Never Fall for Your Fiancee

Never Fall for Your Fiancée
by Virginia Heath
Release Date: November 9, 2021
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Book #1 in The Merriwell Sisters series
Number of Pages: 368
Historical Romance
Ages 13 and up
CW: cancer death
————————-
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?

---

I picked up this book after getting an invite to read an ARC of the second book in this series. Since that book isn’t being released until November, I figured I had time to read this one first. You know how I like to read a series in order. Plus, I’m a fool for the fake relationship trope.

Both Minerva and Hugh are endearing characters from the start. Minerva is hard-working, pragmatic, caring, and bold. Hugh tries to wear the façade of a scoundrel, but he’s actually extremely thoughtful and kind and has been growing weary of the life of a bachelor. The problem Hugh has with settling down has nothing to do with whether or not he wants to have a spouse and family, it has to do with him not thinking he’d be good at family life because of mistakes his father made. In his mind, it’s in his genes to be a cad and he would never want to hurt a wife and/or children by giving them a good life only to turn around and yank it from them later. For a smart man, Hugh is rather an idiot.

Minerva and her two younger sisters were left to fend for themselves when Minerva had just turned 19, and have been pinching pennies and scraping by ever since. It’s kismet when she runs into Hugh, who not only helps her out of a jam but hires her to help him out of a jam. There is a spark between the two of them from when they first meet on the street that only grows when they move out to his estate in the country and cohabitate in his country home…albeit with his staff, her sisters, his best friend, and others. But still, now we’ve thrown forced proximity (another favorite of mine) into the mix and the connection grows.

For most of this story, there is an underlying affection between Minerva and Hugh, no matter that they try to act as if they are just acting their parts in Hugh’s convoluted story. It’s at a sweet but low simmer. The story flows nicely and there’s no denying the couple should be together for real. That all ramps up in the last 25% of the book. That’s where I found myself tearing up and feeling the angst and longing Hugh and Minerva are going through. Then things get crazy, but rather fun, as Hugh’s house of cards starts to fall.

I’m certainly glad I have the next book already in my arsenal. I’m looking forward to all of the sisters getting their HEAs. While my socks weren’t knocked off, this is a wonderful and solid read.

3.5 stars