ARC Review: Never Fall for Your Fiancée (The Merriwell Sisters #1) by Virginia Heath
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Series: The Merriwell Sisters #1
Author: Virginia Heath
Published November 9th 2021 by St. Martin's Griffin
Goodreads Synopsis
The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.
The last thing Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, ever wants is a wife. Unfortunately for him, his mother is determined to find him one, even from across the other side of the ocean. So, Hugh invents a fake fiancée to keep his mother’s matchmaking ways at bay. But when Hugh learns his interfering mother is on a ship bound for England, he realizes his complicated, convoluted but convenient ruse is about to implode. Until he collides with a beautiful woman, who might just be the miracle he needs.
Minerva Merriwell has had to struggle to support herself and her two younger sisters ever since their feckless father abandoned them. Work as a woodcut engraver is few and far between, and the Merriwell sisters are nearly penniless. So, when Hugh asks Minerva to pose as his fiancée while his mother is visiting, she knows that while the scheme sounds ludicrous, the offer is too good to pass up.
Once Minerva and her sisters arrive at Hugh's estate, of course, nothing goes according to his meticulous plan. As hilarity and miscommunication ensue, while everyone tries to keep their tangled stories straight, Hugh and Minerva’s fake engagement starts to turn into a real romance. But can they trust each other, when their relationship started with a lie?
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, is more than happy to still be single, and has managed to put off his mother - who currently lives in America, no less - from wanting to marry him off for the last few years, with an imaginary fake fiancee, Miss Minerva Landridge, from Chipping Norton, who has had misfortune and disaster lead to a long engagement. But now his goose is cooked, as his mother is returning, and wants to met the lovely Minerva. But, as luck would have it, while walking in London, he meets a beautiful young lady, feisty and strong, who just happens to be called Minerva, and is willing to pretend to be his fiancee, for a cost. Minerva has been the sole breadwinner for her and her younger sisters, Diana and Vee (really it's Venus, but never call her that), and she really needs some money to help them out, and hopefully give them all a better life. Meeting Hugh, and agreeing to the plan seems like a gift sent from above, but the family's feelings over their father's abandonment, and past hurts, make it difficult to fully accept the 'Landridge' tale, especially when a pretend mother appears too. But what is more difficult, is seeing Hugh as a good man, and Minerva's feelings for him soon seem to get too much. Will their fake romance be able to blossom into something more, or will Hugh's fears over his own father and upbringing taint him against his happy ending.
As soon as I had heard about this book, I was desperate to read it, and was buzzing when my review copy arrived in my inbox. The whole fake partner/fiancee trope is a favourite of mine, and the entire premise of this book intrigued me from the get go. Minerva Merriwell had to become parent to her younger siblings at 17, when her drunken and wastrel father finally upped and left, and she lost a potential husband in the mean time. In the five years since, she has done everything for her family, but money is tight, and it seems like they are finally going to be left with no options, when Hugh literally comes to her aid, like a hero. He's in a desperate place, and when he learns her name is Minerva, he begs her to be his 'fake' fiancee for a month, to appease his mother, and she'll be rewarded with enough money to help them, as well as the clothes', etc., needed for the masquerade. She was a fantastic character, and I just loved her. I also adored Hugh too, who had a public persona of being a bit of a Lothario, not willing to settle down, especially after his mother remarried and found her happiness following her marriage to his father, and parading a veritable bevy of young suitable ladies in front of him. But, he feels like his father's betrayal of his mother has tainted him, and he never wants to hurt his wife or children in the way that he was, so would rather be alone. Being with Minerva, pretending to be in love and exciting to marry, changes something in them both, and soon neither of them are really pretending, and they both lament their perceived difficulties in being together. Never Fall For Your Fiancee was a fantastic book, and a perfect start to the series. I sincerely hope book 2 is about Diana and Giles, because their banter and chemistry was unreal!
Dates Read:
June 19-20, 2021
Rating
4 Stars
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