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A review by amyiw
A Counterfeit Betrothal by Mary Balogh
2.0
I hate to give anything but a stellar review to Mary Balogh as she is one of my favorite historical romance writers but it seems the ones with overly miscommunication are mostly a miss for me in the hit or miss reissues.
This one really had two romances going on, the counterfeit betrothal of the daughter and her suitor and the broken romance of the parents that she is trying to get together with this betrothal. The main younger couple took back stage to the older couple IMO because the younger couple was constantly bickering and putting one another down. This was a hold over from childhood but didn't make the romance seem happening at all. The few kisses that they have are very innocent and if not, complained about afterward. He pushes her buttons and she over reacts with hateful comments, as in "I hate you" yeap even that or "I'd rather kiss a toad". So it is hard to become enamored of the couple though their working together, supposedly scheming to get the parents together, makes for a good friendship, a romance it doesn't even come close. A very low 2 star for the first couple.
So then there are the parents. Them having gone their separate ways after happens, can be believed. They now have grown into different people yet still the same. After being together for a couple of weeks and working together, both are sure they still feel the same way as they did in the beginning and still love one another. The only problem neither knows how the other might react and instead they react poorly. Their miscommunication just went too far for me in the end here. It started to annoy. The ending was sweet but the length it went to had me angry at both characters but more so at the wife. So almost a 3 star but not quite.
This one really had two romances going on, the counterfeit betrothal of the daughter and her suitor and the broken romance of the parents that she is trying to get together with this betrothal. The main younger couple took back stage to the older couple IMO because the younger couple was constantly bickering and putting one another down. This was a hold over from childhood but didn't make the romance seem happening at all. The few kisses that they have are very innocent and if not, complained about afterward. He pushes her buttons and she over reacts with hateful comments, as in "I hate you" yeap even that or "I'd rather kiss a toad". So it is hard to become enamored of the couple though their working together, supposedly scheming to get the parents together, makes for a good friendship, a romance it doesn't even come close. A very low 2 star for the first couple.
So then there are the parents. Them having gone their separate ways after