About the Book:
Catching a husband has never been so complicated.
Matthew Harrison has only one task in life: to marry money. After failing miserably in London, his family takes matters into their own hands by arranging his marriage to the wealthy Lucy Bateman. But when he meets Lucy for the first time, his resolve to save his family from ruin crumbles. Lucy looks to be nothing more than a child, and he cannot fathom going through with the union. Without a thought for the consequences of his actions, he runs away.
Lucy Bateman didn’t like the idea of an arranged marriage, but she agreed in order to save her sister from suffering the same fate. However, when she played a trick on her groom-to-be by sending her younger sister to meet him in her place, he fled without a word. Now, three years later, Lucy stumbles upon her long-lost fiance working as a cart driver. Fate has given her a second chance and this time there will be no tricks… other than pretending to be someone else entirely in order to convince him to come home and marry her.
My Review:
I loved this novella and seeing how Lucy had to go about winning back her promised betrothed after her prank backfired. I have to say that Lucy paid for her mistake by enduring outings with Matthew's mother in hopes that he would return soon.
The fictitious names that Lucy and Matthew created for themselves were genius! Lucy chose the name Ms. Shroud and Matthew, Mr. Scarper, Both names were indicative of how they felt about their situation. Having Lucy "observe" Mr. Scarper on his delivery routes to truly get to know the real Matthew was clever.
Esther Hatch writes some of the funniest physical comedy scenes I have ever read and the cart incident made me laugh as I could picture Lucy nearly falling out. I could just imagine her embarrassment and humiliation after such an episode.
Portraying Matthew's character and integrity as he had to resist the temptation of the enticement to kiss Ms. Shroud made me truly see the man he was. Lucy was able to witness firsthand that he was faithful to her even after all of these years. Being industrious and choosing to make his own living were other wonderful character qualities of Matthew that made me want to tell Lucy to confess all and admit who she was to him.
I enjoyed reading this clean and wholesome story and recommend it for readers of all ages. I hope there will be more stories like this to follow by Ms. Hatch.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
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