when they reached the door. “Good afternoon, Ben. How are you doing?”

Ben, having forgotten his mouth was full of peppermints, started to answer, and one of the half-melted pieces of peppermints flew out of his mouth and landed right on Annabelle’s dress—directly above her right breast. Face warmer than the hottest day in August, Ben hurried to dig his handkerchief from his pocket and held it out to her.

….. (later in the same scene) …..

Once he made sure he was done with the peppermint, he headed to the parlor.

“It is a sign of things to come,” Annabelle was telling her mother in a hushed tone. “Every time he’s around me, something bad happens.”

“You mustn’t look at things like that,” her mother said in a quiet voice. “Ben’s a good young man. He’s just nervous, that’s all. After some time, that will go away.”

“I don’t think so. I think he’s going to be spitting peppermints at me for the rest of my life.”

Snippet #2 (Tony confronts Mark and Ben in Ben’s house) – Ben’s reaction still makes me chuckle (though this does show that Tony had not forgiven Mark at this point in the series, and yes, Mark will finally get the point)

“I thought I heard you telling me to come in,” Mark replied. Then, after a moment, he asked, “I assume the first night as a married couple didn’t go as hoped?”

At first, Annabelle thought he was asking her the question, but then she realized his gaze was focused on someone behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ben gesture for Mark to stop talking.

Tony noticed it, too, because in the next instance, he let go of Annabelle, ran over to Mark, and gave him a swift punch in the nose. Then he headed right for Ben. Ben let out a startled shriek and darted around the furniture, successfully avoiding him.

“You’re not going to force Annabelle to be your wife,” Tony barked, his face red from the effort of chasing Ben around the room. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to get to punch Ben, he returned to Mark, who was wiping his bloody nose with a handkerchief.