The Governor’s Wife
Kate Rizor
Reviewed by
Mary Lydon
Simonsen, Author of Pemberley
Remembered
The
Governor’s Wife is
the story of Andra Thornburg, the
independently wealthy and spoiled wife of Tanner Thornburg. The novel opens with Tanner, a man with
political ambitions, asking Andra for a divorce in a very public venue. When she storms out of the restaurant, she is
kidnapped by Tanner’s driver. She sustains
a head injury when the car crashes, leaving her with no memory of her
former
life. During the ten years she has been
missing, Andra, now Andie Petersen, has been living on the streets of Detroit, and Tanner has become Governor of the
State of New York..
In the process of booking
Andie for a petty theft charge, it is discovered that her fingerprints
match
those of the missing wife of the Governor.
The story really begins when Tanner identifies his wife at the
police
station. Once she is released into his
custody, Tanner returns to New York City and her childhood home in a penthouse,
hoping that being in a
familiar place will help to restore her memory.
Initially, Andie doesn’t
want anything to do with Tanner and keeps running away, and Tanner
doesn’t know
what to think about his resurrected wife.
She is the antithesis of the Andra Thornburg who had been
kidnapped so
many years ago. But there is a sexual
attraction
from the very beginning, and therein lies the strength of the story. Despite suspicions on both of their
parts,
there is the magnetic pull which keeps bringing them together. In this charged atmosphere, they engage in
what
amounts to several episodes of hot and heavy foreplay.
The story moves along at
a brisk pace, so brisk that there isn’t very much time spent on
character
development. We know what Andie and
Tanner do, but we don’t really know who they are. Some
time could have been spent on providing
Andie with counseling, giving the couple and the reader time to
rediscover the
reasons why they had married in the first place. There
are other hurdles. After wandering the
streets of Detroit for ten years, it’s hard to believe
that Andie
would have “velvety skin” or that she would be thrown into the
Governor’s
social life, the only preparation being the reintroduction of cosmetics
and a
wardrobe change.
The heart of the story
lies in the sexual tension Ms. Rizor has created between Tanner and
Andie. If you don’t spend too much time
thinking
about the nuts and bolts of the novel, then The
Governor’s Wife provides
a quick read and a sexy romance.