The plot of The Pretenders is not exactly new. The hero needs to marry to get his inheritance, so he engineers a sham engagement that backfires and turns into a real engagement. We may have read it before, but Joan Wolf makes it a joy to read it again. With her unique first-person style and her characters flawed enough to seem human, Joan Wolf spins an enjoyable tale that’s hard to put down.

Deborah Woodly and Reeve Lambeth, Earl of Cambridge, have been friends since childhood. So when Reeve has a problem, Deb is the first one he turns to. The horse Reeve has trained and entered into the Derby gets injured and loses the race. Reeve is out 70,000 pounds, and his cousin Lord Bradford, who is the trustee of his estate, won’t give him the money unless he marries. Reeve figures Lord Bradford will be easy enough to fool; he’ll just pretend to get engaged until he gets the money.

Deb isn’t wild about the mock engagement idea, but Reeve says he’ll have to sell all his horses otherwise – and she loves Reeve’s horses. So she follows Reeve to London and later to his cousin’s estate, pretending to be his fiancee. But Lord Bradford is pretty shrewd, and he knows what they’re up to. When he tells them they’ll get no money unless they really marry, they have to rethink their plan. Suddenly they both realize they actually want to marry each other. Deb realizes that she has been unconsciously comparing every other suitor to Reeve, and Reeve looks at Deb with new eyes and sees how attractive she has become. But while they are discovering their love for each other, they also discover that both their lives may be in danger. Lord Bradford’s son, who is in line to inherit Reeve’s earldom, hates Reeve with a passion. They must solve this problem and other difficulties from the past before they can be free to enjoy their love.

One of the things I like about this story is that Deb and Reeve were such good friends before they were lovers. It is fun to watch them both as their growing love takes them by surprise. The story is all told from Deb’s point of view, so we observe Reeve’s actions through her eyes. Deb and Reeve are both very interesting characters. They know each other’s faults, and they help each other work through them. Deb is good-hearted and loyal, but she also holds a grudge against her half-brother, and she has mixed feelings about her mother’s new-found romance. Reeve is guilt-ridden because he was holding the reins when his mother died in a carriage accident. His father blamed him for his mother’s death, and he has tried to conform to his father’s wild image of him ever since. Hence the 70,000 pound bet on a horse, which is something Reeve never apologizes for. Reeve’s rakish image makes him wildly popular in London, but he loves Deb because she knows and accepts the real Reeve.

Good secondary characters round out the story. Particularly interesting are Deb’s mom, Elizabeth, and Lord Bradford. Elizabeth has issues from her past that torment her, but she is a loving and perceptive mother. Her relationship with Deb is interesting to watch. At one point, she comes to Deb’s rescue in a very dramatic way, which is great – you don’t see many heroines with heroic mothers like that. Lord Bradford is also a likable character, At first the reader is led to believe that he is miserly and controlling. He is a little on the controlling side, but he has the best interests of his family at heart. His shrewd handling of the fake engagement underscores his love and concern for Reeve, and his budding romance with Elizabeth shows his tender side.

What keeps this book from being an A? Both Reeve and Deb do something stupid towards the end of the book. Without giving the plot away, let’s just say their actions – particularly Deb’s, which are incredibly stupid – are hard to credit. While these actions didn’t ruin the book for me, they did make me roll my eyes a little.

Still, The Pretenders is a solid, enjoyable read, and it’s better than Wolf’s last book, The Gamble. Joan Wolf has a style that is both distinctive and interesting, and it really comes through here.