This is my first Vivienne Lorret historical romance. I picked it up because I feel like I’m forever chasing the Good Book Noise™ or rather Good Book Experience I had with Tessa Dare’s When a Scot Ties the Knot. I want a leading character who plays along with the lie of being betrothed, or dating, etc. It’s a slightly different flavor of fake dating with a little more oomph and tension. Rather than two people entering into a mutually beneficial fake relationship, having a single character’s lie lead to a fake relationship scoots this trope toward enemies to lovers. Additional tension is built into the conflict because one person can expose the other and could potentially ruin the plan. Understandably, that opposite party is peeved, but sees some benefit in going along with it and that’s more my jam.
Ultimately, though, this book did not get close to recreating that experience. It was slightly above “fine,” but two of the three portions of the book were dull or unnecessary.
Verity Hartley is the eldest daughter of a family of thespians who live in a quaint hamlet. She very much feels like the odd one out. She’s too shy to perform and often gets great anxiety at being the center of attention. She’s also nearly twenty-six and unmarried, mostly due to a family scandal in which her father and their neighbor made a poor investment decision and lost a substantial amount of money.
The hero, Magnus (yes, Magnus) Warring, the Duke of Longhurst, is the eldest son of the neighboring family. He holds a grudge against the Hartleys for getting his father embroiled in a bad business decision, leaving their coffers pretty empty, and forcing Magnus to rebuild everything. Magnus has plans to marry an heiress in London, though his proposal is put on hold when gossip begins to travel that Verity Hartley claims they’re betrothed.
Long story short, he’s convinced by his grandmother that “breaking it off” with Verity to immediately court another woman would look poorly. It would be best for both parties to pretend for a week or so and end things when he returns to London. Verity fesses up to Magnus pretty quickly, stating she regrets it, but was desperate to get a longstanding childhood bully off her back. Of course, Magnus assumes that like all of the Hartleys, she’s a liar.
Both Verity and Magnus are…fine. That’s really the most fitting adjective and feels a little damning to use it. Nothing stuck out too much for me. Everyone talks about Verity like she isn’t in the room or says the mostly casually cruel things about her circumstances. It’s quite sad and frustrating. There’s a lot of “eldest child managing the emotions of relatives or handling the family baggage” with both main characters. Also as the eldest child, I’m kind of full up on that sort of dynamic.
There is plenty of sequel bait in the side characters and I’m curious enough to keep an eye on future books to see when they’ll get their own romances.
As I mentioned earlier, the book is set up into three sections: Fake dating in a quirky hamlet, forced proximity in London, and third act bleak moment. Part one was a slog (as I found the theater-loving family and nosey townspeople rather annoying) and part three was not really needed.
The impetus for the break up felt a little forced. It occurred too late in the timeline of Verity and Magnus’ relationship to feel plausible and only served as a dramatic detour for the last 50ish pages of the book.
The portion of the book set in London was by far the most interesting. It had some action, it was funny, and I was disappointed that I whipped through it so quickly. I legit laughed out loud during this scene where the main characters found themselves being threatened.
“Hartley, did you bring your daughter to the docks? For shame. So many awful things can happen to a young woman when she’s in the wrong place and the wrong time.”
“You think I look young?” Verity asked at the same time Magnus growled, “Touch her and you’ll die,” and the baron interjected. “I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
It felt very much like two books or ideas trying to fuse together, but I only felt like one was successful or at the very least appealed to my own reading tastes.
I did mention some trigger warnings up at the top that I’d like to briefly explain.
Regarding child abuse, as a child Verity was often locked in a cupboard by her governess and now frequently experiences panic attacks. There is also a very brief scene in which Verity tells Magnus that she had a younger brother who drowned and they don’t speak of it. It’s roughly three or so lines and that’s it.
Reviews for middling books are always the hardest to write. As Sarah says, “These are some words on a page.” I’m curious enough to look for upcoming books in the series, but may temper my expectations a bit more or only pick them up if it’s starring a secondary character I really enjoyed, like the cheeky town reverend Tobias or Miss Snow, a London heiress who loves inventions. This book didn’t make me bang my head against the wall, but it’s certainly not going on my keeper shelf either. It’s simply…fine.
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I enjoyed this book but that could be because a) I loved Verity and b) I imagined a future where Verity and her new bff are a couple. They had great on page chemistry! So anyway, Verity plus future poly triangle (in my head at least) made this book a lot more fun than it sounds like it was for you.
For a fun, fluffy, old school fake engagement/one person’s a liar, hunt down Lucy’s Scoundrel by Barbara Neil. It’s a Harlequin Regency #41 from 1990/91 and I quite enjoyed it (of course, I read it in 1990).
This is how I feel about all of Loret’s work TBH. I haven’t read a single book of hers that’s climbed above a C.