by Julia Quinn
First published 2022
Cecilia Harcourt faces an impossible situation when her brother Thomas falls wounded in the American Colonies. Rather than accept life with a bitter aunt or marriage to her manipulative cousin, she sails across the Atlantic to find him. Her search leads her not to Thomas but to his unconscious friend, officer Edward Rokesby, who lies gravely injured and forgotten. Cecilia decides to nurse him back to health, telling everyone she is his wife to stay by his bedside. When Edward awakens with six months of memory erased by his head injury, he accepts what everyone tells him about their marriage, even though he cannot remember Cecilia's face or their wedding. As Cecilia continues the deception, she falls deeper in love with the man she pretends to have married. She gives herself completely to Edward, knowing her lie could destroy everything. When Edward's memory returns and the truth emerges, both must face the consequences of the fiction that brought them together.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, historical-romance, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating, found-family
Setting: American Colonies, Atlantic Ocean
Period: 19th-century
400 pages · ebook · Avon