Review: Something in the Heir by Suzanne Enoch

 

One of Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Romances of the Fall!

New York Times bestseller, Suzanne Enoch takes a delightful new path in her joyful historical romantic comedy, Something in the Heir.

Smart, capable heiress Emmeline Pershing will do anything to keep her beloved home; and all it takes is an arranged marriage and a teeny white lie to fulfill her family’s silly inheritance rules. But now her little fib means that she and her completely unsuspecting husband are going to inherit big — and very messy! —trouble.

Emmeline and William Pershing have enjoyed a perfectly convenient marriage for eight years. Their relationship is a seamless blend of their talents and goals. They’ve settled into separate, well-ordered lives beneath the same roof, and are content to stay that way—or so Emmeline thinks. And if William has secretly longed for a bit more from the woman he adores, he’s managed to be content with her supreme skills as a hostess and planner, which has helped him advance his career.

Then when Emmeline’s grandfather, the reclusive Duke of Welshire, summons them both for his birthday celebration and demands they bring their two little angelic children, William is stunned to discover that his very proper wife invented not one, but two heirs to fulfill the agreement for living at Winnover. But surely if Emmeline and William team up and borrow two cherubs to call their own, what could go wrong? Enter George, age 8, and Rose, 5—the two most unruly orphans in Britain.

As the insanity unfolds, their careful, professional arrangement takes some surprisingly intimate turns as well. Perhaps it takes a bit of madness to create the perfect happily ever after. 

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What I thought about Something in the Heir

It’s been a while since I’ve read a historical, and the blurb for this looked suspenseful and interesting, so I thought I would give it a try. 

Will and Emmeline married to fulfill the requirements to save Emmeline’s treasured estate Winnover Hall. They also have to conceive a child within 5 years, to keep the estate. When Will and Emmeline’s love life didn’t produce an heir, Emmy needs to come up with something. That something was a big lie -- that they had not one but two children. Things get a bit dicey when they are asked to bring the children to meet the relative forcing these conditions on them.

Of course, everyone knows how one lie begets another, so what we have here are lies, lies and more lies as the story progresses. 

After borrowing two children from the orphanage, they move forward with a plan to continue their deception. There were some interesting things happening here. The children make a contract with Will and Emmeline for the things they want -- to learn to read and write, fencing, and many others. And also a permanent home somewhere when their time is up. But when Rose and George's older brother shows up, he threatens everything they worked for.

There’s definite contrasts in this story, such as the contrast between the rich and poor and what happens when the unfortunate get opportunities they wouldn’t normally have. I really liked some of the social commentary that is woven into the story. 

There's also an interesting dynamic happening with Will and Emmeline. After 8 years of marriage, neither one knows how the other feels about them. Will has nursed a love for Emmeline for the 8 years but believed that she only wanted a marriage of convenience. Emmeline believes that Will married her so he could have a helpmate or partner in his work, but not for any of the other marital benefits. Their love life (or lack thereof) and the misunderstandings between them are very interesting and I would have loved more about that. I also found the pace to be a bit slow and repetitive, but I just had to know how everything turned out! 

There’s a lovely conclusion to the story that I really liked. It’s easy to see what will save them from the lies they’ve told, but it was a very entertaining ride to get to the conclusion. I enjoyed the crazy dichotomy of truth and lies that is somehow appealing and annoying at the same time in this story. And in spite of some predictability, I really did like Emmy, Will, Rose and George’s story.

About the Author

A native and current resident of Southern California, Suzanne Enoch loves movies almost as much as she loves books. When she is not busily working on her next novel, Suzanne likes to contemplate interesting phenomena, like how the three guppies in her aquarium became 161 guppies in five months.

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