Never Fall For Your Fiancee (The Merriwell Sisters #1) by Virginia Heath
Genre: Historical fiction, Regency romance, Rom-Com, Women's fiction
Read: 26th November 2021
Published: 9th November 2021
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
The trouble with lies is they have a tendency to catch a man out.
The last thing Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, wants is a wife.
But since the only way to keep his mother’s matchmaking ways at bay is the promise of
impending nuptials, Hugh takes the most logical action: he invents a fake fiancée.
It’s the perfect plan – until Hugh learns that his mother is on a ship bound for England to meet his ‘beloved’. He needs a solution fast, and when he collides with a mysterious beauty, he might just have found the answer to his prayers.
Minerva Merriwell is desperate for money to support her sisters, and although she knows that posing as the Earl’s fiancée might seem nonsensical, it’s just too good an offer to refuse.
As the Merriwells descend upon Hugh’s estate, the household is thrown into turmoil as everyone tries to keep their tangled stories straight. And with Hugh and Minerva’s romantic ruse turning into the real thing, is true love just one complication too many?
‘Filled with fabulously British banter, wit, and heart,
this delightful book is one of my must-read rom-coms of the year’
MY REVIEW:
When I first read the premise for NEVER FALL FOR YOUR FIANCEE I thought what a fun read it sounded...and I wasn't wrong! While I am not generally a fan of rom-coms, I am an historical fiction and regency romance fan. This book has all that an more. It is hilarious and laugh-out-loud in some places as you watch the main players dig themselves deeper and deeper, leaving you wondering just how it is all going to pan out. While the fake fiancee concept and plot were fairly predictable, the characters in this lighthearted tale are truly delightful! I loved them! Yes, all of them...well, except for one "wastrel" as he is referred to more than once.
Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, is a confirmed bachelor and something of a scoundrel-slash-loveable rogue. His mother, now living in Boston in America with her second husband, is as intent on seeing him married off as he is intent on remaining a bachelor. And so, to stop her incessant matchmaking interference, Hugh embarks on a hugely embellished tale that he is engaged to a young woman called Minerva, which he then keeps up for two years. His tale is so elaborate that he has outlined a near fatal bout of consumption and the tragic death of her father in the Cairngorms in Scotland along with her amazing abilities to sing, dance and ride as if she were born to it. All of which is to come undone when his mother announces her intention to visit and meet the young woman who has managed to win her son's heart where others have failed.
Hugh finds himself in such a quandary until he comes to the rescue of a beautiful young woman, though articulate and well-spoken but obviously penniless, whose name happens to be Minerva. And an idea begins to form in his mischievous mind.
At 24 years of age, Minerva Merriwell has been the caretaker of her younger sisters Diana and Vee (short for Venus) since their mother died when Minerva was nine and their sole guardian since their good-for-nothing wastrel of a father abandoned them three sisters when she was barely 19. With the responsibility of caring and providing for herself and her two sisters, Minerva makes a simple living as an engraver but it barely covers the rent let alone food and clothing for them and her worries are never-ending. When she confronts one such employer of her services to politely request payment for which he is four weeks late, he blatantly refuses until Hugh steps in upon witnessing the scene, taking charge and ensuring the debt is settled immediately and escorting Minerva home.
Naturally, Hugh cannot believe his good fortune upon learning that this captivating young woman shares the same name of his fake fiancee and, after a banter of sorts, blurts out an offer that Minerva finds herself unable to resist. For forty pounds, he'll pay Minerva to act as his fiancee for the benefit of his matchmaking mother and then create some sort of falling out that will end their two-year long engagement. Although she has reservations, for she really knows nothing of this man and she's not entirely happy about the idea of such deception, Minerva finds the offer tempting indeed. And although facing destitution, the Merriwells had morals...well, she and her sisters did, unlike their wastrel father. However, forty pounds would feed, clothe and house them for two years and it was only for a couple of weeks. Despite her initial reservations or conferring with her younger siblings, Minerva agreed to act as his fiancee one one condition - her sisters accompanied her to Standish House for the duration where each woman was measured, fitted and provided with an entire wardrobe each. And in turn, Minerva learnt a whole lot more than she ever bargained for!
When Hugh regaled his plans to his friend and co-hort Giles, Lord Bellingham, his friend laughed his idea out of the water and envisioned nothing but problems coming his way. In fact, he looked forward to it all falling apart and delivering a well-deserved "I told you so" after ensuring he witnessed the entire debacle, of course. But desperate times call for desperate measures...and Hugh was a desperate man. He loved his mother dearly and wanted nothing more than to please her with presenting her with his adoring fiancee. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. And the more he came to know Minerva, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her too.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive...
Hugh should have taken heed of Shakespeare's warning because despite his good intentions neither he nor Minerva could foresee the problems that were to encompass them. Although Giles did, except he was quick to disappear early on in the piece when he was to be the engineer of fate that ended Hugh and Minerva's engagement and impending marriage. Leaving the fake nuptials and their extended families dancing around the entire deception that was both entertaining and comical. Hugh's mother Olivia and her husband Jeremiah were rightly suspicious but still delightfully unaware whilst Diana and Vee, assisted by Hugh's loyal butler Payne and an actress Giles acquired to play the girls' mother, reluctantly performed their parts against their better judgements.
As the plot unravelled, so did the lies and deception, with hilarious consequences. And despite their fake engagement, there is an obvious chemistry between Hugh and Minvera that had me wanting to shake the couple into sense. And despite their convoluted conversations, they still seemed to misinterpret one another's intentions that resulted in many a frustrating foray for the couple...as well as the reader! It is this that makes the tale feel a tad overlong in places but it is still a delightfully entertaining read. And Giles, for all his foolhardiness and bonhomie, is a delightfully unrepentant scoundrel that adds a comic banter to the whole charade. But my favourite would have to be the butler, Payne. OMG...his role in the entire debacle is witty and dutifully hilarious! No butler would dare speak to his master as Payne does but it is done so wonderfully wittily and oh so clever...I just adored his character. The scene where he walks in and helps himself to the brandy in front of everyone is brilliant...as is his late-night to-ing and fro-ing between the uncommunicative couple delivering each of their messages until he decides he is leaving Hugh and his predicament to go to bed. The whole scene was hilarious. I just loved it and I loved Payne.
But of course one cannot help but also fall in love with Hugh and Minerva. They are a delightful pair, so opposite to one another they are perfect for each other. And yet, they fail to see it despite the battle of wills and emotions they each fight with themselves and each other. They are as delightful as they are frustrating.
While NEVER FALL FOR YOUR FIANCEE is a wonderfully funny historical fiction with a touch of regency romance set in 1825 in Hampshire, the locale of the Standish estate, there is a slightly steamy scene for which one might need smelling salts and a hand fan to this otherwise virtuous romantic comedy. The plot is fun and ridiculously over the top in parts but oh so delightfully delicious in others. I use the word "delightful" a lot to describe this tale because it really is. There is no other way to describe it besides hilarious and entertaining. It is like nothing else I've read and so not my usual genre of choice.
While my usual genre of choice is psychological or domestic thriller or wartime fiction, I absolutely adored this hilarious tale and find myself awaiting more adventures of the Merriwell sisters...in the hope that Hugh and Minerva feature prominently of course as their chemistry is just scintillating.
I cannot rate NEVER FALL FOR YOUR FIANCEE high enough though I do drop half a star for drawing the tale out a little longer than I feel was necessary. But whether that was me who had been trying to steal moments to devour this delight whilst in the midst of moving, I cannot say. I give it 4.5 stars but round it up to 5 anyway because it is well-deserved for the sheer pleasure of hilarity.
I would like to thank #VirginiaHeath, #Netgalley, #EternalBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #NeverFallForYourFiancee in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Unashamedly addicted to happily ever afters and terminally cheerful, Virginia cannot wait to launch NEVER FALL FOR YOUR FIANCEE, the first book in her upcoming Merriwell Sisters trilogy for St Martin's Press loose into the world.
When she isn't furiously writing romance fuelled on far too much English tea, she likes to travel to far flung places, shop for things she doesn't need and drag her long suffering husband and her devoted Labrador Trevor on long walks around her native London.
And in case you were wondering, two Romantic Novel of the Year Award nominations and twenty-one books later, it still takes Virginia forever to fall asleep.
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