Laura J’s review of One Love for Liv by Marianne Arkins
Contemporary romance ebook released 12 Feb 08 by Samhain

In this cute and light romance, Olivia “Liv” Leigh is having suspicions that her fiancee she is suppose to marry in a high society wedding in a matter of weeks is cheating. Deciding she has to know for sure before she makes the decision to forgive Geoff or dump him and disappoint her father, Liv goes undercover in bad wig to find out the truth. She stakes out Geoff’s condo only to find him escorting a strange woman to her car as they leave his place. Liv decides to follow the woman and see if she can find out if this is an innocent encounter or something more. While crouching by a car to watch the mystery woman, Liv is literally knocked off her feet by Mike.

Mike is nothing like her Geoff and Liv is shocked by her reaction to Mike. Mike is concerned that Liv may have a concussion and invites her to his apartment to make sure she’s gonna be okay. He believes that Liv is down on her luck and offers her a job to cook and clean for him. Seeing a great opportunity to find out more about the mystery woman who happens to be Mike’s neighbor, Liv accepts his offer even though she feels bad that she is deceiving Mike, not to mention she’s never had to clean or cook anything in her life. As Liv spends more time with Mike she starts to wonder if it really matters if Geoff is cheating or not because Mike is making her feel things she’s never felt with Geoff.

Ms Arkins has created wonderful cast of characters. Mike is the perfect hero. He’s kind, generous, funny and sexy. Liv, despite her privilege upbringing is sweet. Unlike some other heiress characters from other books, I really liked Liv. Instead of being shallow and as if everyone was beneath her, she was more naïve about how the others may live. She learned to enjoy and appreciate things that were not allowed by her father. She also learned that she had to do what made her happy, not what others said would make her happy.

Add in a mastiff, an abandoned ferret, and a neighbor trying to break various records and you have a fun book that is tough to put down. I’m looking forward to more books by Ms Arkins.

Blurb:

     Liv is out to prove her high society fiancé is cheating on her. Can she do it without breaking a nail—or falling in love with Mike the mechanic?

     Olivia “Liv” Leigh, wealthy socialite and spa owner, suspects her fiancé of cheating on her. Drastic steps are required to discover whether appearances are deceiving. And if those steps require a bit of stalking, a change of appearance, a hippo-sized dog named Spike, and sacrificing her manicure to clean house for a sexy-but-sloppy man whose neighbor is determined to break several of the strangest Guinness world records, why should that be a problem?

     Mike, a happily single auto mechanic, is more than content sharing his bachelor pad with piles of laundry, dirty dishes, and a sneaky ferret. But when a half-crazed woman in a bad wig shows up on his doorstep, what’s a nice guy to do?

     Why, invite her in, unknowingly help her in her search for the truth and, in the process, fall head over heels for a woman who’s never been less his type.

     Read an Excerpt.