Never Fall for Your Fiancée

Minerva is hired to pose as an earl's fiancée when his mother comes to visit.

Minera Merriwell is struggling. Her mother is dead and her father left her to raise her two younger sisters in a world where women rarely have professions. To earn money to feed her family, she carves wood blocks for printing presses; her customers use them to mass-produce product advertisements.

Hugh Standish is the Earl of Fareham and has thus far thwarted his mother's matchmaking attempts from her home in America by making up a fiancée named Minerva, who he has put through illnesses and deaths in the family to prolong their engagement and keep his mother from returning to England.

When Minerva is trying to collect payment from a customer refusing to pay for her services, bystander Hugh comes to her aid. When he finds out this beautiful woman's name is also Minerva, he hatches a plan to have her pose as his fiancée for his mother's impending visit. Minerva desperately needs the money and can't refuse when he offers her more than she'd make in a year or more to go along with the charade.

Because Hugh's version of Minerva has a mother and a dead father, an over-the-top actress is hired to play her mother. Their plan begins with having Minerva run away with his friend Giles, thus ending their engagement. But Hugh's mother arrives early while he is still training Minerva to be "his" Minerva.

The question of their machinations being discovered is when -- and not if -- as the story changes with each new curve ball thrown at the couple. But of course, the real danger lies in them falling for their fiancé(e).

Recommended for fans of historical romance, Jane Austen, and fake dating stories.

Virginia Heath is a fan of happily ever afters and English tea. She lives in London.

Series: The Merriwell Sisters, #1

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (print); Random House Audio

Narrators: Shane East & Shakira Shute

Running Time: 11 hours, 29 minutes

Length: 368 pages

Release Date: November 9, 2021

I received a galley copy of this title from the publisher as a librarian review copy.