I'm not going to go over the summary, because many people have already...but I would like to share my comments on this book.

The "likes:" The book is well written, there's some spicy romance, and it's suspenseful to the point that the audience has to keep reading.

The "dislikes:" The romance was a little trashy. I like romance details, but I don't want to actually know all of the explicit details of characters having sex. On a different note, there was almost too much suspense. I appreciate the fact that it kept the readers needing more, but her suspenseful build-up for 450 pages was a bit much. Also, the porn references and incest-nature of one of the characters was not necessary. His hatred for his sister was enough...we didn't need an extra complexity between their relationship. The ending was a little too "wrapped up," and not fully believable and the epilogue was cheesy.

I'm trying not to add a spoiler, so I'll ask it this way:
Why did the main character need to do what Tony Bogart told her to do with her brother, at the end?
That didn't seem believable.

If you are looking for a romance with a little bit of mystery, look somewhere else. There is little if any romance/relationship here. It is mostly a mystery, written such that you hear the thoughts of the 5 or so main characters. It is a nice try in that she does try to get some personality/pathology going in the way the characters think and act, but it falls flat. The "mystery" is really little more than nasty people doing nasty things to each other with very little motivation. The legal aspects are laughable, since the "evidence" is rare to non-existent. It wouldn't happen that way in real life. The last few pages are spent tying this up in a neat little ribbon, as if she said "ooops, met my page quota, let's wrap this puppy". Everything is sorted out in a neat little package with everyone having their little epiphany and/or spilling their guts and thereby clarifying their soul or somesuch. Bottom line: not up to a quality mystery, and not up to an even mediocre romance.

After falling off her husband's yacht six months ago, Alison Fairmont Villard is lucky to be alive. Her face was repaired to fix the damage caused by the battering of the rocks. Her husband does not touch her, after surgery they had made a deal ¾Andrew would let her recover and she would share the details of that night with him. Every night she has nightmares. Every day she wakes up and wonders whom she truly is, and whom can she trust. The partial amnesia clouds matters even further.

Andrew Villard has a shadowy past. For six months he has watched the woman who he calls wife. They have an agreement that they have both stood by. Now complications have arisen due to Alison's mother summoning them to return to the scene of the accident

Both hope to find answers to their own questions. They each have demons they need to take care of. Andrew makes an offer that Alison has no choice but to accept. But can they find the answers to their own questions or will it tear things apart even further. Who can they trust? Neither can escape the consequences of their decisions.

The Arrangement is one of those books that captivates you from the moment you start reading. It keeps the tension at a heightened level that kept me turning the pages to find the answers to the questions raised in my mind at the beginning. It is incredibly engrossing; the intrigue with a dash of romance is the perfect continuous mix to make the reader glad they are reading The Arrangement. This is a book that I highly recommend.

Barb
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This book starts out with a desperate search by a man (Andrew) to find his wife (Allison) who apparently fell from their boat during a storm. He finds what appears to be his wife on a bunch of boulders and has her brought to a hospital for emergency surgery. Her face is smashed beyond recognition but she has an odd skin discoloration on her neck. Thinking nothing of it, Andrew tells the doctors to remove it and also to try reconstructing her face. He gives them photos of his wife to help and after several months of surgeries "Allison" is restored to fairly much how she looked before.

But as the audience can guess it is not really "Allison" but because of an "arrangement" she made with Andrew, she will pretend to be Allison while Andrew can look for the real Allison. Sounds complicated? It gets worse. Allison and Andrew are invited to Allison's mother's estate for a visit. The estate is close to where the real Allison disappeared. They agree to go because it will be easier for Andrew to investigate.

When they get there "Allison" is constantly under suspicion, especially from the real Allison's slimy brother Brett. To make matters worse an FBI man (Tony Bogart) is investigating the death of his brother, who was murdered on the night of Allison's murder. He has several suspects but principally, he suspects Andrew. In the meantime it appears that someone is trying to murder the fake Allison.

This book holds you from start to finish and it is not till way near the end that the reader starts to get some answers. What makes this work is the interaction between the characters is compelling especially between Andrew and the fake Allison. Andrew never really loved Allison and her fake is way different then her in demeanor and this attracts Andrew. The author keeps throwing in little teasers as to whether or not they will become a "real" couple and it keeps the reader on edge.

OH! I remember! It's almost a complete carbon copy of Sandra Brown's "Mirror Image." I suppose that happens sometimes, but kinda ruins the book a bit for me.