mrs_mander_reads
Written on Jan 22, 2021
RETURN TO THE WORLD OF THE BRIDGERTONS . . .
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Go back to where it all began with the second book in Sunday Times bestselling author Julia Quinn's dazzlingly witty Bridgerton prequel series. A generation before the Bridgertons, there were the Rokesbys . . .
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.
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Find out why readers love Julia Quinn . . .
"Quinn writes delightfully fast-paced, funny, sparkling and bright romance' Romantic Times
'The next best thing to Georgette Heyer' Gloss
'A smart, funny touch. . . reminiscent of Helen Fielding' Time Magazine
'Julia Quinn's Bridgerton books take all of the classic tropes we know and love... and gives them a thoroughly modern twist...they're hot, crazy, and full of feisty women relishing in the carnal delights that come from bedding rakish aristocrats... I can't focus on anything else.' - Stylist
'Powered by a surfeit of dazzling wit and graced with a cast of unforgettable characters' Booklist
'Quinn is incomparable! The latest addition to her beloved Bridgerton series is funny, charming, witty and wildly romantic' RT Book Reviews
'Like an episode of Downtown Abbey mixed with a great rom-com' iBooks Best Books of March
'Julia Quinn is one of the best historical romance novelists of our time' Heroes and Heartbreakers
'Quinn excels in writing stories full of joy and delight, where laughter trembles on the edges' Happy Ever After
'Quinn is a master of historical romance' Entertainment Weekly
'Full of wit, charm and smouldering attraction . . . an unputdownable story that I think romance fans will treasure' Harlequin Junkie
'This book was an utter delight . . . I just loved it' Love in a time of Feminism
- ISBN10 0349410542
- ISBN13 9780349410548
- Publish Date 30 May 2017
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 5 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
- Imprint Piatkus Books
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 384
- Language English
Reviews
nitzan_schwarz
Written on Sep 29, 2018
I mean, I really enjoyed it, no doubt about that, but I did feel like I didn't quite know why they were in love with each other since the majority of that process had happened off page in correspondences they've had for a year. We are given a taste of it, but not enough for me. Like, they were adorable, but very much in love from around page one, so I felt like I missed all the fun lol
funstm
Written on Nov 13, 2017
Kait ✨
Written on Jun 1, 2017
stacey_is_sassy
Written on May 24, 2017
Should I base my rating on my feelings at the end of the book?
I could easily tell you that I finished The Girl With The Make-Believe Husband (geez, that’s a mouthful) with a big smile on my face. There’s even a chance I could say that the ending left me satisfied and excited for more. I’d even go as far as to say that that ending was a 5-star ending. Unfortunately, I can't rate a book on the ending alone. For most of this journey, I wanted to throttle the heroine. I could have easily reached into the book, dragged Miss Harcourt out by her hair and lectured her about honesty and growing a backbone. If only the hero hadn't taken a blow to the head. Seriously, I wanted better for him.
I won’t need to go on too much in this review because it’s pretty straight forward. This chickie’s father dies, and a slimy cousin wants to marry her. She decides to travel across the Atlantic to visit her injured brother who is stationed in New York with the Army. On arrival, turns out her brother is missing and his best friend is in the hospital. Now, this best friend is sort of her penpal. They won’t let her see him because she’s not family. Well, her answer to that was to make herself “family”. He wakes up, finds out he has a wee problem with his memory and is gobsmacked to find out he has a wife. What follows is a tale full of…
LIES, LIES…AND A FEW MORE LIES
The End
Ok, I admit, there’s a wee bit more to it than that but I seriously struggled to get past the LIES and it went on for most of the bloody story.
Miss Cecilia Harcourt - LIAR
Captain Edward Rokesby – Son of an Earl, handsome, strong, loyal and a devoted friend.
There are plenty of other things that I grew to admire about Edward but I can honestly say that I struggled to like Cecilia. She came across as weak, conniving and self-serving. Yes, she had her reasons and they weren’t all bad but, to me, her bad outweighed her good.
If this story, and my rating, could be based solely on Captain Rokeby, I would easily rate it 4 or 5 stars. With Miss Harcourt in the mix, I struggled...lordy how I struggled. As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the ending. I just wished that the truth had come out a lot earlier. I wanted to see them together together, not just with secrets and lies marring their happiness.
I am a huge fan of Julia Quinn and will always love her writing. Unfortunately, The Girl With The Make-Believe Husband just missed it by that much (think Maxwell Smart). Of course, this will not make me hesitate to read more of her books in the future.
Stacey is Sassy, received an advanced copy of this story. The copy provided is not the final copy and may be subject to edits and changes.
Cocktails and Books
Written on May 15, 2017
Cecilia Harcourt loved her brother Thomas. They were all each other had. They had a father but he wasn’t there for them in the way they were there for each other. Cecilia wrote to her brother who was in the army constantly. In writing to her brother she got to know her brother’s best friend and roommate Edward Rokesby.
So when she finds herself in Manhattan Island looking for her brother, she doesn’t hesitate to come to the aid of Edward. Cecilia learns Edward is in the hospital and poses as his wife. When Edward wakes up and can’t remember anything from the last four months Cecilia lets him believe they are married. Cecilia and Edward both are trying to find out what happened to Thomas who is missing. Edward is also trying to recover his memories.
Although the book is a bit predictable, it is a good story that is thoroughly entertaining. Cecilia has a great personality and courage that is sometimes lacking in some classic heroines. Edward is predictably overprotective. He is immediately upset when he learns of the housing arrangements for Cecilia and demands she be placed somewhere better. I love how they both love each other despite having never met in person before. I really enjoyed it and the slight plot twists made the story different and kept me engaged. Cecilia and Edward fall in love and inevitably Edward regains his memory and the mystery is solved. However this brings about new challenges for them both.
kimbacaffeinate
Written on May 8, 2017
When Cecilia's father passes and Thomas is injured her scheming cousin makes plans to wed her. Of course, the only responsible thing to do is travel to America to find her brother! Quinn hooked me from the start, and I absolutely loved the correspondence we were made privy to at the beginning of each chapter.
When Cecilia arrives she cannot locate her brother but discovers that Edward is unconscious in a church converted into a makeshift hospital. When she is unable to attend him, she declares herself his wife...and then he wakes up!
Poor Edward awakens missing six months of memory and finds himself married. He cannot even remember the wedding. Oh, what fun! While I did get a little annoyed at Cecilia for not being straight with Edward. I understood her reasons and laughed at some of her quick thinking comments regarding their supposed relationship. Their conversations, the awkwardness, and inner thoughts had me smiling and laughing.
The romance was slow-burning despite the nuptials and had a surprising buildup. Their chemistry felt genuine and I found myself truly wishing for an HEA. The ending had a few twists, a little heartache, and some humor all of which kept me flipping the pages.
Copy provided by the publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Rowena
Written on Jul 7, 2016
Edward was everything that I hoped he’d be. He was fun, flirty and a little rough around the edges. He was a good man at heart and he protected those close to him and he considered Cecelia close. He’s never met her in real life before but when he wakes up from an injury and finds out that she has been by his side for days now and that they’re…married, he doesn’t question it. He steps up and does what he can for Cecelia. She’s his best friend’s sister and she’s a good person so if she says they’re married then it must be true.
Only it’s not and the only person that knows that is Cecelia. Sure, she has a legit reason for telling everyone that they’re married and that reason is why she ran away from England but I have a hard time with secret plots and this particular secret messed with my enjoyment of the book as a whole because Cecelia took too long to come clean with Edward. I sympathized with her because she’s pretty much all alone in the world now and with a money hungry cousin sniffing around, I get that she felt like she had no choice but to lie but the longer she kept the lie from Edward is where I started having issues with her. I didn’t care about her lying to everyone else. That was necessary but when it became unnecessary for her to lie to Edward, she should have come clean and she didn’t.
I loved Edward’s character. I could totally see him fitting in perfectly with the rest of his family back home. I loved seeing him fall in love with Cecelia and seeing him keep his distance from her until she was comfortable with him made me laugh because he’d gone without female companionship for a long time and then to have Cecelia so close and not being able to touch her, his wife to boot, poor guy.
Cecelia’s love for her family was something I liked about her. She was a good person at heart and I still liked her as a person. I loved seeing her fall in love with Edward and just be there for him when he needed her was great to witness. She thought of the little things to make his life easier and I loved that she handled all of that stuff for him. When she wrote his family to make sure that they knew that he was okay was great and I loved reading her letters to both Thomas and then later, Edward. They were carrying torches for each other long before they met and I liked that Quinn added that to their romance.
My only real gripe with this story was how long it took Cecelia to come clean with Edward. Everything else was more of the same that I’ve come to love about reading a Julia Quinn book. She has a talent for writing humorous love stories that hit me in the feels and this book was no different. It wasn’t my favorite book by hers but it was still a quality read that I’m sure fans of her books will enjoy.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5