Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband

I was very interested to see how this worked out - the fake-marriage trope but only one member of the marriage knows that it is fake. I was looking forward to the reveal, both parties sharing their true feelings and a happily ever after. However, that didn't happen.

Instead, her brother died, the mystery as to where Edward was when he lost his memory was that he got clobbered over the head by a fisherman (that is never really explained) and both characters lie to each other repeatedly over and over again. They mystery seemed to be building up to something much more exciting and then everything just fizzled out.

Even the ending left me cold - she runs away and he follows abandoning his spot in the British army (although he does give notice, it is out character). Then they get married on the ship. That's it. He even lies to her during the reconciliation scene.

The only reason I kept writing is because I love Julia Quinn's writing style (but even in this book found some anachronisms extremely distracting which is not usual for me at all). I don't imagine I will ever reread this one but I will still try out some others.

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ariannam's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

So, Julia Quinn CAN write a couple with chemistry that you actually root for. I think this novel still had some glaring flaws—i.e. heavy subject, but then it's All Romance All The Time even when the book should've given more space to other feelings, and let more time elapse. Still, I really liked this couple and believed in their romance, so that is lovely!

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