Title: A Counterfeit Wife
Author: Paullett Golden
Series: Sirens #1
Bloated and rather unbelievable, but still charming
Much thanks to the author, who provided a free copy (and excellent conversation) in exchange for an honest review.
Good news: I enjoyed Trevor and J’non’s romance!* Bad news: the narrative’s middle was incredibly bloated, and I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending.
*And unfortunately, the good news has a caveat—I don’t mean for “I enjoyed Trevor and J’non’s romance” to refer to the book as whole; I mean the development of their relationship, which the narrative largely stepped away from in the middle, probably because they warmed to each other too quickly and easily in the beginning. So I enjoyed their romance—when their relationship was in focus.
First, a disclaimer—know going in that the premise requires a suspension of disbelief. That’s usually understood in fiction, of course, but if you’re a more skeptical, I-want-plots-to-be-logical type, this may not be the book for you. I tend to be one of those, so despite Golden doing everything she could to make the circumstances sound plausible, I found it hard to believe that such a situation could arise and go as far as it did. Stranger things and all, but still. So instead of ranting about the unlikelihood of Trevor assuming all of his wife’s backstory in his head rather than just asking her questions, or marveling at how Trevor could have an entire conversation about his wife with his father-in-law without speaking her name, or wondering why Mr. Whittington didn’t escort his daughter to her betrothed so he could smarm his coveted connection and attend her wedding, not to mention make sure his willful daughter didn’t run off—I’m letting it go.
What I’m not going to let go is how annoyed I was when Lloyd seemed to call J’non on her lie but turned out to just be a plot tease. Who takes one look at a person they’ve only heard a description of and cries out, “You are not Such And Such!” just because that person looked different than imagined? Definitely not someone who was raised with manners. Definitely not someone who though they were speaking to a lady, their better. They might show some surprise and turn it into a compliment if called on it—”I beg your pardon, my lady, but you are even more beautiful than I anticipated, I was not prepared, etc.”—stowing any accompanying dismay or confusion in their mind. Aside from the ridiculous drama of it, though, consider that this tease takes place at 62% in the middle of a story drought (see below), long after I expected J’non’s deception to be revealed, and it adds insult to injury.
Which brings us to the bloated middle. It began at the vicarage during the storm, 38%—we didn’t need all that conversation or to know so much about characters who would remain so minor.** It grew worse at the fete—this occurred at the midpoint, and I was confident that since J’non hadn’t been caught out yet, it would happen at the fete, because midpoint. But the festival went off without a hitch. Pages and pages and the only (debatably) important thing that happened was meeting Lord Roddam.
Then the book became historical fiction about a new marquess struggling to figure out how best to manage his estate and responsibilities. At 61% I made the note “I’m desperate for something to happen.” At 62%, I wrote “When did this become a book about farming and canal development?” I started skipping pages, sometimes several at a time. At 64%: “Aaaaaand we’re still on the stupid canal.” 65%: “Now what is all this political crap about?” Finally, 67%: “Omg I am so tuned out.”
I have no doubt Golden spent a lot time meticulously researching that part of the story, and I feel terrible bashing on her efforts, but . . . it was so boring.
I tuned back in when Trevor went to meet Mr. Whittington at 70%, because I thought J’non’s lie would finally be discovered. Nope. Back to not much happening, until the threat of meeting Lady Collingwood at 80%. From there the story gradually climaxed and answered questions.
I loved how Golden wrote the climax and black moment. It wasn’t melodramatic; the characters were shocked and dismayed, but they acted with maturity, thought with reason. Trevor and J’non’s confrontation was perfect.
The resolution, however, I found unsatisfying. Not greatly so, but it didn’t go the way I thought it would. First, because J’non specifically mentioned that she learned of her parents’ deaths like one would hear a rumor, I believed they weren’t actually dead. I thought there’d be a twist that they were alive and rich and would gladly pay back Whittington’s dowry. I thought the aunt would be punished and was disappointed when J’non didn’t want to revisit the past at all. Was that the mature thing to do? Probably. Didn’t I just say I loved when the characters acted with maturity and reason? Yes. But . . . I also like when the bad guys get their butts kicked, lol.
**The second reason why I found the resolution unsatisfying is because I was absolutely baffled as to why we didn’t see the Harveys again. It had everything to do with them, and the narrative had established them as very good people and very good friends of Trevor and J’non, yet they were completed ignored when their church registry was abruptly replaced.
As to the characters of Trevor and J’non—I adored them. The only mark against J’non was that she continued to live a lie. Settled into it a little too easily. She tried to tell Trevor, but you’ll never convince me she couldn’t have tried harder, even if she had to just blurt it out. Other than that, though, I loved everything about her. She had a beautiful arc, from feeling unloved, ugly, and worthless to feeling loved, appreciated, purposeful, and beautiful.
Trevor was great, too, but a little bit of a mess; his arc was the reason for the bloated middle. He acted stone cold for about two seconds before pretty much becoming a teddy bear. He warmed up to J’non a little too quickly and easily and I suspect that left Golden at a loss as to what to do with him for the rest of the book. So she created the flaw that he didn’t feel he was living up to his father’s memory or Trevor’s own expectations for himself. Thus his efforts to “fix” the estate and protect the village—and the downward spiral into canals and politics.
But I did have a favorite character. Gunner! He was not only a welcome presence, but often the comic relief, even indirectly. “[J’non] patted [Trevor’s] waistcoat again. He smirked, feeling like a good boy.”
Overall, Golden had an intriguing if rather unbelievable premise but failed to create strong subplots to support it. I found the farming and flooding conflicts interesting, but they weren’t strong enough to carry the novel as Golden attempted. Perhaps if Trevor had been willing to search for his mother, if J’non had wanted to confront her aunt, it might have been different.
I hate to give it a bad rating, but I’m afraid the middle warrants it. Nevertheless, I’m still very much a fan and look forward to her next novel!
