Series: None
Author: Tiffany Odekirk
Published February 14th 2022 by Covenant Communications
Goodreads Synopsis
Hannah Kent and Oliver Jennings pledged their hearts to each other as children. Now, years later, Hannah is thrilled to receive an invitation to spend the summer at Oliver’s family’s country estate. The path to wedded bliss is clear—so long as Oliver’s highbrow older brother, Damon, has ceased his juvenile antics, Hannah’s future looks bright indeed.
But from the moment Hannah arrives at Summerhaven, nothing is as she expected. Oliver seems disinterested in renewing their acquaintance, and Damon is not the brutish boy she remembers but a man intent on avoiding marriage. Although she has loathed Damon her whole life, when he contrives a ruse designed to win them both what they desire, Hannah warily agrees. All she has to do to reclaim Oliver’s attention is pretend to be madly in love with Damon. But when Damon is surprisingly convincing in his role as a suitor, it proves difficult to discern the line between pretense and true love.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
Ever since she was young, Hannah Kent has known she would marry her neighbour and best friend, Oliver Jennings. She's been waiting to hear from him again, especially after her mother's death, so being invited for a summer house party at the Summerhaven estate, she expects he will soon make her an offer. But when she arrives, it's like he's completely forgotten about their pledge to one another, and his older brother Damon, who was always a little bit of a bully and prankster, has changed completely. As the heir to the estate, Damon wants to avoid the marriage mart as much as possible, so he makes Hannah an agreement - pretend to be madly in love with each other, to hopefully deter people from Damon, and make Oliver realise what he's missing. Soon, though, it's clear that it was a mistake, and the pretend feelings are becoming very much real. Hannah should be happy that Oliver seems to be falling for her, so why is she so focused on Damon instead?
I wasn't expecting a lot from this book - thought it would be a nice regency era romance - so was simply blown away by how hooked I was by the characters. Hannah truly believed she and best friend Oliver would marry one day, and decided that their drifting apart was mainly due to him heading to university, and the capital, but he would soon remember his pledge. So being invited back to Summerhaven, she thought it was time for them to reconnect and set a date. I really felt sorry for her when she realised that Oliver hadn't invited her, but rather his mother, and he didn't seem interested in spending much time with her either. Damon really saw her - and apparently he had been from their youth too - and so he came up with the plan, clearly doomed to fail from the start. I knew from the first description that Damon would be the love interest, and he was really right for Hannah, even if she didn't see it at first. They say the path to true love never did run smooth, and Hannah and Damon ran into difficulties from time to time, but came out right in the end. A romance that defied all expectations!
Dates Read:
December 18, 2021
Rating
4 Stars
