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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This perfect husband and wife sure can tell a lie, 2.5 stars, September 5, 2009
This review is from: Never Marry a Stranger (Mass Market Paperback)
This was a fast read with a decent plot but it was nearly impossible for me to empathize with the heroine of Never Marry A Stranger because I never really knew her. Hero Matthew Leland is presumed dead in India but he returns to his family and is in for quite a surprise as a woman is residing with his family claiming to be his wife. He knows she is lying but wants to avoid a scandal so keeps mum about her and "pretends" to have partial amnesia. This will give him time to discern her motives and see if she is a threat to his family. Emily Grey's plans for a secure existence are shattered when Matthew returns from the dead. She faints when she sees him and when she comes to she is relieved her plans are not up in smoke. To Emily, Matthew's amnesia is a godsend. Emily has no family and actually did meet Matthew before he went to India. He saved her from a shipwreck. Emily is a consummate liar. She has been telling whoppers for over a year to Matthew's family and she keeps up the pretense when Matthew is home. I did not know when she acted with true sincerity. She claims to love the Lelands but feels little guilt about lying to them. She is willing to be Matthew's wife even when she believes he has another one. How self-serving. Her plan is to make Matthew fall in love with her so that if he does regain his memory she can stay in the bosom of his family. Matthew falls under Emily's spell even though he knows she can lie with a straight face. Within days he finds out Emily is just too good to be true, she helps his estranged parents make a better marriage, opens a school for village children, is the perfect sister-in-law, etc. How can he not be enchanted? Plus she is so solicitous to him, and willing to sleep with him too. Again, I never knew how honest Emily was with her emotions and actions. Perhaps she really was this angelic but the author only gives us small glimpses into her motivations and usually they centered on self preservation. Emily is good at keeping secrets but not that good. She underestimates Matthew and her secret turns out to be great blackmail material for a past associate. Emily is almost clinical in how she goes about securing a position in Matthew's affections. She definitely knows what she wants and has few qualms about lying to others to attain her security. Matthew I knew only a little. His determination to avoid a scandal was directly responsible for his lying to his "wife." He seemed infinitely patient with her and obviously felt a physical attraction right away, but he was less than honest with Emily and his family too. I felt like I only got a small look into the real Emily and those peeks were usually of a desperate woman willing to do desperate things. She was kind and considerate to others but had no compunction about lying to people too. Because of their constant lying, it was rather unbelievable that Emily and Matthew fell in love within just a matter of a few weeks, they never trusted nor really knew each other.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never Marry a Stranger, June 23, 2010
Miss Emily Grey is plucked from the water by the dashing Captain Matthew Leland and his kindness, in her time of loss, cements that she loses he heart to him. So while she falls in love with Capt. Matthew he doesn't know this and is still shipped off to India the next day.
Shortly after it is announced the Captain has died while in India, Emily shows up at his family's estate claiming to be his bride. The little white lie looked to be innocent and his family easily took her in. Unfortunately, when Captain Leland shows up at home not only is his family shocked at his arrival but he is shocked to find he apparently has a wife. He finds this an interesting turn of events and decides to play along to be able to expose Emily's scheme.
What neither expects to happen is that they just might be well matched for each other and even be destined to be together.
Gayle Callen has shown again why she is a highly popular historical romance writer with Never Marry a Stranger. Both Emily and Matthew were well written characters who were not perfect but whose flaws made them even more likeable characters. Never Marry a Stranger shows again why telling a "little white lie" can come back to haunt you, or in this case come back from the dead. If you haven't added this historical to your collection I think you should.
Tanya
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deception and Discovery, January 30, 2010
This review is from: Never Marry a Stranger (Mass Market Paperback)
This was an enjoyable story about a man who returns from India (where he was reported as dead) to discover he appears to have a wife - but he knows he didn't marry Emily. Captain Matthew Leland's unexpected return gives great joy to his family - but he's more interested in knowing what Emily - his purported wife - is planning. He pretends to have amnesia, thus not to remember her, to give himself space to discover more about her and her motivations.
Despite the deception that both are involved in, they begin to create something of a life together. When their trust is tested, can they believe enough in each other, despite the lies, to make a future?
This was an enjoyable read with appealing main characters. There were some flaws in the book - I felt that the blackmail subplot didn't work entirely well, and that the occasional focus on sister Susanna and Matthew's parents wasn't entirely successful - but overall it was a good read and an uplifting one. It was good to read of people who, despite having every reason to turn against each other, are able to forgive and forget and move on.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2010
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