Taylor Maid is about Taylor Fitzgerald, who needs a bride before his twenty-fifth birthday, which happens to be at midnight. Why the hurry? In order to receive his fifty million dollar inheritance. So Taylor flies to Las Vegas and meets Ally May, a maid at the hotel, who has secrets of her own. This story is told in third person from both Taylor and Ally’s pov.



As soon as I started reading this book, I experienced déjà vu. I was sure I’d read a book very similar to this one written by the same author, so I checked and lo and behold! Yes, the author did. It’s called Sinders and Ash, which is the first book in the ‘Pennymaker’s Tales’ series based on fairytales. Between Taylor Maid and Sinders, I choose Taylor Maid as the more interesting story. Not only is it better written, with more character development and a more complex plot, Sinders is simple, and clearly based on Cinderella. It feels like the author took ‘Sinders and Ash’ and rewrote it with a more realistic plot. For whatever reason, Taylor Maid is the better story.

The author did a good job with character development. The attraction between Taylor and Ally didn’t feel forced or jump into instant love, although it did start with instant lust. As the story progresses, we see how Taylor grows to enjoy Ally’s sense of humor and intelligence. So much so, that he becomes sexually attracted to Ally and it confuses him because he knows for sure he’s gay, but starts to wonder if he’s bi. We don’t hear Ally’s pov until at least a quarter to half way through the story. Both characters have issues with family that threaten their relationship.

I enjoyed the plot, and the subplots all tied in well together. Taylor Maid was an entertaining, no angst read. I would read it again. I give this book 4 Stars.

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Taylor Fitzgerald is almost ready to cut his father out of his life completely. Taylor turns twenty-five tomorrow and will inherit the $50 million his grandfather left him in his will. And then he'll never have to speak to his father ever again. But when he overhears his father reference a condition of the inheritance, Taylor can't believe it. He needs to marry a woman or the money revers to his father.

There are a few problems with Taylor's situation. One major one? He's gay. But he's already made plans for the money--not for himself, but to help children--so he can't lose that inheritance. With what he knows is a crazy plan, he sets off to Las Vegas to convince an escort to marry him.

Of course that crazy plan isn't going to work. But when Taylor meets a hotel maid named Ally May, he makes one last play. They're strangers, but he's in a bind. And when Ally agrees, he's not sure if he should be more grateful or suspicious. As it turns out, Ally needs to get out of Vegas. She's running from someone, and Taylor's offer might be just what she needs. But there is more to Ally than meets the eye. And she has more in common with Taylor than he could ever imagine...

The must-get-married-to-inherit trope is not an unfamiliar one. I feel like this is maybe the third or fourth book I've read in the past year that used it. But there are some twists here that do make this particular approach stand out. And it's difficult not to empathize with Taylor's predicament.

While I enjoyed this book, I did find a few things that just didn't hit the mark for me. The way the relationship develops just didn't ring true. Especially after Taylor learns the truth about Ally. And the quick resolution of major issues at the end just seemed to be a bit fast and simplistic to me.

But this is an entertaining read, and I'd recommend picking it up if the story looks appealing. ( )

‘Taylor Maid’ is a fantastic variation on the need-to-get-married-to-inherit-a-bunch-of-money trope. It has more than one twist in this well-known and, by me, much-liked plot. For one thing, Taylor doesn’t even know about the condition in his grandfather’s will – Taylor’s greedy father having hidden it - until it is almost too late with literally hours to go until the deadline. Then there is the fact that the will states he has to marry a woman – and Taylor is gay without even a hint of bisexuality. But not just any woman, it has to be a love match. And the stakes – fifty million dollars – are nothing to sneeze at, but Taylor doesn’t even want the money for himself. He needs it to fund the building of several GLBTQ youth centers. How could you not want him to make the deadline? With great humor, many surprises, and characters that had me rooting for them from the start, this turned out to be one tremendously heartwarming story that I won’t soon forget.

Taylor comes from money, no doubt about it. He works in his father’s company, but doesn’t get along with him due to their different approaches to business – and life. When, on the afternoon of his twenty-fifth birthday, he overhears his father discuss provisions in his grandfather’s will that Taylor knows nothing about, he barely has time to panic before he needs to act. He may have thought that his grandfather’s money was his when he turns twenty-five, but now he has hours to find a woman, convince her to marry him despite the fact he is gay, and pretend it was a love match convincingly enough to fool his father and the scumbag lawyer who is helping him. Las Vegas is the only place where he can possibly achieve at least two out of the three, but when he gets there, finding a suitable woman turns out to be harder than he expected.

Ally is a maid in the Vegas hotel Taylor stays at, and when they get to talk while she brings a towel to his suite, Taylor likes her. Worse than that, he feels attracted to her, which makes him think he is “straight for her”. That isn’t the only surprising development, and this story goes from one humorous strength to the next hilarious situation without a break. I was laughing my head off one moment, only to be touched by the developing romance the next. As soon as Taylor finds out Ally is a man hiding from his tyrannical father, everything could have come to a screeching halt. Instead, Ally and Taylor redefine who they are to each other and the heat between them increases by the page as they battle intrusive questions, attempts to split them up, and worse.

If you like the idea of a rich man with a conscience pairing up with a desperate guy masquerading as a girl, if you enjoy complicated situations where opposed parties fight it out with everything they have, and if you’re looking for a read that is suspenseful, funny, and full of twists and turns, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review. ( )