Maid for Each Other by Lynn Painter
Jul. 17th, 2025 07:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
This is an average length book at 368 pages. But it flew past in the blink of an eye. If I were to make a reading recommendation, I would say block off half a day and forbid anyone from interrupting you, then dive into this book and just revel in it.
This is a fake relationship book that has that most rare of things: the reason for the fake relationship actually makes sense. I did not have to suspend my disbelief as to why two people might benefit from a fake relationship. I could just go with what the story was telling me. Lovely!
Abi is a house cleaner and when she is mistaken for the apartment owner’s (fake) girlfriend “Abby,” the boyfriend in question, Declan, sees an opportunity to appear as ‘settled down’ at the annual shareholder’s weekend.
But let me put the blurb here, it shares almost all of the setup:
As a professional cleaner, Abi Mariano never thought her apartment would have any sort of infestation, but because of a building-wide outbreak, she now needs somewhere to stay for a week. As a part-time student with two jobs, she doesn’t have many options. Then the solution presents itself: the owner of the penthouse she cleans is out of town for the week. She normally wouldn’t consider it, but he’s literally never around (she hasn’t even met him). It goes great…until one morning she finds two strangers in the kitchen. They’re the parents of the penthouse owner and they seem to think they’ve heard all about Abi—not as their son’s maid, but as his girlfriend.
Declan Powell has always put his career first, working his way up to become an executive at his company, but he still has his sights set on the next level. When his parents mention that they met his girlfriend, “Abby,” he all but chokes on his escargot. As wonderful as it sounds that she was just darling, he doesn’t actually have a girlfriend—he made her up to get everyone off his back. When Dex finds out who Abi really is, he makes her a proposition: pretend to date him, and he’ll provide everything she needs during their little arrangement. What harm would it do? It’s purely business, no pleasure…right?
This premise gave me major nostalgic vibes for the books I used to read when I first got into romance. Rich dude helps poor lady out and they fall in love. It really scratched an old itch I had. I was curious about how a premise like this would work in 2025 and I was delighted to find out that it worked wonderfully.
Abi is that most treasured thing: a character that feels like a real person. She’s rounded out and detailed and there is a coherent internal logic to her construction. Declan is initially more of a mystery but as he thaws around Abi, we see more of the nuance and depth to his character. As these two get to know each other, the gradual growth of feelings is wonderful. The primary emotion I felt is the rush of falling in love. I was properly giddy and my chest felt warm and I had that gushing feeling in my chest. It was great!
While the emotion is satisfying, it doesn’t have a patch on the BANTER. This is A-grade, magic banter of the highest order. I spent at least 70% of the time smiling at my Kindle. That kind of goofy smile that tells my partner I’m reading a great book and cannot be disturbed. They have inside jokes that run the duration of the book which I love because it made me feel like I was an insider too.
I found Abi and Declan’s emotional maturity to be really satisfying to read. For the most part, they were brave and honest and always followed best practice for enthusiastic consent. These characters had done the work in therapy and it showed.
There was one thing that I found puzzling. It involves the resolution so I’m hiding it behind a spoiler.
Their relationship is never revealed as fake to those around them. It goes from fake to real, but the people around them think it was real the whole time. Sarah pointed out to me that this isn’t necessarily a problem. Just because fake dating books usually have some kind of reveal during the ‘dark moment’, this does not need to be the case. My only reservation around the book does hinge on this lack of reveal though. Declan lied to his family and colleagues for a while before Abi entered the picture IRL. Abi fitted into the mould of ‘Abby’ with minimal lying, but there was still very much lying present. So my reservation hinges around the longevity of their HEA. For example, Abi’s parents aren’t dead but Abby’s are. Things like that. I can’t fully relax into the HEA knowing that there are these traps that lie ahead.
[end spoiler]
I really really enjoyed this book. I wanted it to be so much longer so that I could immerse myself in more of their banter. I happily recommend this book to the Bitchery.