Jillions of Book Reviews

Review: To Have and To Hoax

Violet and James are hilarious! If you loved Bringing Down the Duke, you’ll love this story as well! Violet and James have been married a short time, but something has caused a rift between them. When Violet receives a letter informing her that James has been injured, she rushes to his side … only to find him to be perfectly fine. Violet decides that the best way to make things ‘even’ between the two of them again is to be ill herself – and so, the hoax begins…

It sounds like a hard-to-pull-off plot, but Waters does a superb job and creates characters that you want to root for even while you laugh both at them and with them. Violet and James have wonderful chemistry, and there are just enough twists and turns, just enough will-they or won’t-they to keep you turning pages. This one’s a gem.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

An estranged husband and wife in Regency England feign accidents and illness in an attempt to gain attention—and maybe just win each other back in the process.

Five years ago, Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley met, fell in love, and got married. Four years ago, they had a fight to end all fights, and have barely spoken since.

Their once-passionate love match has been reduced to one of cold, detached politeness. But when Violet receives a letter that James has been thrown from his horse and rendered unconscious at their country estate, she races to be by his side—only to discover him alive and well at a tavern, and completely unaware of her concern. She’s outraged. He’s confused. And the distance between them has never been more apparent.

Wanting to teach her estranged husband a lesson, Violet decides to feign an illness of her own. James quickly sees through it, but he decides to play along in an ever-escalating game of manipulation, featuring actors masquerading as doctors, threats of Swiss sanitariums, faux mistresses—and a lot of flirtation between a husband and wife who might not hate each other as much as they thought. Will the two be able to overcome four years of hurt or will they continue to deny the spark between them?

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