What do you think?
Rate this book
Wedgeford Trials #2
The Marquis Who Mustn't
One good fraud deserves another… Miss Naomi Kwan has long wanted to take ambulance classes so that she can save lives. But when she tries to register, she’s told she needs permission from the man in charge of her. It would be incredibly wrong to claim that the tall, taciturn Chinese nobleman she just met is her fiancé, but Naomi is desperate, and desperate times call for fake engagements. To her unending surprise, Liu Ji Kai goes along with her ruse. It’s not that Kai is nice. He’s in Wedgeford to practice his family business, and there’s no room for “nice” when you’re out to steal a fortune. It’s not that the engagement is convenient; a fake fiancée winding herself into his life and his heart is suboptimal when he plans to commit fraud and flee the country. His reason is Kai and Naomi were betrothed as children. He may have disappeared for twenty years, but their engagement isn’t actually fake. It’s the only truth he’s telling.
370 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 2023
123 people are currently reading
1050 people want to read
About the author
Courtney Milan
68 books5,486 followersCourtney Milan writes books about carriages, corsets, and smartwatches. Her books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. She is a New York Times and a USA Today Bestseller.
Courtney pens a weekly newsletter about tea, books, and basically anything and everything else. Sign up for it here: https://bit.ly/CourtneysTea
Before she started writing romance, Courtney got a graduate degree in theoretical physical chemistry from UC Berkeley. After that, just to shake things up, she went to law school at the University of Michigan and graduated summa cum laude. Then she did a handful of clerkships. She was a law professor for a while. She now writes full-time.
Courtney is represented by Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency.
Courtney pens a weekly newsletter about tea, books, and basically anything and everything else. Sign up for it here: https://bit.ly/CourtneysTea
Before she started writing romance, Courtney got a graduate degree in theoretical physical chemistry from UC Berkeley. After that, just to shake things up, she went to law school at the University of Michigan and graduated summa cum laude. Then she did a handful of clerkships. She was a law professor for a while. She now writes full-time.
Courtney is represented by Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
January 24, 2024
Really enjoyed learning new historical aspects from this book such as the pottery and the ambulance classes. Also enjoyed a lot of the small town humor interspersed throughout the story.
I had some trouble with the writing, it feeling repetitive and some changing plot points took away from my overall enjoyment.
I had some trouble with the writing, it feeling repetitive and some changing plot points took away from my overall enjoyment.
October 27, 2023
As soon as we got this book, we dropped everything to pick it up. We have 0 regrets - when you get your hands on a new Courtney Milan and you don't read it right away we question your choices.
On to the review: Naomi Kwan has lived in Wedgeford her entire life. Ever since she was sixteen she's been begging her parents to let her take an "ambulance class" - basically a class for first responders. After years of being turned down, she's finally determined to sign up on her own. But when she shows up, the organizers won't let an unmarried young woman (especially one of Chinese descent) enroll without permission. Luckily for her, she's got a "fiance" to hand: Mr. Peng, who she is supposed to escort back to Wedgeford. But "Mr. Peng" is actually Liu Ji Kai, and he knows a thing or two about running a con. As soon as Naomi clams him as her fiance, he jumps into action, even going so far as to sign up for the ambulance class with her.
Kai has his own history with Wedgeford: when he was six years old, his father ran a long con on the community, taking money from everyone in town. Kai is back for what he tells himself is "one last fraud" ... but Naomi (and the reader) are pretty sure that he's not planning on defrauding any of the townspeople. What's more, when he was six and Naomi was two, their parents betrothed them to each other. So technically, his fake engagement isn't all that fake.
Although Naomi is committed to keeping the engagement fake, Kai is doing a great job of making her feel valued. He might be a great con man, but part of that means he knows what people want and how to give it to them. Is he manipulating her? And even if he is, does it invalidate her newfound feelings of worth?
Along with the fake engagement, the prodigal son returned, and an ultimate mystery about why he's back, we get the Courtney Milan touch. Both Naomi and Kai are struggling with their relationships with their parents. They're both conforming and rebelling against the expectations they've inherited. And it's all set against a backdrop of Asian diaspora that's well-researched and historically accurate. Best of all? It's an absolute joy to read!
6-Word Summaries:
Laine: Real potter + aspiring medic = fraudulent relationship.
Meg: Fake … no, temporary! … engagement ends … when?
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
On to the review: Naomi Kwan has lived in Wedgeford her entire life. Ever since she was sixteen she's been begging her parents to let her take an "ambulance class" - basically a class for first responders. After years of being turned down, she's finally determined to sign up on her own. But when she shows up, the organizers won't let an unmarried young woman (especially one of Chinese descent) enroll without permission. Luckily for her, she's got a "fiance" to hand: Mr. Peng, who she is supposed to escort back to Wedgeford. But "Mr. Peng" is actually Liu Ji Kai, and he knows a thing or two about running a con. As soon as Naomi clams him as her fiance, he jumps into action, even going so far as to sign up for the ambulance class with her.
Kai has his own history with Wedgeford: when he was six years old, his father ran a long con on the community, taking money from everyone in town. Kai is back for what he tells himself is "one last fraud" ... but Naomi (and the reader) are pretty sure that he's not planning on defrauding any of the townspeople. What's more, when he was six and Naomi was two, their parents betrothed them to each other. So technically, his fake engagement isn't all that fake.
Although Naomi is committed to keeping the engagement fake, Kai is doing a great job of making her feel valued. He might be a great con man, but part of that means he knows what people want and how to give it to them. Is he manipulating her? And even if he is, does it invalidate her newfound feelings of worth?
Along with the fake engagement, the prodigal son returned, and an ultimate mystery about why he's back, we get the Courtney Milan touch. Both Naomi and Kai are struggling with their relationships with their parents. They're both conforming and rebelling against the expectations they've inherited. And it's all set against a backdrop of Asian diaspora that's well-researched and historically accurate. Best of all? It's an absolute joy to read!
6-Word Summaries:
Laine: Real potter + aspiring medic = fraudulent relationship.
Meg: Fake … no, temporary! … engagement ends … when?
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
February 9, 2024
As often happens with books that I five-star love and gobble up in a mindless pleasure fest of reading indulgently, I am finding it hard to have anything to say beyond BOOK GOOD READ NOW. But let's try anyway.
This is the second book in Courtney Milan's Wedgeford Trials series, about a small town in Victorian England that is full of mostly Chinese emigrants (as always, the author's notes are a must-read for historical context) but other members of the Asian diaspora as well. The town has become infamous in larger England for holding annual games called the Wedgeford Trials, which bring a lot of outsiders in, which is a great base for a series of romance novels. This particular book doesn't have much of a focus on the games at all; in fact they're barely in it. It's more about the larger community, as experienced by two people who feel outside of it. (One of them significantly more than the other.)
Our lifelong Wedgeford resident is Naomi, a Chinese/Japanese young woman who desperately wants to take an Ambulance class, despite her over-protective parents' wishes. It's on her quest to sign up for these classes (which were basically first-aid) that she meets (or rather, meets again) Kai, who she at first takes for a man who only speaks Chinese. She drags him along and then when she receives pushback from the white men in charge of the sign-up, on the spot makes up a fake fiancé, who is apparently Kai, so she can get her way. Unbeknownst to Naomi, Kai and she have met before, and in fact, they are ALREADY engaged, and have been since childhood, when Kai's conman father duped the whole village into a scheme, stole heaps of money, and then scarpered off, leaving Kai behind to face the consequences. He is returning to Wedgeford to commit once last con. On the way home to Wedgeford, Naomi discovers her mistake, but Kai keeps their childhood betrothal to himself, for obvious reasons. Somehow, they end up fake engaged anyway, as it's in both of their interests. I won't say more than that because it gets complicated, but doesn't feel that way while you're reading.
The character arcs here are glorious. The community is so wholesome and fun. Kai's past and present collide in a way that is very satisfying, and Naomi's perspective shift through the novel, to do with both herself and her relationship with her parents, was incredibly well done. It's also stinkin' cute, and Kai is a master potter, so we get a lot of really cool historical detail about Japanese pottery that I absolutely ate up, which then caused me to go down a YouTube rabbit hole that I don't recommend you go down unless you want to lose several hours of your life.
I actually think I liked this one quite a bit more than the first book. I connected with the characters more, and the plot and their emotional arcs felt like they had a lot more substance than Chloe and Jeremy's story did, which was basically just extremely pleasant fluff. This is fluff with substance, which is that even fluff? But anyway, apparently I'm really into that dynamic, and this is a very good book that you should read also.
This is the second book in Courtney Milan's Wedgeford Trials series, about a small town in Victorian England that is full of mostly Chinese emigrants (as always, the author's notes are a must-read for historical context) but other members of the Asian diaspora as well. The town has become infamous in larger England for holding annual games called the Wedgeford Trials, which bring a lot of outsiders in, which is a great base for a series of romance novels. This particular book doesn't have much of a focus on the games at all; in fact they're barely in it. It's more about the larger community, as experienced by two people who feel outside of it. (One of them significantly more than the other.)
Our lifelong Wedgeford resident is Naomi, a Chinese/Japanese young woman who desperately wants to take an Ambulance class, despite her over-protective parents' wishes. It's on her quest to sign up for these classes (which were basically first-aid) that she meets (or rather, meets again) Kai, who she at first takes for a man who only speaks Chinese. She drags him along and then when she receives pushback from the white men in charge of the sign-up, on the spot makes up a fake fiancé, who is apparently Kai, so she can get her way. Unbeknownst to Naomi, Kai and she have met before, and in fact, they are ALREADY engaged, and have been since childhood, when Kai's conman father duped the whole village into a scheme, stole heaps of money, and then scarpered off, leaving Kai behind to face the consequences. He is returning to Wedgeford to commit once last con. On the way home to Wedgeford, Naomi discovers her mistake, but Kai keeps their childhood betrothal to himself, for obvious reasons. Somehow, they end up fake engaged anyway, as it's in both of their interests. I won't say more than that because it gets complicated, but doesn't feel that way while you're reading.
The character arcs here are glorious. The community is so wholesome and fun. Kai's past and present collide in a way that is very satisfying, and Naomi's perspective shift through the novel, to do with both herself and her relationship with her parents, was incredibly well done. It's also stinkin' cute, and Kai is a master potter, so we get a lot of really cool historical detail about Japanese pottery that I absolutely ate up, which then caused me to go down a YouTube rabbit hole that I don't recommend you go down unless you want to lose several hours of your life.
I actually think I liked this one quite a bit more than the first book. I connected with the characters more, and the plot and their emotional arcs felt like they had a lot more substance than Chloe and Jeremy's story did, which was basically just extremely pleasant fluff. This is fluff with substance, which is that even fluff? But anyway, apparently I'm really into that dynamic, and this is a very good book that you should read also.
October 28, 2023
3.5 stars rounded to 4. I LOVED the first in this series, The Duke who Didn’t. This sequel is strong but not quite as strong. The writing started off stronger in the first 1/3 and then started to feel more slippery. Ms. Milan self-publishes and from her descriptions of that I can’t tell if she has an editor, but sometimes it FEELS like she doesn’t. Characters often have similar conversations (with each other or in their own heads) over and over and while this is true to life, it doesn’t move plots along. In addition while Kai’s motivations and self-concept make sense, the origin of Naomi’s self concept (presumably needed to draw parallels between her and Kai) felt a little weaker. One dude was mean at age 16 and it shaped her entire view of herself AND her mother? And it was so easily cleared up with one conversation?
But overall it was a nice book with interesting details - anything that’s not regency lords and ladies getting into one of 3 situations is a step up in historical romance - and worth reading once. But probably not multiple times like I did with Duke.
But overall it was a nice book with interesting details - anything that’s not regency lords and ladies getting into one of 3 situations is a step up in historical romance - and worth reading once. But probably not multiple times like I did with Duke.
August 30, 2024
Read for Rake Appreciation Society live show! Tuesday 8/20
Want to read
August 31, 2023Just heard about this in the queen's newsletter. I just know the cover is going to be gorgeous and the synopsis? A heroine who takes ambulance classes? *happily writes October 17 TMWM release in planner*
August 26, 2024
Okay, but Ian Mackenzie was DEFINITELY buying some of Kai's pottery, right?
Join me and my partner in crime for our book club on 8/20 for my review.
Join me and my partner in crime for our book club on 8/20 for my review.
July 24, 2024
July 2024 re-read. Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Fake dating
This is an ARC I received from the author. My opinions are not influenced by my free copy. I have also already pre-ordered the book.
Naomi works hard to help her parents run the inn in Wedgeford and rarely says or does anything that could be perceived as making trouble. She feels plain and unappreciated and while she's received several offers of marriage, they're all from men who clearly just want someone to cook and clean for them. She fears becoming just like her mother, who seems to live an unexciting and quiet life, in a loveless union with Naomi's father. She's not entirely sure why the handsome man she ran into by accident in Dover has agreed to pose as her fiancée, but he seems to see things in her that no one else has.
Liu Ji Kai is the son of a disgraced con man who swindled most of the adults in Wedgeford and fled into the night, abandoning his six-year-old son to face the wrath of the villagers. Kai has worked since he was fourteen to distance himself from his odious father. He wants desperately to repay all of the inhabitants of Wedgeford who suffered for his father's actions, but the only way he can think of to do so is to commit one last audacious fraud, after which he will need to leave the country and disappear.
While he was young, his father arranged a marriage between Kai and Naomi. So Naomi asking him to pretend to be her fiancée isn't really a lie. He also thinks that once Naomi's friends and family discover his return and that he's supposedly a serious suitor to Naomi, they're going to warn her away from him immediately. He is very clear to her that he's not to be trusted and that he is an excellent liar, but he also spends weeks restoring the abandoned cottage in which he once lived and starts doing pottery, all while refusing help from anyone in the village. He insists on paying for all his meals at the inn, and once he actually gets his kiln working, he keeps making beautiful pottery and keeps insisting the villagers take some for free, as it would only be going to waste otherwise.
Kai keeps being surprised that while a few of the villagers are understandably upset and distrustful of him, the majority seem to welcome him back and try to make him comfortable as part of the community. Kai is so deeply aware of the wrongs his father did, and while he has spent half his life living away from his father and trying to undo the man's mistakes, he still hears his father's cruel and unforgiving voice in his head. He desperately tries to keep himself apart from the townsfolk in general and Naomi in particular. Kai has lived his entire life holding himself separate from those around him, never allowing himself to create any bonds. Attachments just lead to complications. He knows he's going to leave Wedgeford after his audacious fraud is complete, he'll never actually be able to marry Naomi - so he has to keep from falling for her (good luck with that).
Naomi is fully aware that Kai has some sort of grand plan and that he's not telling the entire truth about his stay in Wedgeford. However, just like everyone else in the village, she sees how honest and hard-working he really is, and having accepted the fact that she might not ever find someone to love or marry, she is pragmatic about the fact that while Kai might not stay forever, he sees her and cares for her like no other when he's around. She feels a few months of being loved and happy is better than a lifetime of mundane chores and loneliness.
Naomi is forced to reevaluate a lot about herself and her family and the ideas she's had about her little world. While her self-esteem and self-image are rather warped at the beginning of the story, she trusts her own instincts and despite him constantly warning her away, Naomi trusts Kai and believes him to be a good and caring man. No matter what his words about being a liar and a fraud say, his actions prove time and time again that he is honest, hard-working, and stubborn to a fault. He never accepts any kind of kindness or gesture of help from anyone and spends so much time keeping himself apart from village life.
Kai's life has been pretty awful since he was a young child. Abandoned in Wedgeford for months after his father ran off, having stolen the life savings of many of the townsfolk, he was entirely reliant on the charity of others to survive. His father eventually came to collect him, but kept uprooting him from new homes, because they kept having to flee and create new identities. Once Kai became somewhat older, his father demanded that he help out in the fraudulent schemes and punished him harshly every time he made a mistake. Even when he tries not to, Kai has internalised his father's lessons too well and refuses to believe that there is anything worthwhile about himself. He is so prepared for being shunned in Wedgeford because of the past, but entirely flummoxed when people start trusting him and wanting to include him in things. He is ruthless about himself and reacts way worse to kind treatment than abuse and harsh words.
Chloe and Jeremy, the protagonists of the first book in the series, The Duke Who Didn't, do eventually appear in the story, but not until about two-thirds of the way in. It was lovely to catch glimpses of their married life and the comfortable existence they've made for themselves in Wedgeford. While I really enjoyed this story, I didn't love it as much as I did Chloe and Jeremy's love story. There is quite a lot more angst in this story, and it takes Kai a long time to acknowledge that he deserves love and can make a happy ending with Naomi. If it didn't hit me quite as much in the swoony feels as the previous book, this is still a Courtney Milan novel. If you've liked any of her previous books, this is well worth your time. The first book made me intensely hungry, this one taught me a lot of fascinating things about pottery.
Judging a book by its cover: I think this cover is lovely, even if the people on it look a bit stiff. The passionate embrace on The Duke Who Didn't felt more natural. Nevertheless, there are attractive Asian people embracing, and the woman doesn't appear to be wearing a photoshopped wedding dress. I will happily take it over many of the alternatives.
This is an ARC I received from the author. My opinions are not influenced by my free copy. I have also already pre-ordered the book.
Naomi works hard to help her parents run the inn in Wedgeford and rarely says or does anything that could be perceived as making trouble. She feels plain and unappreciated and while she's received several offers of marriage, they're all from men who clearly just want someone to cook and clean for them. She fears becoming just like her mother, who seems to live an unexciting and quiet life, in a loveless union with Naomi's father. She's not entirely sure why the handsome man she ran into by accident in Dover has agreed to pose as her fiancée, but he seems to see things in her that no one else has.
Liu Ji Kai is the son of a disgraced con man who swindled most of the adults in Wedgeford and fled into the night, abandoning his six-year-old son to face the wrath of the villagers. Kai has worked since he was fourteen to distance himself from his odious father. He wants desperately to repay all of the inhabitants of Wedgeford who suffered for his father's actions, but the only way he can think of to do so is to commit one last audacious fraud, after which he will need to leave the country and disappear.
While he was young, his father arranged a marriage between Kai and Naomi. So Naomi asking him to pretend to be her fiancée isn't really a lie. He also thinks that once Naomi's friends and family discover his return and that he's supposedly a serious suitor to Naomi, they're going to warn her away from him immediately. He is very clear to her that he's not to be trusted and that he is an excellent liar, but he also spends weeks restoring the abandoned cottage in which he once lived and starts doing pottery, all while refusing help from anyone in the village. He insists on paying for all his meals at the inn, and once he actually gets his kiln working, he keeps making beautiful pottery and keeps insisting the villagers take some for free, as it would only be going to waste otherwise.
Kai keeps being surprised that while a few of the villagers are understandably upset and distrustful of him, the majority seem to welcome him back and try to make him comfortable as part of the community. Kai is so deeply aware of the wrongs his father did, and while he has spent half his life living away from his father and trying to undo the man's mistakes, he still hears his father's cruel and unforgiving voice in his head. He desperately tries to keep himself apart from the townsfolk in general and Naomi in particular. Kai has lived his entire life holding himself separate from those around him, never allowing himself to create any bonds. Attachments just lead to complications. He knows he's going to leave Wedgeford after his audacious fraud is complete, he'll never actually be able to marry Naomi - so he has to keep from falling for her (good luck with that).
Naomi is fully aware that Kai has some sort of grand plan and that he's not telling the entire truth about his stay in Wedgeford. However, just like everyone else in the village, she sees how honest and hard-working he really is, and having accepted the fact that she might not ever find someone to love or marry, she is pragmatic about the fact that while Kai might not stay forever, he sees her and cares for her like no other when he's around. She feels a few months of being loved and happy is better than a lifetime of mundane chores and loneliness.
Naomi is forced to reevaluate a lot about herself and her family and the ideas she's had about her little world. While her self-esteem and self-image are rather warped at the beginning of the story, she trusts her own instincts and despite him constantly warning her away, Naomi trusts Kai and believes him to be a good and caring man. No matter what his words about being a liar and a fraud say, his actions prove time and time again that he is honest, hard-working, and stubborn to a fault. He never accepts any kind of kindness or gesture of help from anyone and spends so much time keeping himself apart from village life.
Kai's life has been pretty awful since he was a young child. Abandoned in Wedgeford for months after his father ran off, having stolen the life savings of many of the townsfolk, he was entirely reliant on the charity of others to survive. His father eventually came to collect him, but kept uprooting him from new homes, because they kept having to flee and create new identities. Once Kai became somewhat older, his father demanded that he help out in the fraudulent schemes and punished him harshly every time he made a mistake. Even when he tries not to, Kai has internalised his father's lessons too well and refuses to believe that there is anything worthwhile about himself. He is so prepared for being shunned in Wedgeford because of the past, but entirely flummoxed when people start trusting him and wanting to include him in things. He is ruthless about himself and reacts way worse to kind treatment than abuse and harsh words.
Chloe and Jeremy, the protagonists of the first book in the series, The Duke Who Didn't, do eventually appear in the story, but not until about two-thirds of the way in. It was lovely to catch glimpses of their married life and the comfortable existence they've made for themselves in Wedgeford. While I really enjoyed this story, I didn't love it as much as I did Chloe and Jeremy's love story. There is quite a lot more angst in this story, and it takes Kai a long time to acknowledge that he deserves love and can make a happy ending with Naomi. If it didn't hit me quite as much in the swoony feels as the previous book, this is still a Courtney Milan novel. If you've liked any of her previous books, this is well worth your time. The first book made me intensely hungry, this one taught me a lot of fascinating things about pottery.
Judging a book by its cover: I think this cover is lovely, even if the people on it look a bit stiff. The passionate embrace on The Duke Who Didn't felt more natural. Nevertheless, there are attractive Asian people embracing, and the woman doesn't appear to be wearing a photoshopped wedding dress. I will happily take it over many of the alternatives.
December 18, 2023
This was an absolute banger. Review tomorrow.
Nov 30th:
Why did nobody tell me this FINALLY came out? Been waiting for 3 bloody years :D
Nov 30th:
Why did nobody tell me this FINALLY came out? Been waiting for 3 bloody years :D
Read
March 5, 2024Please don’t mistake me saying “the pottery in this romance is so cool” to mean that the romance itself isn’t swoony and heartfelt, or that the little fictional community of Wedgeford, primarily composed of Asian immigrants and their British children, with its annual festival/competition called the Trials, isn’t one of genre romance’s most charming small towns. It is swoony. Wedgeford is indeed darling. But listen: the pottery in this romance is so cool. You can tell a lot of care went into researching and writing it, and Courtney Milan’s historical note at the end of the novel is such a pleasure to read. As always, I love a con artist with a secret heart of gold, and pairing said con artist with an honest, determined, practical woman is the most fun you can have. Naomi, the practical woman in question, also has a really beautifully written arc of realizing that she’s misunderstood her mother. Love and strength look different for different people. Naomi’s family issues are more subtle than Kai’s (his dad is a con artist without a heart of gold), and the book delves into the ways that good, kind people can still do wrong by each other—and also the ways they can make things right.
This review originally appeared in Word Suitcase.
This review originally appeared in Word Suitcase.
February 6, 2025
3.5 ⭐ enjoyable. I thought the romance was very sweet, tender, and natural.
October 22, 2023
Loved this. Slippery, charismatic heroes are so much fun, and Naomi’s journey to undoing the lies she believed about herself felt very healing. I’m never someone who needs epilogues but this one was especially great.
Want to read
September 25, 2023!!!
SINCE WHEN DOES THIS EXIST WHAT
MY YEAR JUST GOT SO MUCH BETTER
SINCE WHEN DOES THIS EXIST WHAT
MY YEAR JUST GOT SO MUCH BETTER
October 18, 2023
I am a potter who loves Courtney Milan, and stories about less-flawed-than-they-think people. This book warmed my soul and I wish I could have it to read fresh again.
March 31, 2024
If this author keeps writing Wedgeford, I'll keep reading them! The uniqueness of writing Asian characters in this time period, in England, alone makes this a worthwhile series to explore. Add in that the author includes endearing and emotionally complex characters, who are flawed but genuine, this series is special. The writing is beautiful, but slow and repetitive in places. The historical and personal research are fantastic. I wholeheartedly recommend this series, it may not be for everyone, but it's at least worth trying!
For this second book, Naomi (h) wants to take an ambulance class and she claims a fake fiancé to do so, Kai (H), without realizing who exactly he is. Even once she learns that he's got a reputation in her village, the two stay committed to their fake relationship and then go on such a character fulfilling journey over the following weeks. Kai faces a town that suspiciously watches him due to the negative actions of his father in the past and Naomi defends him at every turn. Kai and Naomi both remind themselves of the falseness of their relationship while on the other hand building each other up so beautifully. The ways Kai showed Naomi how he saw her and how he supported her, oh my heart. Naomi, meanwhile, is facing some truths about how she perceives herself and her parents, but also taking opportunities to show Kai that he's not who he thinks he is either. I loved them together, even as they drove me insane with their internal thoughts at times and how each held back for longer than I wanted them to. Both also internalized what others did and said in toxic ways that was difficult to read sometimes, esp as those thought processes were repetitive.
The Wedgeford Trials themselves are barely a blip and even though the other members of their town are just as hilariously involved as in book 1, the overall tone is more serious than the first I think. I teared up a few times during my reading, the connections the characters made and the deeper realizations they had, just resonated with me. Written in third person, dual POV. No ow/om drama, h was a virgin and H's past experience is not mentioned (though it seemed like he may have had some experience, he clearly had no important relationships given his past and his current focus).
It does take time for Kai's ultimate plan to be revealed to the reader (and Naomi) so the majority of the story is him settling into the town, pursuing his trade of pottery, and being Naomi's fiancé while she works for her family and attends the ambulance classes. He has all these rules for lying thanks to his father and numerous baggage. Naomi has plenty of her own too, sadly. The times they were able to be vulnerable with each other and the intimacy of some of their exchanges was perfect. The burn is slow, though the lust is not (the way she lusted after him making pottery took me back to watching Ghost). There are a couple of steamy scenes, just not a super explicit read. The focus is on the characters developing and their relationship. I loved that there was a discussion of how to prevent pregnancy and that Naomi and Kai talked about this in relation to the expectation that he would be leaving the town at some point.
The town is just a whole vibe and the side characters are crucial in this read. Kai needed to feel like he belonged, but never felt like that was an option. I was glad that some of the town were forced to look at themselves in a hard way given what had happened (and with Naomi readily getting in people's faces). Naomi's mother was an especially important side character when it came to her daughter's personal development and some of those scenes hit me hard in the feels. Naomi's cousin and best friend, an older gentleman in the community, and some others do provide some lightness too.
I was so worried that Kai was going to do something stupid as the end drew near and lo and behold, he didn't! I had wondered if one scene might happen, which it did, but the climax of the book was perfect and showed just how far Kai had come in battling his upbringing and the voices in his head. The ending was excellent and then the epilogue is many years down the road and made me far more emotional than I think it was meant to. The author's detailed notes about pottery and where Kai had lived in America, it was all fantastic. There are still other Wedgeford residents to give HEAs to so crossing my fingers for more of this community!
For this second book, Naomi (h) wants to take an ambulance class and she claims a fake fiancé to do so, Kai (H), without realizing who exactly he is. Even once she learns that he's got a reputation in her village, the two stay committed to their fake relationship and then go on such a character fulfilling journey over the following weeks. Kai faces a town that suspiciously watches him due to the negative actions of his father in the past and Naomi defends him at every turn. Kai and Naomi both remind themselves of the falseness of their relationship while on the other hand building each other up so beautifully. The ways Kai showed Naomi how he saw her and how he supported her, oh my heart. Naomi, meanwhile, is facing some truths about how she perceives herself and her parents, but also taking opportunities to show Kai that he's not who he thinks he is either. I loved them together, even as they drove me insane with their internal thoughts at times and how each held back for longer than I wanted them to. Both also internalized what others did and said in toxic ways that was difficult to read sometimes, esp as those thought processes were repetitive.
The Wedgeford Trials themselves are barely a blip and even though the other members of their town are just as hilariously involved as in book 1, the overall tone is more serious than the first I think. I teared up a few times during my reading, the connections the characters made and the deeper realizations they had, just resonated with me. Written in third person, dual POV. No ow/om drama, h was a virgin and H's past experience is not mentioned (though it seemed like he may have had some experience, he clearly had no important relationships given his past and his current focus).
It does take time for Kai's ultimate plan to be revealed to the reader (and Naomi) so the majority of the story is him settling into the town, pursuing his trade of pottery, and being Naomi's fiancé while she works for her family and attends the ambulance classes. He has all these rules for lying thanks to his father and numerous baggage. Naomi has plenty of her own too, sadly. The times they were able to be vulnerable with each other and the intimacy of some of their exchanges was perfect. The burn is slow, though the lust is not (the way she lusted after him making pottery took me back to watching Ghost). There are a couple of steamy scenes, just not a super explicit read. The focus is on the characters developing and their relationship. I loved that there was a discussion of how to prevent pregnancy and that Naomi and Kai talked about this in relation to the expectation that he would be leaving the town at some point.
The town is just a whole vibe and the side characters are crucial in this read. Kai needed to feel like he belonged, but never felt like that was an option. I was glad that some of the town were forced to look at themselves in a hard way given what had happened (and with Naomi readily getting in people's faces). Naomi's mother was an especially important side character when it came to her daughter's personal development and some of those scenes hit me hard in the feels. Naomi's cousin and best friend, an older gentleman in the community, and some others do provide some lightness too.
I was so worried that Kai was going to do something stupid as the end drew near and lo and behold, he didn't! I had wondered if one scene might happen, which it did, but the climax of the book was perfect and showed just how far Kai had come in battling his upbringing and the voices in his head. The ending was excellent and then the epilogue is many years down the road and made me far more emotional than I think it was meant to. The author's detailed notes about pottery and where Kai had lived in America, it was all fantastic. There are still other Wedgeford residents to give HEAs to so crossing my fingers for more of this community!
May 30, 2025
3.5 stars. Give me all the touch-starved loners! Kai wants to atone for the sins of his conman father and returns to one of the scenes of his crime: Wedgeford. Before he can get there, he runs into Naomi who doesn't realize who he is and needs a fake fiancé so she can sign up for a class. I was so into it! This is slow moving but it has so many beautiful scenes, whether Kai rhapsodizing about pottery, the perfect bowls he makes for Naomi which make her feel seen, or Naomi's heart to heart with her mother that allows her to see how lovable she is and always has been.
However, it also commits an unforgivable sin:
Characters: Naomi is a Chinese-Japanese inn serving girl and virgin. Kai is a 26 year old Chinese potter. This is set in 1892 Wedgeford, England.
Content notes: past child emotional abuse, confrontation with estranged father, physical assault, racism, sexism, purity culture, MMC has been estranged from father since 14, past temporary abandonment by MMC's father at age 6, MMC's father was a con artist, past death of MMC's mother, past death of secondary character's father, on page sex, alcohol, inebriation, hangover, gender essentialism, ableist language
However, it also commits an unforgivable sin:
Characters: Naomi is a Chinese-Japanese inn serving girl and virgin. Kai is a 26 year old Chinese potter. This is set in 1892 Wedgeford, England.
Content notes: past child emotional abuse, confrontation with estranged father, physical assault, racism, sexism, purity culture, MMC has been estranged from father since 14, past temporary abandonment by MMC's father at age 6, MMC's father was a con artist, past death of MMC's mother, past death of secondary character's father, on page sex, alcohol, inebriation, hangover, gender essentialism, ableist language
Read
August 5, 2024Girls, gays, and theys…Courtney Milan has done it again. This was amazing.
January 18, 2024
Trigger warnings: shitty parenting (in the past), misogyny, racism, parental abandonment (in the past), child abuse (in the past), xenophobia, fraud
I was really excited to read this because I couldn't wait to revisit Wedgeford, which is such a delightful village full of fantastic characters. And this definitely lived up to my expectations. I loved the dynamic between the two protagonists and while I wanted it to be sliiiiiiightly less of a slow burn, it absolutely delivered in the end.
I really enjoyed Kai's journey, overcoming his past with a truly godawful father to find not only his place in the world and his future wife, but himself. Naomi was also a great protagonist, but I found myself wanting MORE from her first aid journey than we ultimately got, especially as she went through so much (kind hearted) teasing about it from the population of Wedgeford. I know she had that one kickass moment, but I still wanted a bit more from that plotline than we got.
Definitely a delightful time and I'm loving that Courtney Milan is writing so many historical romances with Asian protagonists these days!
I was really excited to read this because I couldn't wait to revisit Wedgeford, which is such a delightful village full of fantastic characters. And this definitely lived up to my expectations. I loved the dynamic between the two protagonists and while I wanted it to be sliiiiiiightly less of a slow burn, it absolutely delivered in the end.
I really enjoyed Kai's journey, overcoming his past with a truly godawful father to find not only his place in the world and his future wife, but himself. Naomi was also a great protagonist, but I found myself wanting MORE from her first aid journey than we ultimately got, especially as she went through so much (kind hearted) teasing about it from the population of Wedgeford. I know she had that one kickass moment, but I still wanted a bit more from that plotline than we got.
Definitely a delightful time and I'm loving that Courtney Milan is writing so many historical romances with Asian protagonists these days!
February 21, 2024
I absolutely adored book one in this series, and ended up loving this one just as much!
Naomi wants to take ambulance classes but can only do so with the permission of the man in charge of her *insert eye roll here*. So what does she do? She claims that the Chinese nobleman she just met is her fiancé. Obviously. Liu Ji Kai surprises her however, by going along with it. But he has motives of his own to go along with this fake engagement scheme of hers.
This was genuinely, so much fun to read. Low angst, great humor, with a dash of spice. Plus? Kai is a potter! I haven’t read a historical romance where the love interest makes pottery. Plus, Courtney packs in a lot of facts about the history of pottery, which I loved reading about.
A particular detail in the plot that I especially enjoyed, was how Naomi comes to terms with her complicated relationship with her mother. It was just, so well done and brought me to tears a few times.
P. S. Don’t skip the authors note at the end! Courtney talks about the historical inspiration she used.
Naomi wants to take ambulance classes but can only do so with the permission of the man in charge of her *insert eye roll here*. So what does she do? She claims that the Chinese nobleman she just met is her fiancé. Obviously. Liu Ji Kai surprises her however, by going along with it. But he has motives of his own to go along with this fake engagement scheme of hers.
This was genuinely, so much fun to read. Low angst, great humor, with a dash of spice. Plus? Kai is a potter! I haven’t read a historical romance where the love interest makes pottery. Plus, Courtney packs in a lot of facts about the history of pottery, which I loved reading about.
A particular detail in the plot that I especially enjoyed, was how Naomi comes to terms with her complicated relationship with her mother. It was just, so well done and brought me to tears a few times.
P. S. Don’t skip the authors note at the end! Courtney talks about the historical inspiration she used.
March 24, 2025
The beginning of this book was slow, but ultimately, the plot picked up and I really enjoyed the themes throughout this book. From learning to love yourself to overcoming the reputation your family set for you and then to accepting that you alone decide your fate, the character development was really well done.
December 20, 2023
I really liked it. Naomi is such a wonderful person.
August 31, 2024
This was so good. I loved it. This explores redemption, self worth and perspectives. It told a touching and warming love story about two people trying to find their worthiness. Maybe I will add more later, but I’ve not been up to writing much lately. We shall see but I would definitely re-read this and would recommend.
October 26, 2024
COURTNEY MILAN THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE
March 13, 2025
A 4.5 but I'm rounding down because I haven't read enough historical fiction to compare it to. I was so good I have no complaints. I loved the dialogue, the side characters were well written and entertaining, and the explanations of certain details in the back of book were such a good addition.
October 20, 2023
You know, I think I read romance novels because they inspire good-cry moments, not for the fun and sexy bits. After this one hit its stride, it delivered some pretty great “love and self worth” stuff (though the beginning was a little repetitive and the ambulance class felt oversold). I like Milan’s penchant for protagonists with hyperfixations on historic crafts.
December 9, 2023
I’m so so happy to go back to Wedgeford in this follow up to The Duke Who Didn’t. This time we have Naomi, a girl from the inn that has been made to feel plain and undesirable, and all she wants is to take some first aid classes in the town over but her parents won’t let her. Enter Kai, whose father defrauded the people of Wedgeford years ago, come back to use his pottery to do another fraud and pay back the town. Naomi needs a man to vouch for her to take the first aid class, so she literally grabs Kai off the street and says he’s her fiancé. Kai is fine with this because they were actually betrothed as children and he’s her real fiancé! What a romance series of events! These were two fiercely independent people who just wanted to be believed in and trusted and seen and I loved their journey together. The journey of healing for Kai was so lovely and the elderly Wedgeford citizen Mr. Bei was very much my favorite character. I love love having a historical romance set in England with POC, *who existed in England* but HR land seems to conveniently forget that. Give me more from Wedgeford please and thank you.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
🌶️ 🌶️
Instagram.Com/encyclopedia_britanika
🌟🌟🌟🌟
🌶️ 🌶️
Instagram.Com/encyclopedia_britanika
Read
October 19, 2024New Courtney Milan is always exciting, and I was thrilled to realize there were two new books in Wedgeford Trials for me to read. This book is a bit slowly-paced and sad. Not big sad, but consistent small sad. Both Naomi and Kai are people who believe they don't deserve nice things, and that's rough. The emotional arcs are solid, but Kai's especially is very slow. Romance-wise, this was not my favorite vibe; it's a kind of tension I don't particularly love. However, it did feel very realistic, and the history elements are very cool. The parental and pseudo-parental relationships are very well done.
November 2, 2024
The world and characters are very likable. I found Kai’s inner conflict confusing.
Reread Oct 2024: I enjoyed this as much as the first time. From the moment they first met, Naomi and Kai uplift each other. Big swoon. England receives a punch for trying (succeeding?) to hoard treasures from all over the world. I also liked that we were told how to pronounce Naomi’s name, because her mother is Japanese.
Reread Oct 2024: I enjoyed this as much as the first time. From the moment they first met, Naomi and Kai uplift each other. Big swoon. England receives a punch for trying (succeeding?) to hoard treasures from all over the world. I also liked that we were told how to pronounce Naomi’s name, because her mother is Japanese.
December 1, 2023
Courtney Milan's histroms are so complex and yet, the premise is almost laughably simple, a man trying to perpetuate the ultimate fraud by undoing all of his father's fraudulent misdeeds. I adored this story, adored Naomi and especially loved Kai, both of whom believe in their own way that they are unlovable until the other proves them wrong.
November 22, 2023
I couldn’t put it down! A joy to read, even better than the first one if such a thing is possible. I really love this author, and the more books the better they get!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews