Historical Romance published by St. Martins Griffin 20 Sep 22
What a romp this book turned out to be. William and Emmeline turned their friendship into a marriage of convenience, when she needed to marry in order to keep her house and he wanted a political career. If William ever wanted something more with Emmeline, a disastrous wedding night soon put paid to that, leaving them as a somewhat contented married couple – more friends than anything else.
Then one fine morning the bombshell arrives: an invitation from Emmie’s grandfather, the Duke of Welshire, to the duke’s birthday ball with a command to present their two children, whom no one has met to date. It seems that Emmie invented children in due course and made believe they were sickly and, therefore, could not socialize with the family.
Now begins the fun. Emmie is determined to present children, and after looking around in their neighborhood to first see if they can borrow children from their neighbors, they decide a temporary adoption from an orphanage might be in order. So they bring two siblings, a brother and sister, from an orphanage, whom they will train to act like their children at the duke’s birthday ball.
Soon the lies are spinning out of control, but something amazing is happening. Will and Emmie are finding joy and love in their relationship once again and the children are becoming family. When it all blows up in their faces, as is inevitable, that’s when the story totally wins over any reader who might still be resistant. An absolute winner of a story.
Grade: A
Summary:
Smart, capable heiress Emmeline Pershing will do anything to keep her beloved home; and all it takes is an arranged marriage and a teeny white lie to fulfill her family’s silly inheritance rules. But now her little fib means that she and her completely unsuspecting husband are going to inherit big — and very messy! —trouble.
Emmeline and William Pershing have enjoyed a perfectly convenient marriage for eight years. Their relationship is a seamless blend of their talents and goals. They’ve settled into separate, well-ordered lives beneath the same roof, and are content to stay that way—or so Emmeline thinks. And if William has secretly longed for a bit more from the woman he adores, he’s managed to be content with her supreme skills as a hostess and planner, which has helped him advance his career.
Then when Emmeline’s grandfather, the reclusive Duke of Welshire, summons them both for his birthday celebration and demands they bring their two little angelic children, William is stunned to discover that his very proper wife invented not one, but two heirs to fulfill the agreement for living at Winnover. But surely if Emmeline and William team up and borrow two cherubs to call their own, what could go wrong? Enter George, age 8, and Rose, 5—the two most unruly orphans in Britain.
As the insanity unfolds, their careful, professional arrangement takes some surprisingly intimate turns as well. Perhaps it takes a bit of madness to create the perfect happily ever after.
