Lady Sabrina Winfield faces a problem upon her daughter's engagement. Belinda's fiancé, Erick, is the son of Nicholas Harrington, the Earl of Wyldewood. Nicholas is wealthy, widowed, and a successful diplomat. How can Sabrina amass a proper dowry from her modest means? Sabrina's husband Jack had left substantial debts upon his death over a decade ago. Sabrina -- "Bree" -- and Nicholas had not been introduced before the engagement took place, so neither realized they had met years ago under unique circumstances steeped in mystery, and had a very brief love-hate relationship. They meet, and attraction blooms. He thinks she might make a fine trophy wife. He doesn't have long to consider the matter, for within days, Sabrina leaves their native England. She's found a letter Jack had won in a card game, directing one to a chest of gold once meant to support Napoleon's military ventures -- buried in Egypt!! Nicholas goes after her, for her safety and to court her. Knowing the Earl is a notorious womanizer, Erick and Belinda set off in pursuit, to protect Sabrina. Erick's aunt Wynne, a lovely but bookish spinster of thirty-two, comes along to chaperone. Three Englishmen are trailing Bree as well, their intentions selfish and sinister. Sabrina impulsively marries Nicholas on board before the others reach them. It was she who proposed a marriage of convenience, one not meant to be consummated -- but Bree and Nicholas do fall in love and become lovers, as some detailed episodes relate. Sabrina realizes that Nicholas is the man who had hunted her down years ago. She could lose him if he knew she was the woman whose activities their government had sent him to stop, to no avail. Would he turn her over to the authorities? The five adventurers and the ship's captain, dashing young Matthew Madison, land at Alexandria and venture into the desert, seeking the gold. The interfering trio arranges a confrontation that's stunning in more ways than one. It's time to follow the directions in the letter, but Nicholas is feeling quite sure that Bree is the woman he had once hunted. She had been his obsession: he had failed to arrest her, but also lost his chance to get to know her better. He had never forgotten her allure. The outlaw, the siren, his wife -- were they one and the same? What must he do now -- is the dream of her being the perfect wife over as soon as it began?Alexander treats us to a tale with a novel setting, satisfying in its depiction of the feisty, likable Sabrina. In the second half of the novel, her writing seems more polished. This reviewer's frustration with Bree's somewhat fickle ways and the author's verbosity in the early chapters were overridden as the tale developed, offering solidly enjoyable twists and a well-crafted plot.With Sabrina Winfield in your life, there's never a dull moment. Love, rivalry, lost gold -- there's treasure of all sorts in The Perfect Wife ! A tale that draws you in -- you'll root for Nicholas and Bree to sail home with the riches they seek -- will it be a fortune in gold? In love? Dare they hope for both?

This story is good, but not as engaging as others. It took me a number of days to get through it. ( )

Sabrina is a widow left alone to raise her daughter Belinda, she gave up her wild past and became a very proper woman obeying all of the society rules to ensure her daughter a good marriage. Belinda becomes engaged to Erik the son of the Earl of Wyldewood. The only problem is Sabrina has no dowry to offer, due bad investments she has been left penniless. Sabrina discovers her husband won a letter that gives the location of gold that was hidden in Egypt, the answer to her money problems. She lets her butler in on her upcoming adventure who has accompanied her in the past, with his help she locates others from her past to assist her. Once her daughter discovers what she is planning she begs her finance to help, he goes to his father the Earl of Wyldwood, Nicolas. When he arrives Sabrina is packed and ready to go he insist she cancel the trip, when she does not he decides to accompany her. Once they sail Sabrina stays in her room, she is worried that he will discover her past and call of the marriage, she decides to stop hiding and deal with him. He tells her that he had her investigated and she would make the “Perfect Wife” for his status, unaware of her wild past. Sabrina decides that maybe marriage to him would guarantee her daughter’s marriage to Erik so she offers to marry him, with the understanding his is only a marriage of convenience, he agrees.

When I opened the book and read the prologue I really was looking forward to this story, but nothing every happened I was so bored reading the book the story was cluttered, the plot was not rewarding I am surprised I finished the book. I did enjoy some the secondary characters the were more enjoyable then the main characters. I read one other book by her and it was much better then this. ( )

First off, I love Victoria Alexander's writting-- she is an amazing historical romance author, providing both wit and love, steamy passion and mystery, and a good plot line and characters. What more can you possibly ask for?!

The Perfect Wife started off a little bit slow, but quickly gained speed. It was different, as far as my reading preferences go, because the hero and heroine were both parents, widowed, and they were in their thrities already. Usually the heroine is younger, maybe 26, and the hero is anywhere from her age on up to mid 30's. I'm not really complaining, however, because as I read the story, I felt that they really matched, and they truly did love each other.

Set in the back drop of England, but quickly moving to the open sea and Egypt, The Perfect Wife was captivating and interesting. Not only is it a great love story *With some great love scenes, I might add!* but V.A. has managed to also give us a nice subplot, the theme of danger and adventure, burried treasure and secret pasts...

I also liked how she was able to so deftly weave together not only Nicholas and Sabrina's love story, but also Erik and Belinda's and even some of Matt and Nic's sister *I'm so sorry, I can't remember her first name right now!!*. I found it a nice mix, and I didn't feel that it was confusing or took depth away from any of the relationships, like you would expect from such a detailed character plot.

4.5/5 STARS! The Perfect Wife is a great example of historical romance at it's best-- steamy, yet innocent, true love and exotic mysteries... And more than few reformed rakes... Because every woman knows---A reformed rake makes the best husband! ;) ( )

An adventerous story with mature primary characters (i.e., baggage) and the humor that I love in Victoria Alexander's work. Even the secondary characters were well-developed. ( )