** spoiler alert ** Ms Alexander is a comfort author and I'm slowly reading through her backlist :) The Husband List was not her best work, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. I liked the characters and their maturity. I liked that Gillian thought long and hard before considering a marriage of convenience and that ultimately, the lure of independence was irresistible. It's no secret that it was hard to be a woman in those time and therefore wanting to be independent is totally understandable. As for Richard, I liked how he figured so quickly that he wanted a real marriage with Gillian. I also admire Richard a lot for the way he stepped up after his father's death, dealing with the debts, his four younger sisters... I liked that he thought outside the box and worked, even though anonymously, to come up with income. Something else I enjoyed was Richard's friendship with Gillian's brother and Gillian's friendship with her two childhood friends. It's just fun to see characters interact with their friends :P

I thought the romance was okay. I enjoyed it, but hoped for more. I think it's unfortunate that Ms Alexander had to resort to a "secret identity" to move the romance along. I just wished the characters would have interacted more as themselves and work through their issues. However, like I said, an enjoyable read :)