Something in the heir

This sparkling Regency romance from Enoch (Hit Me with Your Best Scot) goes all out on madcap hijinks. Emmeline Hervey must marry and produce an heir in order to inherit her family home, so she arranges a marriage of convenience to her friend William Pershing, promising to advance his career, and, as the years pass, she invents two children, citing their poor health as the reason no one's ever seen them. The lie catches up to her, however, when she and her family are summoned to her grandfather's birthday celebration. She comes clean to a shocked Will and they do the only thing they can think of: make a generous donation to a local orphanage to borrow eight-year-old George and his five-year-old sister, Rose, to play the parts. But they're not counting on the children being such formidable little troublemakers. Rose and George refuse to cooperate until the adults agree to their demands, including finding the children a suitable home at the end of their eight-week stay. And, as Emmeline and William pose as young parents in love, romance blossoms in their previously loveless marriage. The kids steal every scene they're in and Emmeline and William are a couple to root for. This adorable makeshift family is sure to win hearts. (Sept.)

A marriage of convenience turns upside down with the addition of trouble-making orphans in Enoch's (Hit Me with Your Best Scot) latest. Emmeline Hervey made a bargain with her friend Will Pershing--a hasty marriage that would let her keep her childhood home, Winnover Hall, and give him the perfect wife for furthering his political career. Emmeline succeeds in becoming the perfect society wife in all aspects except for one: to keep Winnover, they must have heirs, and in their absence, she invents a son and daughter. When they must all appear at a family gathering eight years later, the plan falls apart, but their questionable scheme to temporarily adopt some orphans will turn them from partners into family. Although this is ostensibly a second-chance romance, the growing romantic relationship between Will and Emmy is given secondary importance to their relationship with the children they come to love. The book makes the case that the Pershing family will not be complete without the two wayward children, and that family is more than blood. VERDICT This will appeal to readers who are looking for a light romance that centers children and parenthood as integral to a happy relationship.--Sierra Wilson