A review by beckyyreadss
The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband by Julia Quinn

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I loved the Bridgerton series and was missing them. My brother bought me this series for my birthday over two years ago, but I wanted to finish the Bridgerton series first. I enjoyed the first book, but this book just fell off the cliff. 

This book is based on Cecilia Harcourt and her brother Thomas has been injured on the battlefront in the Colonies. So, Cecelia has two options, move in with a maiden aunt or marry her 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 is unconscious and in desperate need of her care, and Cecila vows that she will save this soldier’s life, even if staying by his side means telling one little. She told everyone she was his wife. When Edward comes to, he is 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 Cecila 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 neighbour back in England. Cecila 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.  

I still adore Julia Quinn’s writing style. It didn’t like I was back in time. I mean obviously they were talking about the fact that it took her over a month to get to New York because she was traveling by boat and not by plane. Edward was such a gentleman, and I adored him. He wakes up with no memories and told he was married, and he just accepted it no questions asked. Then started acting like the perfect husband but just knew that the marriage hadn’t been consummated and was worried that she was going to leave. I loved the letters between Thomas and Cecelia and how Edward would jump into the letters and join in with the banter.  

I struggled with the storyline; I didn’t like the miscommunication. Cecelia had so many options to tell Edward what had happened and why she did what she did. But she waited until after she slept with him. If it was the other way round, the girl would have called the guy a rake and being deceitful. I also missed the family dynamic. Like with the Bridgertons, the family dynamic was there. With the Rokesby, we got the family dynamic in the first book, but with this book, we only got a few family dynamics which is at the end of the book and the letters between Thomas and Cecelia. It just felt like there was little chemistry between Edward and Cecelia until after she was going to leave to go home. I think I would have preferred for Cecelia to go home and then Edward to chase after her later. Or Cecelia to show up afterwards.  

Hopefully we get more of the family dynamic within the next book and to see the Rokesbys together and laughing with each other and the banter being back.  
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