I found this an intensely frustrating read. At times it was wonderful; Grace and Dominic’s first interactions were both charming and hilarious, with Grace’s sass endearing herself to both Dominic and the reader. The reasons for the two of them to have a marriage of convenience were both sensible and pressing.
However, there were also several occasions when the plot became horribly muddled. My suspension of belief failed when the reader was asked to believe that Grace, a well-educated doctor’s daughter and a regular churchgoer, wouldn’t know a marriage would not be legal unless either a special license was procured or the banns were called for three weeks prior to the marriage. Even if she somehow forgot in the heat of the moment, she had several days to think on it and realise something wasn’t quite right before Dominic confessed. Instead, she was genuinely shocked, and I was genuinely rolling my eyes.
In addition, once she suspected he might be married, why not just ask him? Or ask his stepmother and sister-in-law? It wasn’t as though she didn’t have the opportunity, or the strength of character. It irritates me when a character suddenly seems to lose all their intelligence to serve a plot point.
As I said, the book had its good points, but for me they were outweighed by the frustrating ones. Two stars.
(and then I looked at the Amazon page to grab a copy of the book cover for the review and almost died… $25.99 for the Kindle edition? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?)
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.