Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
Oh, how I’ve missed Jana Aston’s brand of storytelling. With her newest book, The Next Mrs. Russo, her signature is scrawled all over this story. As she so deftly does, Aston takes a one-person POV and she makes you crave more of her story. This romance follows Audrey, a skilled seamstress/designer who repurposes old designer clothing into new, reenvisioned fashion. With a sidekick of a teenager, Miller, as her unofficial assistant and a grumpy cat named Gary, Audrey’s life feels a little bit bumbling but satisfied. Until one day when an older woman, Mrs. Bianchi, enters her store and eventually manipulates a meeting out of her with her son. When Audrey finally meets “Warren,” she realizes that he is her crush and the governor of New York. Agreeing to accompany Warren to a fundraiser, Audrey’s hope is a quick hook-up with a return to her struggling life of design. One date turns into a second one, and soon enough, Audrey finds herself living in the governor’s mansion while Warren fixes the plumbing of her home. Will the governor fall for Audrey as she begins to fall for him, or does he just tolerate her as a “fake” date for his many fundraisers?
At its core, The Next Mrs. Russo is a story that leaves you on a smile. Every turn of the page elicited a chuckle or a grin as Aston’s heroine, Audrey, reveals more of herself. If you’re looking for Warren’s point of view here, you will only find it through the voice of Audrey. This is a common trait of Aston’s romances. And her heroines, ones such as Audrey, are always erstwhile and effervescent even in the midst of their troubles. You can’t help but love a character like Audrey because she’s a little crazy in all the best ways. If I have any criticism, it would be that I’d love a foray into Warren’s brain.
In this book, Warren is staid, terse albeit $exy. The things that Audrey finds attractive about him would make someone else laugh as they aren’t the usual fare. It’s what makes her attraction to him one of the hilarious parts of the book. Yet, we receive very little from him until the last portion of the story. It’s what builds the anticipation of Aston’s The Next Mrs. Russo.
Overall, I enjoyed myself with this book. If you’re having a difficult day, month, year, then you want this one on your e-reader. It’s exactly what you need to save you from the doldrums of life.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 