True Pretenses

Why isn't this author more popular?
I'm pretty sure I've said this before but if you like Courtney Milan, then you should read Rose Lerner's books. Milan leans better on the focus of the romance between the main couple and Lerner leans better on overreaching story but they are both top contributors in historical romance, in my humble opinion.

I swear the next time I read a Lerner book, I'm buying an extra copy for a friend so I can call them up every time I come across a line and theme that hits me hard in the feels and I feel like I'll explode if I don't get to discuss all angles of it. I think I've read three books by Lerner now and she seems to touch on classism quite a bit, and does an excellent job of it. I posted some quotes from show more the book in my reading updates but I had to wrestle myself down from quoting many longer passages. I'm not sure if I just don't have the time to write her books proper reviews or I simply don't have the ability. As with Milan books, they hit me on very personal levels and all I want to talk about are my feelings and my back and forth on the ideas, issues, and themes in the book. Gah, is there a strictly Lerner book club?!

I'm telling you people, if you find yourself complaining about wallpaper historicals, TSTL heroines, over abundance of Dukes, and an overall feeling of sameness in historical romance (specifically in the regency time period) you NEED to be reading Lerner.

*I did think this one had a bit of slow start with the politic focus but things smoothed out around the 20-30% mark. The story and characters are more subtle in their devastation to your feels and if you like the more overt regency romances (feisty heroines romping around and titled heroes broodingly scared of love, hey, I like those too) then this wouldn't be for you. But if you want something fresh and quietly devastating (the whole scene and speech where the hero says he loves the curtains, I found my eyes watering out of nowhere) then read this immediately. show less

I first became aware of “True Pretenses” during the big controversy last year (or was it already in 2015?) about the ‘Jewish heroine x Nazi hero’ trope that some mainstream romance novels have been using. Besides outrage, one reaction by the Jewish romance community was to highlight works with Jewish heroes, which are sadly few and far between. However, since Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses came up again and again and since I liked the plot premise – a marginalized conman tries to find a good life for his little brother but finds love himself – I decided to give it a try, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

THE TROUBLE WITH LITTLE BROTHERS

I am a big sister to a little brother myself, and so I tend to sympathize with show more characters with little brothers quite a bit. Sibling conflicts are a central part of “True Pretenses”, not just to the plot, but also to the characters’ personalities, histories and motivations – both Ash’s and Lydia’s plans for their future are caused by their brothers not understanding their wishes and not wanting to continue on the way of life that they have been on before, and both Ash and Lydia act like they do because their brothers have a certain amount of power over them – in Lydia’s case, this power is more literal, since her brother Jamie controls her fortune, while in Ash’s case, the power Rafe holds over him is more psychological, since Ash has basically lived his whole life just to make sure that Rafe is well cared for.

But let’s talk about both of our protagonist in detail. First, there’s Lydia, a young noble woman whose politically very active father just passed, leaving all of his belongings to Lydia’s younger brother, Jamie, who believes that both his and Lydia’s past political engagement were just a means to please his father, and who would far rather spend his days in his garden (and with his very attractive gardener) than do any kind of charitable or political work. Lydia, on the other hand, loves her charitable work, and up to her father’s death she used to do so with his financial means, under the front of helping with his campaigns. She is still grieving her father’s death, a process Lerner describes with a lot of insight and detail, but she also worries about the poorer inhabitants of the village, who she used to support through her work, because Jamie, who, while being a very sweet young man, has a very anti-social streak, is not willing to let her have the money she needs for this support.

Lydia still has one ace up her sleeves: If she marries, she will be given a sizeable amount of money to household with. The only thing she needs to get her hands on that money now is to find a suitable husband.

Ash, the son of a prostitute who died when he was tiny, has spent his childhood stealing on the streets of London and his adult life conning people for money all over England, all so his little brother, Rafe, didn’t need to live in abject poverty. All his life, Ash has done whatever he could for Rafe, but now Rafe doesn’t want their life anymore; he is becoming tired of conning people, so Ash decides that he will steal one last thing for him: A respectable life, even if it means that he won’t be able to live with his brother anymore.

While both Ash’s and Lydia’ actions are influenced by her brother, Lydia’s love for Jamie isn’t self-sacrificial in the way Ash’s is. Lydia never actually had to sacrifice anything, and while she did emotionally care for Jamie when he was younger, she never really had to give something up so Jamie could have a better life. Jamie has political, societal power over Lydia; Rafe has emotional power over Ash. Their relationships with their brothers are completely different, but at the same time these relationships connect them with each other. Lerner portrays sibling dynamics with a lot of knowledge of the human condition and without romanticizing anything, and the relationships are so much more realistic and heart-wrenching for it.

THE PROBLEM WITH HONESTY

Besides the sibling relationships, Lerner does another thing that you will find very rarely in romance novels: She actually has her protagonists be honest with each other nearly from the start. Ash hardly gets his con underway before Lydia figures him out, but even though she knows, she makes Ash a proposal – she’ll marry his brother as long as she will keep control over her fortune. They are on the same page here, even though Lydia soon starts falling for Ash, and Ash for Lydia, and that becomes a problem a lot more interesting than your usual misunderstanding-fueled plot: They already have an agreement, and Ash knows that this life is Rafe’s, not his, because he doesn’t want a honorable life, that is Rafe’s wish, and he has no right to take for himself what he has meant for Rafe, but at the same time, he can’t stop himself from falling more and more for Lydia… After all, it’s hardest to be honest to yourself, isn’t it?

The plot of True Pretenses is great, dense, and full of tension. And it just gives the reader so much more information on the time and the world these characters live in than most historical romances do.

The first example here would be the machinations of village politics in Lydia’s case, which might sound rather boring, but which was really interesting for me, since I generally love all kinds of political intrigue, even if it’s just about local elections in a tiny English village. This background made Lydia all the more three-dimensional, and it really made the reader root for her to get her money.

The second example, of course, is the glimpse into the life of a Jewish person in 19th century Great Britain. We get a lot of backstory for Ash and Rafe, a lot of which takes place in London, and there is just so much detail that ties in both with their religion and with their early life of poverty. Heroes from minority ethnicities are rare enough in historical romance, but having somebody actually write a romance with a Jewish hero and do it so well, with so much background on his life, is basically like a breath of fresh air. I loved Ash a lot, even though it was sometimes frustrating just how much he kept giving without ever really taking back – half the time I just wanted to hug him and tell him that it is okay if he wants something for himself.

I just really loved Ash and Lydia, and even though Rafe and Jamie were both majorly annoying at times, especially since I’ve got a little brother of my own who has kept making trouble since he was about 8, I still grew fond of them at the end. Jamie is one of the few LGBT characters you’ll find in straight historical romance, and his sexual orientation was treated extremely respectfully (though I’d really like to read a story about him in the Lively St. Lemeston Series). At one point he and Rafe flirt, and it’s seriously the cutest thing.

So if you like historical romance with a bit of a different plot than your usual fair, and if you like reading about Jewish history and Jewish characters, you really, really have to pick up True Pretenses. It’s a joy to read, from the writing style over the plot to the representation, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.


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2024 review: I was so stressed out! so this review is full of spoilers

4 stars because although I believe the story is brilliant and the character Ash is one of the most interesting MCs I've read . . . I think there are some pacing issues in the middle. We hear about "six months" over and over. Six months as in Ash and Lydia's arrangement is that they will live separate lives after six months of marriage. So much was riding on the "six months" that it felt a bit strange to only have them married for a week or two before they have their big external force separate them? And then they reunite and the book ends. I think if there was less emphasis on "six months" I wouldn't have had an expectation of the couple approaching the six month show more mark of their marriage?

With that out of the way, this book is amazing. How the first two installments of this series examine families and loyalty is fucking brilliant and this is maybe made even more obvious in this book? I highly suggest reading this series in order for full effect. Late in the book, Ash considers what home means to him:

"Home has never been a place to me. When I was young it was my mother, and later it was my brother. The places I've gone, they've all been home because he (Rafe) was there."

Earlier, we (along with Rafe) learn that Ash lied to Rafe about being his brother. By the end of the book, Rafe has somewhat forgiven Ash and considers him family because it's the people you choose. Which gives me some incomplete thoughts on family reconciliation: By the end of Sweet Disorder, Nick has separated himself from his family - specifically his younger brother and his mother. There is no reconciliation on the horizon for them. By the end of True Pretenses, Ash and Rafe have reconciled and Lydia and her brother James have come to a better understanding of one another. I think it was smart of Lerner to illustrate how reconciliation is not always possible.

Some other messy thoughts:
* In the first book, Sweet Disorder, we see how active and powerful women are in the Lively St. Lemeston political scene: they are organizing, fundraising, influencing, etc. etc. We get some of that here with Lydia's work for the Tories, BUT! this political power is shaken a bit when by the existence of a bratty younger brother. This all made me consider consent and the kind of instructional ways romance wants it implemented. I feel this book actually has interesting consent. Ash doesn't sexually pursue Lydia until after she learns about what his true intentions were (marry her off to Rafe to get access to her money so Rafe could join the military) by the time they begin a sexual relationship this is all laid out for Lydia and she understands there is a 6 month time clock on their relationship. The issue is her brother, James. Ash may have had intentions to swindle Lydia at the beginning of their relationship, however by the time they decide to marry, Lydia is aware of Ash and Rafe's history. So having her brother James try to control her through access to her trust was a real slap in the face (complimentary) James goes on and on about wanting to protect his sister, however he never considers her choice in the matter. Nor does he even care about any of her interests! Lydia wants access to her money so she can continue her political and charity work - which is actually very fulfilling to her, something her brother doesn't bother attempting to understand.

This is some meaty stuff and I love the sense of community in this series: people live in the same village so there is a forced proximity but there isn't an over reliance on making sure readers know whose book is next; the side characters are grounding the world Lerner created.


2023 review: This was very good - it kept me constantly wondering how this relationship con would work. A Jewish conman and a political heiress agree to marry so she can access her funds and he can buy his brother a military rank. They are not supposed to fall in love, they are supposed to sell the relationship; ahh but love finds its way. The Lively St. Lemeston series focuses heavily on class, and I feel this book did even more so than the previous? Anyway - it's sort of slow-burn and often frustrating but in a way I have come to enjoy from Rose Lerner. show less

The one where a Jewish confidence artist tries to snag an heiress for his beloved younger brother, only to fall for her himself. This book was so much fun! I loved the characters (both the romantic leads and the supporting cast), the small town politics were delightful, and Lerner hit just the right spot for me between embracing and subverting tropes.

Another really good and enjoyable read by Ms. Lerner. I love how she creates such believable, likeable, different characters who are so easy to get emotionally attached to. It's a socially conscious novel without beating one over the head with it, and is a very refreshing historical take that includes history. The characters think about things, and I love the female characters who are allowed to want things, and, especially in this novel, male characters who have emotions. I think I may like this one even more than the first, but they're different enough that it's hard to compare them. A definite recommended read!

Really a 4.5, but I liked it enough that I'm rounding up. This is a lovely, unusual romance. I love its combination of straightforwardness and twistiness, and its odd couple that turns out to be a perfect match. The infusion with politics is intriguing and done differently than I've seen elsewhere. The writing is engaging and fast-paced.

Ash Cohen and his brother Rafe are long time swindlers and two con men who have come in that proverbial “fork in the road” and must decide what both want and need to be happy and content in their lives. They either continued with the life they knew well or take a chance in the future without cons. Surviving through cheating was enough for our hero, Ash but his brother has had enough of it and he wanted them to go straight and live honest lives, which was easier said than done.

For Ash, who had raised his brother all on his own since he was eight years old by any means necessary, be it stealing, thieving, body snatching or swindling people, he did it out of love for his brother and it hurt him deeply when Rafe decides to leave him and show more the only life they have known.

Alone and devastated, Ash comes to a decision that will change his life forever as he gets ready for one last swindle in which, as always, he plans to fulfill his brothers wish of living a life of no lies and pretenses.

Lydia has known politics since she was a child and when she was seventeen, she became her father’s hostess and she loved it. She enjoyed every aspect of political life and was hoping that her brother Jamie would one day be able to take the legacy their father had left them and be the leader Tories in Lively St. Lemeston needed him to be. However, Jamie had no such plans or dreams and hates politics and everything about it which disappoints Lydia greatly but she is hopeful that he may change his mind in time and in the meantime, she decides that the only way to help the Tory supporters is by possibly marrying and getting her hands on her inheritance and here is where our hero enters the scene with his scheme and the “marriage of convenience” trope may or may not take place.

And if you think Rose Lerner weaves an old, tried and true trope of two people coming together in a marriage of convenience for their own or mutual benefit, you have another thing coming. She has so many curve balls coming your way that you’ll be shaking your head and saying, well I didn’t see that one coming!

I was impressed with the first book, ‘Sweet Disorder’ and was looking forward to ‘True Pretenses’ and while I loved the first book, this one had one thing that bothered me. It was the ages of the main characters that I had trouble with. Ash and Lydia were thirty years old and Rafe a few years younger so as the story progressed I just couldn’t “see” them as old as they were, however through their dialogue, inner as well I had no trouble picturing them in their mid twenties and once I adjusted their ages in my mind, I had no problem with the story.

This is the second book in Rose Lerner’s new series Lively St. Lemeston in which she introduces her readers with some interesting politics of the day and families in a town of Lively St. Lemeston. And that’s what I love about Rose Lerner stories. She digs up these unique and flawed characters and by placing them in ordinary, everyday situations of their time, lets her readers experience humanity in its rawest form.

This is a story that touches on so many levels at how a human psyche works and reacts to what life throws in its path and I highly recommend you pick it up and enjoy this unique and heartwarming story.

Melanie for b2b

Complimentary copy provided by the author show less