A Model Wife (A Sydney Collection Book 3) Kindle Edition

Another 5-star read from Maggie Christensen. We were introduced to Celia in an earlier book, Isobel's Promise, and it was wonderful to follow the continuation of her story. Many difficult topics are explored in this book and have been handled with compassion and care. As usual, the author has provided us with a host of characters to fall in love with and the fast-paced storylines kept the pages turning. Highly recommend.

Interesting story about a mother and her two daughters. Well written!

Maggie Christensen, ‘A Model Wife’.As a Hidden Gem ARC reader I received this book for free and promised an honest review. Here it is.English isn’t my first language. Sorry for errors.Rating: 3,5 (of 5) stars.In general: Sweet Australian love story.Main characters:- Celia Ramsay. Former Celia Lang. Ex model, now for 25 years married to Bill Ramsay. Forty-five years old ; mother of two grown up daughters, both disowned by their father Bill.- Bill Ramsay. An Australian football legend, launching his memoir during a party in Sydney. After his career Bill became a unpleasant drunk who bullied a lot of people. Celia despised him more and more and left him to start her own career as part-owner of an upmarket boutique. To complete the divorce negotiations Celia had agreed to help him with the promotion of his memoir.- John (Johnno) Henderson. Mediator between big project developers and investors. Good looking bachelor. Always surrounded by gorgeous young girls. But now, almost 50 years old, he considers them more and more as ‘airheads’. He starts thinking that a long-term relationship with a loving wife shouln’t always be a disaster.Johnno meets Celia at the end of the memoir launching party. Celia remembers him from a short meeting a few years ago while Johnny was ‘hunting’ for a good looking woman. Then she didn’t like him. As a model she often was approached by self-confident men wanting to know her better, so she became very good in kindly but clearly letting them know she wasn’t interested. And she acts the same when she meets Johnno again.But they have mutual acquaintances (some with matchmaking capacities). So - not completely by chance - they meet again and start liking each other. Giving more attention to Johnno is helpful for Celia because her ex - without changing his bad habits - tries to win her back. So being seen with Johnno will make clear to her ex that the marriage really is over.Author Maggie Christensen creates an interesting story of some aspects of the Australian culture, the end of Celia’s marriage and the development of her realtionship with Johnno. These items are complicated by Bill’s problems with his daughters, the claims of the former football hero’s PR advisor, Celia and Johnno’s fear for new personal commitments and John Henderson’s somewhat difficult business activities.This reader had a bit of a problem with some characters. A few were rather black-white. For example Bill Ramsay. Never traces of good actions. And why exactly his intolerance to his daughters when they made mistakes (in his opinion). Also his action at the end of the story wasn’t completely in accordance with his nature.But all in all: the ‘Model Wife’ was a pleasure to read.Ruud Huiszoon.

is a beautiful story and was such a fabulous read, there are a lot of emotions and MS Christensen has taken on a lot of topics that have been in the news lately and highlighted them so well. I first met Celia the heroine in this story in Isobel’s Promise (which is an awesome story) and I was really hoping she got her own story, she really deserved a HEA and she got one.Celia Ramsey was once a top Australian model beautiful and such a lovely personality , she married a rugby player Bill and they had two beautiful daughters, but life in the spotlight soon took a downhill run for Celia her husband was a bully and turned against his daughters. Celia finally got the courage to leave him and start a new life running a clothes boutique in Mosman, but has agreed to help with the media launch of Bill’s book in return for a divorce settlement. This turns into a media circus when allegations are made against Bill, then she meets property developer Johnno Henderson and maybe if Celia can learn to trust her life might take a turn for the better and to love and joy.Johnno is the playboy, he is happy playing the field with the younger woman who like the attention, he has never felt the need to settle down, but then he meets the beautiful ex-model Celia Ramsey and he starts to think about her a lot and his thoughts are turning to the future and something permanent and Celia could be the one.This was a joy to read, the characters are so alive and real, these are people you could meet every day, families with problems, people that are happy to help each other and offer advice, I loved getting to know Celia and Johnno and sharing their journey to a HEA as they fall in love with hurdles to cross and trust to earn, it is a feel good story where troubles are overcome and families are loved. This is a story that I highly recommend it was a joy to read, every word was read as I savoured this story, thank you MS Christensen for another keeper.

Much against Celia’s own wishes, she’d agreed to appear at her soon-to-be ex-husband’s side in the promotion of his memoir – about the football hero that he’d once been – but Celia hadn’t realized how hard it would be. The book was filled with lies – she knew that – but he still had his adoring fans. Her marriage of twenty-five years was over; the deal she’d agreed to would finally put an end to the sham.When sexual harassment allegations against Bill were suddenly on the front page of the Sydney newspapers, Celia was shocked. Were they true? Or were people out to get what they could in view of the success of his memoir?Johnno Henderson came into Celia’s life through mutual friends. She wasn’t ready to trust another man after all she’d been through, but there was something about Johnno that she liked. Celia’s daughters and grandchildren liked him; they also told her it was time she moved on and made a life for herself. But could she? Was Johnno a man she could trust? Did she even want a man in her future with Bill still causing trouble?A Model Wife by Aussie author Maggie Christensen continues Celia’s story after we met her in Isobel’s Promise (which I loved!) I thoroughly enjoyed the topical subjects that Ms Christensen has tackled in this book – sexual harassment; same sex marriage – and the blending of families. A Model Wife was a satisfying read, with real life, everyday characters who could easily live next door, or in the next street over. An excellent book which I highly recommend.

I was looking forward to reading this latest novel from one of my favourite authors. I wasn't disappointed. A Model Wife is a compelling and involving read.The story centres around Celia, who readers first met in Isobel's Promise - one of Maggie Christensen's novels – and Johnno. At its heart there's the slow-burning romance between Celia and Johnno. But this is intertwined with other stories of family and friendship, and with difficult issues such as Celia's abusive husband and Johnno's precarious and high pressure business life.The storytelling is excellent. I was hooked from the start and really cared about what happened to Celia and to Johnno. I so wanted them to overcome their difficulties and to be happy and together that it was difficult to put the book down.This was a first-class story of mid-life challenges and of second-chance romance.

This is the third and last in the Sydney collection and it never disappoints but you wish it could just go on and take up another thread with the people in this series - now on to the next series which takes me to Oregon Coast - can't wait!

I really enjoyed reading Celia's story after meeting her in the last book. It was also very topical touching on recent issues such as the #metoo movement and the recent legalisation of gay marriage in Australia. It's great to find a writer who features the lives of women over 40.