This novel had a fun premise, but failed to hit the mark for me. I understand that the basis for the plot could have led to funny hijinks and clever-heist montages, but this just felt forced and contrived. The characters, both main and supporting, are one dimensional, show very little growth and don’t have the kind of palpable chemistry you expect from the genre. As for the plot, there were many great set-ups, but at the end it all crumbles predictably with everyone just saying “okay cool” and flouncing away. I wouldn't say it was a bad, or poorly written book, but given the wealth of great novels in the genre, this one could be a pass.

I’m not a regency girl, but I’m also not NOT a regency girl? After binging Bridgerton and the novels that inspired the hit series, I thought I would give this particular romance genre a try.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.

As far as the fake-dating trope goes, this was actually pretty fun and not entirely cheesy. There were a ton of astute and timely observation of marital and gender dynamics that had me highlighting like crazy, as well as some laugh-out-loud moments -- the character of Giles, in particular, is incredible, and I can’t wait for him to get his own story.

The ending wrapped up very quickly and conveniently when it could have been slightly smoother, but overall a great read. Solid four out of five for me!

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for sharing a digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Delightful! Hugh has created a fictional fiancé in letters to his mother. But now she is coming home and he hatches a plan to hire a fiancé for her visit. Quite by accident, he runs into Minerva Merriwell. Minerva is the name he has used fir his fictional fiancé. Fate! Minerva is down on her luck and in charge of her two sisters. She is a bit upset at being dishonest, but the forty pounds Hugh is offering her is a huge temptation. This story is full of madcap situations and characters. A joy to read.

I truly enjoyed this book, not just for the plot but because Heath is a talented writer. Not many can perfectly immerse a reader into Regency Era stories, but it appears Heath did so with ease! Can’t wait for the next one!

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and words are my own.

From reading the blurb I knew this had potential to be one of those books you don’t put down (and it absolutely was IMPOSSIBLE to put down). The idea that a man wouldn’t want to disappoint his mother SO MUCH that he hires a woman to be his fake fiancée is a recipe for disaster and one that was pleasant to giggle through from start to finish. Virginia does an amazing job of painting the cast into their own individuals that perfectly complement one another.

Additionally, the romance was great-I loved watching Hugh and Minerva fall for each other despite their odd circumstances. They perfectly complement each other and seeing the way they worked through everything thrown at them made you cheer for them all that more. For the clever twists and turns to the ending-it was a classic romance wrapped up in a bow.

Never Fall for Your Fiancée was a fun light-hearted read, which is exactly as it was portrayed on the cover and in the blurb. For anyone looking for a regency romance to make them laugh and sigh-I couldn’t recommend anything better (and I’m already waiting for the next Merriwell to find her happy ending, too!)

Two years ago, Hugh made up a fake fiancée named Minerva to get his mother in America to stop nagging him about marriage. When Hugh’s mother gives him short notice that she's on her way across the ocean to meet this mysterious finance, Hugh is left scrambling. After a chance encounter with a woman actually named Minerva, he convinces her to act as his fiancée, meet his mother and then gilt him and run away with his best friend, in exchange for a handsome cash sum. However before Minerva has a chance to run away, Hugh is left questioning his feelings for Minerva.

Hugh is definitely not my favourite male love interest. His rationale for not wanting to get married was absurd and his treatment of both Minerva and his mother was awful. Just grow a pair and tell your mother you don’t want to get married.

I also felt like the pair had zero chemistry which meant there was really no-will-they-or-won’t they sexual tension. That being said, it was still an entertaining read. I definitely enjoyed the story more after Hugh’s mother arrived and the stakes increased. Minerva’s sisters and Giles were wonderful contrasts to the main characters and actually provided much needed comic relief from the seriousness of Hugh and Minerva. My favourite scene was definitely when the actress hired to play Minerva’s mother got a little too drunk.

Popular tropes include forced proximity, fake engagement and falling for a member of the lower class.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #StMartinsPress for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So I gave it 3.5 stars only because i myself aren’t sure how I feel about it. The first half really didn’t bring me in like I thought it would but the second half is fast paced and a lot more interesting.

I really did enjoy myself and had some laugh out loud moments. The characters were very interesting and it makes head way for the next book in the series. I really enjoyed Minerva and Hugh’s story, but I did connect with it.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t read this because it’s definitely could and their moments are amazing, it just wasn’t my favorite, I’m not left with this big feeling of awe.

Initially I was intrigued because it was fake dating and regency, anyone say bridgerton? Lol

What could go wrong in a fake fiancée situation where you take in her two very dramatic sisters, hiring a fake mother who turns out to be a real handful all while trying to show your own mother that you are not lying about engaged? Turns out a lot.

Minerva was a lovely character, selfless and loving, untrusting for good reason, and an absolute delight. Hugh on the surface was charming and shallow, but getting to know him as him and Minerva prolonged their fake engagement showed that there was way more underneath the surface.

This was so much fun! It was funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking. I cannot wait to read about the other sisters!

This was a great start to a new series. Minerva Merriwell was a fun and likeable heroine, trying to take care of her two younger sisters. Hugh Standish was a flawed but endearing hero. The progression of the couple's romance was fun to watch unfold. The misunderstandings, troubles, and hijinks were just big enough and went on for just long enough to move the plot without it feeling drawn out. The majority of the characters were well-rounded, leaving you satisfied with the outcome for the main couple but looking forward to future books where the other Merriwell siblings will presumable be featured.

What a fun book. There is so much silliness and play in this book I enjoyed it so much. Lots of fun twists and turns made it entertaining. Steamy without being crass or crude. I loved these fun characters.
This is an adult romance with 2 sexual scenes, very tastefully done.

In "Never Fall for Your Fiancee", you will find romance, chemistry, and witty banter. Author Virginia Heath did a fantastic job of combining all of these elements to make this an enjoyable read! Hugh, a scoundrel and Earl, is feeling pressure from his over-bearing mom to settle down and find a wife. Because his mom lives so far away, he's able to invent a prospective wife in the letters he writes to his mom. But when he discovers she's coming to visit, he must find someone to pretend to be his fiancee. This is supposed to be a short, easy way to deceive his mom until she returns home. But what will happen when the sparks between Hugh and Minerva (his fake fiancee) start to fly and feelings develop? You'll have to read this book to find out! This is the first in "The Merriwell Sisters" series and I can't wait to read the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Hugh is a rich, seemingly vapid, man-whore Earl who refuses to get married because both his father and grandfather were also philandering man-whores. Hugh thinks he will be a horrible husband because #heredity (of note this book takes place about 40 years prior to Mendel developing his laws of inheritance). Hugh has spent the last two years lying to his mother that he’s actually engaged just so she will get off his jock about it. Now mom is coming to town and he has to find a fake fiancé or just be a man and tell the truth. Obvi he chooses the fake fiancé route.

Hugh finds destitute Minerva and convinces her to be his fiancé-because she’s pretty and has all of her teeth. Minerva agrees because she’s broke as a joke.

Despite having slept with half of London and claiming he will only ever be a slut, Hugh immediately develops the feels for Minerva, who despite her best efforts in keeping their relationship transactional, also catches feels. The two spend the rest of the book fighting their feelings and weaving a web of lies about their fake relationship.

This book was a fun, silly tale about how a small lie grows and grows. Hugh starts out as an immature, entitled prat but as the story progresses his more redeemable qualities surface, whereas Minerva has her shit together from start to finish. Overall, I’d recommend for an easy, light read that requires little emotional investment (which, let’s face it, is what we all need more often than not).

Smut- 2.5 stars
Romance- 3.5 stars (add a star if you enjoy romances based on lies)
Story- 3.75 stars
Our hero understanding heredity/genetics before Gregor Mendel- 5 stars

This story was really really cute. If you're one of those people who e-mails authors to complain about historical accuracy, this book is not for you.

However, if you, like me, are able to suspend reality, get lost in a fun story and just go with it, this book is pretty great. I laughed out loud many times. It is a completely preposterous story. That’s what makes it so great!

Minerva is awesome. I was cheering her on from the first page. She is feisty, strong, and proud.

The entire cast of characters was fun to read about. I cannot wait for the rest of the series!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This story follows Hugh and Minerva as they navigate the 18 month lie Hugh has woven to get his overbearing, matchmaking mother off his back. Hilarity ensues as Minerva, her sisters, Giles (Hugh’s friend), and a drunk actress playing Mama continue with the farce that is Hugh’s face engagement.

While this was a quick, enjoyable read with a predictable HEA, there were a few things that detracted from the overall story IMO. First, Hugh makes up a fiancée named Minerva and then coincidentally runs into a damsel in distress Minerva. It was bit too on-the-nose for my liking. Second, it’s not as historically accurate as I like for this genre. This a personal opinion because I think many readers will absolutely adore this book. Third, I felt parts of the story, particularly towards the end, were rushed and too “neat”, particularly Hugh suddenly overcoming the big revelation. It felt unrealistic.

There are many times I outright laughed during this read. The butler, Payne, is one my favorite characters! Hugh could be a bit of an ass, but was overall charming and good for Minerva. I enjoyed reading Giles and Diana’s parts and feel there’s some romantic tension building that I would love to see in a sequel!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall this was fun!

Hugh, Earl of Fareham, wants a break from his mother's matchmaking, so he does the one thing he can think of to stop her: creates a fiancée. It's all going well until his mom announces that she's coming to visit him. With the visit looming and no clue how to resolve his mess, Hugh meets Minerva Merriwell, who happens to have the same name as his not-so-real fiancée. Minerva is struggling to keep her sisters off the street, so when an earl offers to pay her to be his fake fiancée, she accepts. Of course, nothing really follows the original plan, especially when love enters the mix.

I enjoyed Never Fall for Your Fiancée, a lot. It was a great regency rom-com that had a plot that was almost too crazy (i.e. the last bit of this novel), but all in all it was a great series starter. (And now I'm stuck waiting for the rest of this delightful series).

I also loved the hints to future books... (Right now, I'm really hoping book 2 is focused on Giles and Diana)

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this eARC. I really appreciate it!!!

Disjointed language, implausible scenarios and incorrect terminology plague this novel, which has a rock solid premise but is awkwardly fleshed out. An earl named Hugh hires an impoverished woodcut artist, Minerva, to come and live at his lavish estate (with her two sisters tagging along) and pretend to be his fiancee whom he has invented to stop his mother from nagging him about getting married. There are heavy Pygmalion/My Fair Lady overtones as Minerva and her sisters need a makeover and to learn to use the correct forks, and that's only the first "My Fair Lady" plotline. The sassy butler is the only decent character, and he provides some of the real humor, as does the playboy BFF of the earl, who is a dead ringer for Rupert Everett in "The Importance of Being Earnest." The most humorous character is supposed to be the actress who is hired to play the mother/chaperone, who turns out to be a drunk, but she only manages to be annoying.

True love does not, as one would expect, run smooth. There is much melodramatic tension about who will discover the truth and whether Hugh and Minerva will give into temptation and have sex. Hugh has convinced himself that he has "bad blood" which will cause him to be unfaithful to his wife, no matter who she is, and every time his attraction to Minerva heats up, the reader is treated to a bunch of lame, tedious lamentations about his "bad blood" all over again. "Curse this bad blood," quoth the earl. The earl cannot simply be a classist and repent at the end, like Mr. Darcy. The author throws in every imaginable detail to make the earl a saint by modern standards, including the fact that he constructs old folks' homes on his estate at his own expense.

If you have read the undisputed masters of this brand of British fiction, such as Georgette Heyer and D. E. Stevenson, you will quickly spot this as a poorly researched, poorly written imitation of the real thing. Two stars, one extra for flashes of actual humor.

Virginia Heath’s “Never Fall for your Fiancée” is nothing short of an absolute pleasure to read. Hugh and Minerva, brought together only because Minerva’s name matches that of the fake fiancée Hugh has contrived to appease his meddling mother’s matchmaking designs, have an eclectic chemistry.
While the fake relationship trope can sometimes lead to utterly absurd and unrealistic situations, Heath creates a genius plot in which the main characters organically fall in love through their own choices, not necessarily in being forced to perform in front of others. While Heath does have to throw in some logs to fuel the flames of their façade, she ultimately allows her characters to connect in quieter moments, which I found much more attractive than forced kisses and insincere acts of affection.
This book is the first installment of the Merriwell Sisters series, which is perfect for two reasons:
1) Heath really took the time to develop the side characters, anticipating their appearance in further novels
2) I get to read more of this wonderful woman’s writing in the future
Many, many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this humorous historical romance of Hugh, an earl, who needs to find a fake fiancée before his mother visits. He's been lying to her for years to stop her constant matchmaking, but she's currently on a ship to England from America and he can't stop her. Hugh manages to find an impoverished gentlewoman, Minerva, and hires her. Hugh has been quite the convoluted storyteller so Minerva a lot to remember. I read this in one sitting because I loved the cast of characters and humor. Recommended.

This was such a sweet novel. I liked that it was set in a different time and the quandary was different than usual. The characters are witty, with clever banter. I thought this was a really fun read!

I received an ARC through netgalley.

This book was adorable, it took a bit for me to become interested in it but once the book got going it had my attention. It very much reminded me of the viscount who loved me by julia quinn. It was probably because they were both smart asses and he had a weird thing that he though because of his father but I was a fan.