Random Husband
by Janie Gordon
Genre: Romance / Comedy
ISBN: 9798989898619
Print Length: 367 pages
Reviewed by Susan Morris
Fall in love with this swoony rom-com exploring love’s random nature.
Is romantic love fate-based? Or is it just about who you spend more time around? Can two people have a lasting marriage as long as they’re relatively compatible? Janie Gordon explores these questions in Random Husband, a lively and entertaining romantic comedy that always kept me turning pages.
Abby is a happily single twenty-nine-year-old lifestyle journalist. When she wins the lottery, she sees the score as a boon and an opportunity that came from taking the chance to play in the first place. In light of her win, Abby must make some serious life decisions. So she does what many people say they will do if they walk away with millions: she makes impulsive purchases and quits her job.
But now with nothing to fill her days, she misses the purpose she’d found working for a local women’s magazine. When she tries to get her job back, her boss gives her an ultimatum. She must develop a big idea to help the floundering publication earn more revenue.
Abby gets silly with her sister, brainstorming ways to satisfy her boss. They joke that Abby might want to get married, and the idea of marrying randomly comes from Abby’s belief that opportunity comes to those who seek it. Getting married as a publicity stunt starts as a joke but becomes real once the idea is posed. With some ground rules in place, Abby puts the plan in motion, and it quickly gains traction as a series of articles. Abby gains a sizable social media following and many potential random husbands.
The trouble is that Abby is starting to fall in love with the swoony owner of the coffee shop they’re using as a base station for her husband-search operation. Max is interested in the mystery woman occupying his coffee shop but oblivious to who Abby is and her plans to marry herself off to a man she hardly knows. He becomes infatuated with her as she spends more time at the shop, and his own romantic life hits the skids.
Random Husband is a romantic gem with witty dialog and a really compelling setting. I loved Abby’s fairytale house set among Savannah, Georgia’s historic live oaks. Max’s love for coffee shines, too, giving him a passion that comes alive on the page. The misunderstanding trope bothered me at times but not enough to stand in the way of my enjoyment of the novel as a whole.
Janie Gordon weaves the story’s theme of creating your own opportunities through a thoughtful critique of modern marriage here. Readers of romance with a bit of cursing and moderate steam on the page will enjoy a night cozied up with this debut rom-com that offers a new twist on modern love.
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