Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating:
While you were sleeping...
With her brother Thomas injured on the battlefront in the Colonies, orphaned Cecilia Harcourt has two unbearable choices: move in with a maiden aunt or marry a scheming cousin. Instead, she chooses option three and travels across the Atlantic, determined to nurse her brother back to health. But after a week of searching, she finds not her brother but his best friend, the handsome officer Edward Rokesby. He's unconscious and in desperate need of her care, and Cecilia vows that she will save this soldier's life, even if staying by his side means telling one little lie...
I told everyone I was your wife
When Edward comes to, he's more than a little confused. The blow to his head knocked out six months of his memory, but surely he would recall getting married. He knows who Cecilia Harcourt is—even if he does not recall her face—and with everyone calling her his wife, he decides it must be true, even though he'd always assumed he'd marry his neighbor back in England.
If only it were true...
Cecilia risks her entire future by giving herself—completely—to the man she loves. But when the truth comes out, Edward may have a few surprises of his own for the new Mrs. Rokesby.
I will begin this review with something completely unrelated to the book. I am typing this up whilst it’s 29°C outside and I am running off very little sleep because of warm weather. As such, please forgive all spelling mistakes and grammar issues, I’ll double-check it when it gets below 20°C on an evening so I can actually get a good nights sleep. Also, because I loved the book I don’t guarantee this is spoiler free. Be warned!
Now, onto the book…
I had a few doubts when I first read the summary for this book. I mean, the title alone and the lying about being married, it kind of seems like a recipe for disaster so I was a tad nervous. I don't know why I bothered having doubts, though. I mean, it’s Julia Quinn! She is a queen and it was always going to be brilliant and I apologise for doubting how she was going to successfully get me to root for a couple when one was lying to the other because she totally did. She's a genius. She perfectly crafted these characters so that even though lies were involved I could understand the character motivations for doing so.
The premise is above, but basically Cecelia lied about being Edward’s wife as she travelled to America to search for her brother who was wounded and ends up stumbling upon Edward instead, her brother’s friend. She lies to enable her to care for him when he was unconscious and had every intention to end it as soon as he awoke. Unfortunately, he awakes with amnesia and she realises that his name will help her find her brother who had gone missing! I got Cecelia's motivation for lying and I even felt she was sort of justified. You could totally tell it was eating her up about lying anyway and that made me love her all the more. And I got why Edward cared so much for Cecelia even though they'd never met and I didn't feel too terrible about the lies when she took advantage of his amnesia because you knew he liked her. I should clarify, the two wrote to each other before they met as Edward read all of Cecelia’s letters to her brother until the two had their own little mini correspondence going on. Isn’t that the sweetest?
I loved every page of this book and cannot wait for the next one. I have a lot of words to say about how frustrated I am about the last sentence of that book! That being said, this book was fabulous. I may not have fully understood how Cecelia convinced herself that Edward was in love with Billie (please see book 1 in this series) but that was partially because I've read Because of Miss Bridgerton! But, also, he remembered who she was so how could he have forgotten about their agreement to marry and his love for her? It made no sense. But apart from that small plot point I was totally in love.
Cecelia was such a brilliant character, I instantly felt sympathetic to her plight. I got her motivation for continuing the lie of marriage even after Edward awoke as she tried to find her brother because she loved him so dearly. It was Edward who I truly adored, though. I loved how he was honourable and always trying to do the right thing and not just because he was raised well. He truly was honourable because he was a good person. And he was charming and I adored him. I thought I'd feel terrible for him with the lies and I did want Cecelia to just fess up but I was totally cheering for them to sort their problems and live happily ever after.
I basically loved this book. Definitely a favourite romance of 2017. I don't know how Julia Quinn does it but she is a genius.
What’s your favourite historical romance (or any romance) read of late? And do you find yourself getting nervous about a book based on the summary?
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