Review: The Major’s Faux Fiancée – Erica Ridley

Posted 2 July, 2015 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 10 Comments

*I received a free copy of The Major's Faux Fiancee from Intrepid Reads via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *

Review: The Major’s Faux Fiancée – Erica RidleyThe Major's Faux Fiancee by Erica Ridley
Series: The Dukes of War #4
Published by Intrepid Reads on 1 June 2015
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
Pages: 250
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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4 Stars

When Major Bartholomew Blackpool learns the girl-next-door from his childhood will be forced into an unwanted marriage, he returns home to play her pretend beau. He figures now that he's missing a leg, a faux fiancée is the best an ex-soldier can get. He admires her pluck, but the lady deserves a whole man—and he'll ensure she gets one.

Miss Daphne Vaughan hates that crying off will destroy Major Blackpool's chances of finding a real bride. She plots to make him jilt her first. Who cares if it ruins her? She never wanted a husband anyway. But the major is equally determined that she break the engagement. With both of them on their worst behavior, neither expects their fake betrothal to lead to love...

The Major’s Faux Fiancée was filled with humor and longing. Daphne was a very resourceful woman, but she had some inner monologues that became slightly annoying because she kept on thinking no one would ever love her for herself.

My The Major’s Faux Fiancée review:

The Major’s Faux Fiancée follows Bartholomew and Daphne through their unlikely adventure as an engaged couple. Neither of them think they are good enough for the other, Bartholomew because he came back from Waterloo a broken man – with only one leg, and without his twin brother, he felt like he had become worthless, weak and should hide from society. Daphne on the other hand thinks she’s good for the poor, helping out the weavers, millers and miners, however, she never wanted to get married. After her father’s death, however, that’s the only choice her guardian has given her. Either get married or get sent to bedlam.

Daphne’s plan to get her guardian off her back includes having a pretend-engagement with her old childhood friend. She never dreamed she would like him much more as an adult than she did as a child! And Bartholomew thought there was nothing left for him after losing everything that was important to him in the war. They both realized that life could be much more than they had anticipated, and the chemistry between the two of them was full of sparks. The Major’s Faux Fiancée has quite a few humorous parts, but there are a lot of more serious subjects being treated as well. Namely how the poor were treated by the nobles, how difficult it was to be a single woman in regency times, and how getting to terms with loss is timeless.

As both Daphne and Bartholomew started to become a part of society, some of the characters from prior The Dukes of War stories became a part of their circle, and I enjoyed how the story unfolded. Hope and humor became the main subject as it progressed, and I enjoyed the character development the main characters underwent. I was especially happy to see Daphne’s doubts about being lovable for herself slowly take a back-seat in her thoughts. Written in third person, past tense, both from Daphne’s and Bartholomew’s perspectives, I got a very good sense of them as characters, and their romance was slow-burning and sweet. If you enjoy historical romances, this whole series should make it to your bookshelves.

Some of my favorite The Major’s Faux Fiancée quotes:

Crabtree didn’t move. “It says Miss Daphne Vaughan, sir. Not Hamish.” Daphne? Red-gold plaits and a sunny smile sprang into Bartholomew’s mind. How old was the chit now? Twelve? He hand’ laid eyes on her since he’d left her for Eton back in… His eyes widened as he did the maths. She had to be twenty-one or near enough.

This was what she’d been born to do. Fight for the less fortunate. It would be easier to accomplish had she been born wealthy, male, and titled, but one did what one could with what one had been given. In her case, the power of words. No on knew who stood on the other end of a quill pen.

And then it hit him. The most improbable, unlikely, unfathomable of all circumstances had actually come to pass. He was nervous. Nervous. Him! He didn’t have to wonder if he’d ever felt such a sensation before. He knew well he hadn’t.

This book counts towards the COYER scavenger hunt number 15: Read a book set in the regency era (1 point)

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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10 responses to “Review: The Major’s Faux Fiancée – Erica Ridley

  1. Congrats on reading a Coyer Scavenger Hunt book. This series sounds so good to me. I love historical romance. I have the first of series on my Kindle, but am waiting for the holidays to read it since it has a Christmas setting.

    • I enjoy historical romances every now and then, the dresses and the balls, the different way women were treated… especially when a female character manages to overstep the normal boundaries of those times, I’m loving it.

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