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His Makeshift Wife
Spirited Briony Winters can't believe her ears. Her beloved godmother's will pushes her into marriage—with notorious rake Luke Kingsley. But when her wickedly handsome husband-to-be promises not to claim his rights, Briony takes a deep breath and says, "I do."Luke is used to having secrets, and he's keeping his true reasons for marrying Briony hidden. Let her believe him merely another spoiled, indebted rakehell. Yet it's increasingly hard to hide his real self from his ever more inquisitive wife….
Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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81 people want to read
About the author
Anne Ashley
87 books29 followersAnne Ashley was born in Leicester, England, UK, where she was educated. She lived for a long time in Scotland, but she now lives in the West Country, England, with her husband, two sons and two cats. She writes historical romances for Mills & Boon since 1997.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 8, 2012
overwrought prose, too much introspection and too little action or dialog bogged down what little plot there was... heroine's suddenly deciding she was "in lurve" with a man she basically did not know was also just unbelievable... I Do Not Recommend this one.
April 29, 2020
Oooo, this was a tough one to power through on. I had some doubts and wanted to bow out a few times. There simply wasn't anything here to hold onto that had promise. Not even a secondary character I could enjoy from alternate scenes of when our two leads were together.
And, wow, it's been a while since I've been locked into a book where there has been absolutely no discerning chemistry between MCs, at any point in time. Not at the beginning and not even toward the end when our heroine learns her "husband" has been lying through his teeth to her about why he is really there, married to her, in their family's house. Well, okay, it's Briony's godmother's house and I believe Luke is hooked to the woman through actual bloodlines, but man, was there truly nothing there between them.
The summary leads readers on a *wink*wink* merry chase but in truth, it was an empty mystery to find out. Luke and Briony used to "play" together as children in the very home they live in through their marriage. But every time Briony will step back and give us a childhood memory, Luke will simply checkout and not recall a god-damn thing. It made me often wonder if we had the real "Luke" or was this guy playing "Luke", but really someone else who served with him, in order to swindle a spot in this household.
And it wasn't even a dirty dark secret. Luke is ex-military who is sent back home, I believe, so he can discover a smuggling ring that seems to run in his Aunt's town. And there is some hidden secret passageway down in her cellar...wine cellar, what-have-you.
So, for some dumb reason, without any qualms to this sudden credence to the Will...Briony & Luke, who are the two heirs to her fortune and estate MUST MARRY and then stay married for 6-months, for some ridiculous reasoning. And if they can't stand one another, they can divorce or do whatever needs to be done to exit the marriage. I guess Briony, as goddaughter, and Luke, as Nephew...they are the two people the old lady dearly loved so she wanted to mash them--or force them to cohabitate, wishing for them to fall in love. Or maybe she recalls them as children enjoying one another and wishes for it to have blossomed or that it will blossom when they are older...and strong-armed into a marriage with no sex or intimacy.
Every once and a while, Luke will do some weird "I am your husband. Let me touch you. Invade your space uncomfortably"...and I will feel weirded out. In no way, shape or form have these two established any modicum of chemistry much less...ugh, it was just so mind-boggling and nasty when the night after they wed, Luke walks from his bed-chamber to Briony's, sits on her bedside and reaches out to touch her as if simply because he married her, mere hours ago, she should give him a night in bed???
Well, the scene felt like he was simply waiting for her compliance, but luckily, I think Briony was not-feeling much of anything for Luke, so, yeah, she told him "Don't touch me. In fact, don't ever touch me." and then he was like "well, all right then, I won't touch you unless you ask me to come to your bed". To which I think he uses this as some seductive tactic throughout the rest of the book as we are given some idea they have bonded, become friends, rekindled whatever they had as children.
Who knows. Readers never see this happening at all. We are told this awesome development has happened between them, sometimes in a major time jump or two, when the timeline needs to move faster...how Briony & Luke bond and grow friendly--??? Which was throwing us off-kilter because there is no written proof for our reading eyes to bear witness to this ever happening.
And this dumb smuggling ring thing took up too damn much of their marriage. Luke sneaking out of his bed, going down to the cellar and disappearing. And then like an idiot thinking she is in a Gothic Romance, Briony would try to sleep and hear noises and start exiting her bed, leave her bedroom to go searching. Sometimes following behind Luke...and she would get down to the cellar and she would lose him. Like he would literally vanish into the walls. This happened so many times it was aggravating, because one knew at some point she was so dogged to figure out what was Luke's purpose for even being here that she investigated so many of his private activities. And she often saved his stupid idiotic butt when she followed him, especially when he got shot in the shoulder.
I really don't appreciate a story with secret spies of the Crown and stupid secret smuggling rings in a nice, sweet grandma's cellar. It tries hard to be suspenseful and then it tries hard to be "oooo, so mysterious"...and then when it involves duping a female with a marriage of convenience...thereby, letting Briony think she needs to know ALL THE SECRETS and then start helping Luke do his spy job. Like this is a fun caper historical romance...when it isn't even a romance...or fun...or a caper. The only thing it is is historical.
And, wow, it's been a while since I've been locked into a book where there has been absolutely no discerning chemistry between MCs, at any point in time. Not at the beginning and not even toward the end when our heroine learns her "husband" has been lying through his teeth to her about why he is really there, married to her, in their family's house. Well, okay, it's Briony's godmother's house and I believe Luke is hooked to the woman through actual bloodlines, but man, was there truly nothing there between them.
The summary leads readers on a *wink*wink* merry chase but in truth, it was an empty mystery to find out. Luke and Briony used to "play" together as children in the very home they live in through their marriage. But every time Briony will step back and give us a childhood memory, Luke will simply checkout and not recall a god-damn thing. It made me often wonder if we had the real "Luke" or was this guy playing "Luke", but really someone else who served with him, in order to swindle a spot in this household.
And it wasn't even a dirty dark secret. Luke is ex-military who is sent back home, I believe, so he can discover a smuggling ring that seems to run in his Aunt's town. And there is some hidden secret passageway down in her cellar...wine cellar, what-have-you.
So, for some dumb reason, without any qualms to this sudden credence to the Will...Briony & Luke, who are the two heirs to her fortune and estate MUST MARRY and then stay married for 6-months, for some ridiculous reasoning. And if they can't stand one another, they can divorce or do whatever needs to be done to exit the marriage. I guess Briony, as goddaughter, and Luke, as Nephew...they are the two people the old lady dearly loved so she wanted to mash them--or force them to cohabitate, wishing for them to fall in love. Or maybe she recalls them as children enjoying one another and wishes for it to have blossomed or that it will blossom when they are older...and strong-armed into a marriage with no sex or intimacy.
Every once and a while, Luke will do some weird "I am your husband. Let me touch you. Invade your space uncomfortably"...and I will feel weirded out. In no way, shape or form have these two established any modicum of chemistry much less...ugh, it was just so mind-boggling and nasty when the night after they wed, Luke walks from his bed-chamber to Briony's, sits on her bedside and reaches out to touch her as if simply because he married her, mere hours ago, she should give him a night in bed???
Well, the scene felt like he was simply waiting for her compliance, but luckily, I think Briony was not-feeling much of anything for Luke, so, yeah, she told him "Don't touch me. In fact, don't ever touch me." and then he was like "well, all right then, I won't touch you unless you ask me to come to your bed". To which I think he uses this as some seductive tactic throughout the rest of the book as we are given some idea they have bonded, become friends, rekindled whatever they had as children.
Who knows. Readers never see this happening at all. We are told this awesome development has happened between them, sometimes in a major time jump or two, when the timeline needs to move faster...how Briony & Luke bond and grow friendly--??? Which was throwing us off-kilter because there is no written proof for our reading eyes to bear witness to this ever happening.
And this dumb smuggling ring thing took up too damn much of their marriage. Luke sneaking out of his bed, going down to the cellar and disappearing. And then like an idiot thinking she is in a Gothic Romance, Briony would try to sleep and hear noises and start exiting her bed, leave her bedroom to go searching. Sometimes following behind Luke...and she would get down to the cellar and she would lose him. Like he would literally vanish into the walls. This happened so many times it was aggravating, because one knew at some point she was so dogged to figure out what was Luke's purpose for even being here that she investigated so many of his private activities. And she often saved his stupid idiotic butt when she followed him, especially when he got shot in the shoulder.
I really don't appreciate a story with secret spies of the Crown and stupid secret smuggling rings in a nice, sweet grandma's cellar. It tries hard to be suspenseful and then it tries hard to be "oooo, so mysterious"...and then when it involves duping a female with a marriage of convenience...thereby, letting Briony think she needs to know ALL THE SECRETS and then start helping Luke do his spy job. Like this is a fun caper historical romance...when it isn't even a romance...or fun...or a caper. The only thing it is is historical.
December 29, 2019
Harlequin Regency romance.
April 21, 2020
A little slow in parts but when it gets going, it's a decent read. There is smuggling and spying for the french involved so you get a little mystery with the romance.
May 20, 2018
A quite good story with a discreet romance
September 18, 2012
This was truly a great book to read. I enjoyed it very much. I really admire Luke, because of the idea that he kept his trueself hidden. It was strange and but once it was shown I was all the more surprised. Briony was a great character and I admired so much that she searched and searched to know who he really was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2012
A little cliched, but we all knew what would happen in this one anyway. Still, it was an agreeable way to pass the afternoon, reading in the sunshine with two dogs at my feet, staring longingly at my chocolate stash, so i won;t complain too much. The usual Harlequin fare, not much stands out about this one.
September 30, 2013
Mildly entertaining, this may have been better as a novella since the story is very straight to the point and absolutely no surprises; the author however, decided to stretch it on and on and on and on..... It's not bad, it's just not memorable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews