_shannoncarroll 's review for:

Something in the Heir by Suzanne Enoch

2.5

funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book has: logical gaps in the plot, adults who think “adopting” orphans just for eight weeks to fool your family is rather gross, a repeated slur for the Romani people, and almost no romance whatsoever in a book marketed as one. But it’s a cute concept with a fun, farcical plot, so maybe you’re the type of reader who can put its issues on the back burner and enjoy this book. 

The base of this book is a fun idea — two people enter into a fake marriage and are brought together by crazy circumstances — and Suzanne Enoch makes the very trope-y concept feel fresh. The writing is cute and quirky, and she captures tons of different perspectives (eight, I think?) cleverly and gives each character a distinct voice. There are enough screwball-ish happenings to make my “Bringing Up Baby”–loving heart happy, and the relationship between the two main characters and the children they “adopt” are occasionally heartwarming. (The kids consistently steal the show within these pages.)

But like I said, there are issues. I think the biggest problem with this book is the treatment of the children. Renting orphans — while telling them they’ll eventually be discarded (but don’t worry, they won’t have to go back to the orphanage) felt icky. And no “oh, think of this as a fun holiday!” or “we’re helping educate them so they can have a better future” can get around that. The kids have no agency and are treated as cute little props to further the adults’ agenda. I mean, they literally decide to go to an orphanage after thinking “if only there was a shop for children,” which… yuck. In this book, the main character, Emmie, has told her family she has two kids, and everyone believes her. (She tells her family the kids are sickly, so no one has ever seen them.) Yet all of Emmie’s friends and neighbors know she doesn’t have kids. I know that some families aren’t close and that she meticulously crafted fake stories and milestones about “her” kids (you’ll never convince me she isn’t a Virgo), but c’mon. In the Regency era, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot to do other than gossip about people! 

This book is promoted as a romance — but there’s really no chemistry between Emmie and her husband, Will, and there’s little development in their relationship other than a “I had no idea you felt this way!” I have more chemistry with the bag of Takis sitting next to me as I’m writing this review than those two do. (Those spicy, tempting red snacks have my number, OK?) I never got those butterflies in my stomach or ever felt there was anything particularly adorable about the couple. It’s fine to write a Regency screwball comedy — actually I’d encourage it and would preorder it ASAP — but you have to commit. And this one teetered on the edge but never tipped all the way over. The book came across almost like Enoch didn’t know how to balance the romance with the chaotic happenings. You can have romance in screwballs, but you need there to be tension between the two romantic leads (*cough* Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn *cough*). 

Everything in this book felt like too much of a mishmash to really hold together. The pacing felt off, the romance felt off, the main plot point felt off… you get the picture. Go watch “Philadelphia Story” and imagine them in Empire waistlines and coats with tails, instead. 

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.