surprises of his own for the new
Mrs. Rokesby.
While you were sleeping…
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…
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.
only it were true…
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.
My Review:
This is not my first novel by Julia Quinn and it will definitely not be my last! As usual, her stories are great and one can relate to the characters. The writing is aligned with the period where the action occurs and there are as well moments that will for sure bring a smile.
Cecilia has never met Edward Rokesby, but they have shared some lines in letters she addressed to her brother. They have started a long distance friendship and at some point in their letters, they became attached. But when her brother went missing and Cecilia’s future was in danger, she goes out looking for him. To her surprise, she ends up tending for Edward in a hospital and assuming a pretend role of a wife. When he wakes with no memory of the past few months, she will have to find the perfect moment to reveal the truth to him. But his name open up so many possibilities to find her missing brother and Edward’s heath is still fragile, that finding this moment never seems to be the right one.
A book full of funny moments and dialogues, “The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband” offers us some glimpses inside military camps, the newly discovered territories from the New World and the life from that time. Cecilia is a respected woman, but without a husband she has no means to support herself, especially since her father left everything to the care of a shady cousin. She finds the courage to travel across the ocean, never even imagining ending up next to officer Rokesby. The attraction they feel for each other seems sudden, but they had so many letters exchanged, that the feeling has grown up in time. So for Edward it would seem logical that his best friend insisted on a marriage between him and his sister.
The conflict building up inside Cecilia’s soul was very well captured in words. I could very much relate to her and I could understand the difficulty of her choices. And spending time with an attractive man would make things much more complicated, or maybe pretending to be a wife comes much more easer. All these secrets will come to light in a great ending – my favorite scene from the book!
All in all, I loved this story and if you are a fan of historical romance or romance in general, I am sure you have read at least one book from Julia Quinn and my review will come as a confirmation. If you have not yet enjoyed one of her titles, please do start with this one, as it will for sure be to your liking.
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