Reviews

Something About Emmaline by Elizabeth Boyle

girlwithhearteyes's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars 

I agree with the reviews that describe this as silly and implausible, but super entertaining. 

The plot is basically: Alexander (a Baron) has the perfect wife Emmaline… because he made her up. So why is he receiving very real bills for purchases made by his wife?? Lot of shenanigans and an MMC that ends up being very besotted - two things I always love in a historical romance. 

My attention did wander a little around the 60% mark, but overall I had a great time listening to this audiobook. 

sweehan's review against another edition

3.0

For me the cadence of the prose was off. I kept re-arranging the sentences in my mind to make it sound right. But I was willing to put up with that as I liked the very original plot.

However, what could have been a 4-star book for me became a 3-star book when I found out

Spoiler

the fictitious wife's father, imagined by the hero, was the real father of the imposter playing his wife.

. I'm quite adept at suspending my disbelief for fiction. For me, though, this twist went a step too far and and spoiled the ending.

iskanderjonesiv's review

Alexander Denford, Baron Sedgwick, is a gentleman to be envied. He lives a rakish life of well-celebrated ease and contentment and has one person to thank for his perfectly ordered existence—his dearest wife, Emmaline. She never complains about his mistresses or his penchant for late nights out. His friends are envious, but they don't know the truth—Emmaline doesn't exist. But when he starts receiving bills from London for clothes, shoes, hats and a staggering amount of other female accoutrements, he realises something is decidedly amiss.

Posing as Emmaline isn't a stretch for the newly arrived Lady Sedgwick, she's been conning gentry for years. But as the popular baron's wife, she now has the one thing that has eluded her—entree into London's inner circles. Against Alexander's better judgment, Emmaline is impossibly fixed in his life. And suddenly Emmaline is challenging him to be the husband she deserves.

**

From Booklist

Alexander Denford has the perfect wife. The fact that Lady Emmaline Denford is a mere figment of his imagination is, naturally, the primary reason for her perfection. Five years earlier, in an effort to stave off hordes of matchmaking mothers, the baron invented his fictitious wife. So far the arrangement has worked wonderfully, allowing Alex to lead the kind of orderly (though some would say dull) life he favors. But when bills for goods ordered by Lady Denford suddenly start appearing, Alex sets off for London, where he discovers his "wife." This Emmaline is nothing like the quiet, nondescript woman he imagined; she is bold, beautiful, and all-too tempting. Even so, Alex intends to send the meddling minx packing, but Emmaline has other ideas. With a deliciously tart sense of wit and whimsy and a wickedly elegant style, RITA Award--winning author Boyle fashions another lusciously romantic, completely irresistible literary confection. John Charles

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Elizabeth Boyle has always loved romance and now lives it each and every day by writing adventurous and passionate stories that readers from all around the world have described as “page-turners.” Since her first book was published, she’s seen her romances become New York Times and USA Today bestsellers and has won the RWA RITA® and the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards. She resides in Seattle with her family, her garden, and her always-growing collection of yarn. Readers can visit her at www.elizabethboyle.com, or follow her own adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  www.avonromance.com www.facebook.com/avonromance 

difficultwomanreads's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pyiab's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

nighteyes82's review against another edition

DNF
I did not finish it. it was just way too boring for me. I did not have any spark of interest for either of the two heroes...

tortoasa's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

3.5

seeinghowitgoes's review against another edition

2.0

A Bachelor trying desperately to avoid the marriage market decides to fool the ton by inventing a wife! His problems are all solved with the invention of Emmaline, a frail sickly wife who resides mostly in the countryside (apart from when he himself is in the countryside and of course then is in London). Problems arise when he returns home to his house in London to find... Emmaline?

A rather amusing little story (that takes a bit of time to get into at the beginning) and provided a few truly entertaining side characters. The end game was something very similiar to a Georgette Heyer novel, lots of circumstance finally coming together for the conclusion.

falulatonks's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed 75% of this SO MUCH that I paused to come on Goodreads and update my status just to drive-by mention how much I was loving this. And I'm still v happy I read this - it's charming and lively without sounding put-on and fake and stilted, and I loved the characters. Alex and his "dullness" and how much the people who've known him acknowledge his increasing likability was a favourite, because a) it's really nice to see a man being the somewhat plain one? not cantankerous and Dark and Evil and Sad, but someone who's just known to be just. there. and his subsequent shift towards this likable personality doesn't feel sudden, because you can see traces of his humour and warmth and how much he likes to tease - it's just that Emmaline made him someone happier, someone who wants to respond to her constantly, making him more openly funny and warm and kind. Emmaline was rad, too - loved that her backstory was basically gambling, and not something dark and sordid. And I loved their conversations, the two of them, the way they gelled. her pretending to fall sick to get out of the opera one night and him jumping on it to get out of it too, and her getting annoyed at him for doing it. gosh. super charming.

I can't say the rest of this book fell apart in any way, because I think it was great at carrying its lightness through to the end, but I did feel like gettin to the ultimate (and obvious) conclusion took a little too long? it just got fiddly - I was expecting certain story beats to be hit, certain things to be revealed, and they happened just the way I expected them to. I just got a little tired of it by the end - not the book itself, nor the characters, but just tired of reading what I knew I should skip. should've skipped a bit there.

till, one of the best simple Victorian romances I've read in a long time - it didn't concern itself with being deep and influential, and for how simple it is it was told smartly and with humour, and that made this a really enjoyable read. I may pick up some of her other stuff, but I wonder how much of this she can retain. Hopefully a lot!

I'm so tired. May edit after sleeping on this.

bookishdancer's review against another edition

5.0

Loved it ….