Georgia Kostopoulou

 

I love it how we now have more and more audiobooks and how I get to listen to them! Yes, it’s all about me and how much I enjoy them, but, if you’re anything like me and enjoy listening to funny love stories, then, this one is for you! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend it to everyone out there! Who would have thought that rom coms are my thing? Well, they kind of are when it comes to audiobooks!

So, Jemma Pears is a theatrical makeup artist in London. She was just fired or better say, not included in the next production, which, to her opinion would not last for long! Anyway, she is now without a job, living at the basement of the building her parents live and she needs to figure out what she’ll do next! This is when she finds out that her grandmother died, and she is to inherit her. But there’s a catch! In order to get her hands on all that money and estates and who knows what else, she must marry a nobleman. Only a man with a title stands between Jemma and her inheritance. Well, it makes sense, since this is what her grandmother wanted for her daughter, Jemma’s mother, but she never got it. Jemma’s parents are a couple of hippies, true hippies, that took part in the sexual revolution, live a free life and have raised their daughter in their own way. However, it doesn’t make sense for Jemma, who is a romantic soul and believes i true life. As life and love have not been treating her well the past years, Jemma decides to indulge in her late grandmother’s wishes. She just has no idea where to find this man with a title that would be willing to marry her!

Ashford Parker, the new Duke of Burlingham has inherited a title, a number of estates and a number of rather risky investments! Now, he is on the brink of bankruptcy because of those risky investments and in order to pay back the banks, he would need to sell a part of said estates. That is not something he would easily do, and he has no intention to let his mother know, or anyone else for that matter. When his solicitor calls him to dinner with a solution to propose, he accepts immediately. He just didn’t expect the solution to look so trashy and pink… The solution the solicitor proposes is for Ashford to marry Jemma! As it turns out, Jemma and Ashton have the same solicitor, one with crazy ideas! If you think about it though, this idea might even work!

The two of them actually get married and sign the papers, secretly, or so they thought. And instead of each one living their own lives separately as they agreed, they now have to share a common roof and play the happily married couple! Someone leaked to the press that the Duke of Burlingham got married to a commoner, including names and signatures and now they have to keep appearances, as Ashford’s title comes with some social obligations.

Jemma is not your regular girl. She is stubborn and sometimes she acts like a child. She also believes she’s better than all those titles people because she comes from the working class. On some occasions, she is right. All these snob people look down on her and she just gets more and more stubborn. But, when she decides to take a bit care of herself, she realizes she no longer feeds them with things to criticize her and she actually feels better and more self-confident.

I really enjoyed this story and the so slow burn romance between these two! I love a good fake relationship trope, and this was also a marriage of convenience that worked so perfectly. None of them was perfect, that’s for sure. Most people aren’t perfect, so it made sense! And the fact that it was on audiobook make it even better. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing Jemma and Ashford to life!

Thank you to NetGalley & Saga Egmont Audio for an advance copy of this book. The views expressed are my personal and honest opinion.