Book Review: Scarlet Woman

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Scarlet Woman     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Gwynne Forster
Class/Genre:   Romance
Arabesque, Jul 2001, $5.99, 336 pp.

In Maryland, sixty-eight years old wealthy genius Prescott Rodgers asks the local school to send him a student to read the classics to him. Prescott suffers from dyslexia, but no pupil wanted anything to do with an old man. High school English teacher Melinda Jones, feeling sorry for the senior citizen, starts coming over two to three times a week to read to him. After awhile, Prescott offers Melinda a marriage of convenience, which she accepts. They marry in his lawyer’s office and she soon becomes known as a goldigger.

When Prescott dies, a mourning Melinda learns from his attorney Blake Hunter that his will has two stipulations. He wants her to start a literacy foundation and she must marry within a year to inherit anything. Melinda has no problem with the foundation and feels it would be a tribulation to honor her spouse. However, marriage is a different issue even though Blake has been a temptation ever since the day she married his client in his office.

A contemporary marriage of convenience starring a SCARLET WOMAN may seem like a stretch to modern romance fans, but talented Gwynne Forster makes it plausible through her strong characters. The story line centers on the struggles of Blake and Melinda with the passion and feelings both denied while Prescott lived. The engaging plot succeeds because Blake, Melinda, and their thoughts on Prescott make all three protagonists seem real and filled with human feelings. The SCARLET WOMAN is actually a wonderful relationship drama that will provide much delight to readers.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner