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The Understudy: He hired me to play his sister. The price was his heart.
Ashley Marchetti is twenty three, broke, and one tuition payment away from losing her spot at the conservatory. So when the CFO of a billion dollar firm offers her $28,000 to put on his sister's dress and survive one dinner with an aristocratic family, she says yes.
James Hartwell doesn't do impulsive. He does spreadsheets, risk assessments, and quarterly projections. But when his half sister climbs out a hotel window forty minutes before the most important dinner of the year, he does the one thing no spreadsheet has ever he asks the pianist he finds on the mezzanine to take her place.
One dinner becomes an arrangement. The arrangement becomes ten weeks. And somewhere between the waltz lessons and the art history briefings and a hairpin commissioned in London by a man who doesn't know her real name, Ashley stops pretending — and James stops calculating.
The problem? A kind, devastatingly sincere aristocrat is falling in love with a woman who doesn't exist. And the man who invented her is falling in love with the woman who does.
The Understudy is a slow burn, high heat billionaire romance with a Cinderella twist, a Bösendorfer grand piano, and a hero who brings you water without being asked. Book 3 in The Legacy Circle series. Standalone HEA.
James Hartwell doesn't do impulsive. He does spreadsheets, risk assessments, and quarterly projections. But when his half sister climbs out a hotel window forty minutes before the most important dinner of the year, he does the one thing no spreadsheet has ever he asks the pianist he finds on the mezzanine to take her place.
One dinner becomes an arrangement. The arrangement becomes ten weeks. And somewhere between the waltz lessons and the art history briefings and a hairpin commissioned in London by a man who doesn't know her real name, Ashley stops pretending — and James stops calculating.
The problem? A kind, devastatingly sincere aristocrat is falling in love with a woman who doesn't exist. And the man who invented her is falling in love with the woman who does.
The Understudy is a slow burn, high heat billionaire romance with a Cinderella twist, a Bösendorfer grand piano, and a hero who brings you water without being asked. Book 3 in The Legacy Circle series. Standalone HEA.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 29, 2026
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 8, 2026
Lovely.
**SPOILERS**
James has a big problem. His sister…the crux of a deal he’s been putting together (think arranged marriage) has climbed out of her hotel window to escape the necessary dinner. James doesn’t freak out, he approaches the situation like he approaches mergers…get an understudy. He and his friend had passed a hotel pianist on their way into the hotel. She’s perfect. She’s the right age, build, and she plays the piano. They call her up.
Ashley is a music student. She has 28,400 worth of bills she’s needs to pay. At first she thinks the con is ridiculous, but then James offers to pay her bills (a loan) and Ashley accepts. She has 12 minutes to learn what she needs before dinner. She goes to dinner, and she impresses the guests…sort of, lol. Jonathan, the young man who is supposed to be the other half of the merger is charmed.
Ashley is at her favorite music shop when she runs into Jonathan again. He asks her out for coffee. Ashley calls James who comes to her rescue, but not before Jonathan asks for her number. James is slightly annoyed by the attention Ashley is receiving but doesn’t quite know why he’s annoyed. Jonathan asks her out to attend the MOMA. James gives her a run down on the exhibit. Jonathan and Ashley go to the MOMA, when they reach the last exhibit they both laugh…they’ve both been pretending to understand the art. They leave for the gift shop and end the date.
James tells Ashley that he needs her to pretend for ten more weeks, until the Hartwells leave to return to London. Ashley accepts, but only if James’s father, Edmund becomes her piano teacher to help her for her audition to the conservatory. Ashley attends a gala where Jonathan is attentive and dances with her. He gifts her a silver hairpin, because as a pianist jewelry would get in her way. James is upset because he tells her the boy is falling in love with a girl that doesn’t exist. Ashley corrects him. Later she tells James she’s going to tell Jonathan the truth…it’s not fair to him.
James and Ashley tell Jonathan the truth. Jonathan then tells Ashley he doesn’t care who her father is, or what her job is, he loves her. She tells him she needs to think. She leaves and James tells her that he’s upset. They go back to James’s place, and Ashley shows James that he’s the one she loves. Jonathan returns to London. James and Ashley date, and a year later he proposes.
**THOUGHTS/OPINIONS**
This was a lovely contemporary romance. There wasn’t too much drama and it was low angst, but it was still lovely. Ashley is a great character. And James is a pretty good character as well, he has flaws, and he needs to learn how to grow. He wants to “manage” Ashley, and Ashley shows him that you can live without managing a person. I wish the book had been longer. And I did feel bad for Jonathan, because he was a really nice guy, and at moments I even wondered if Ashley would be better off with Jonathan. But in the end, it made sense for James and Ashley to be together.
**SPOILERS**
James has a big problem. His sister…the crux of a deal he’s been putting together (think arranged marriage) has climbed out of her hotel window to escape the necessary dinner. James doesn’t freak out, he approaches the situation like he approaches mergers…get an understudy. He and his friend had passed a hotel pianist on their way into the hotel. She’s perfect. She’s the right age, build, and she plays the piano. They call her up.
Ashley is a music student. She has 28,400 worth of bills she’s needs to pay. At first she thinks the con is ridiculous, but then James offers to pay her bills (a loan) and Ashley accepts. She has 12 minutes to learn what she needs before dinner. She goes to dinner, and she impresses the guests…sort of, lol. Jonathan, the young man who is supposed to be the other half of the merger is charmed.
Ashley is at her favorite music shop when she runs into Jonathan again. He asks her out for coffee. Ashley calls James who comes to her rescue, but not before Jonathan asks for her number. James is slightly annoyed by the attention Ashley is receiving but doesn’t quite know why he’s annoyed. Jonathan asks her out to attend the MOMA. James gives her a run down on the exhibit. Jonathan and Ashley go to the MOMA, when they reach the last exhibit they both laugh…they’ve both been pretending to understand the art. They leave for the gift shop and end the date.
James tells Ashley that he needs her to pretend for ten more weeks, until the Hartwells leave to return to London. Ashley accepts, but only if James’s father, Edmund becomes her piano teacher to help her for her audition to the conservatory. Ashley attends a gala where Jonathan is attentive and dances with her. He gifts her a silver hairpin, because as a pianist jewelry would get in her way. James is upset because he tells her the boy is falling in love with a girl that doesn’t exist. Ashley corrects him. Later she tells James she’s going to tell Jonathan the truth…it’s not fair to him.
James and Ashley tell Jonathan the truth. Jonathan then tells Ashley he doesn’t care who her father is, or what her job is, he loves her. She tells him she needs to think. She leaves and James tells her that he’s upset. They go back to James’s place, and Ashley shows James that he’s the one she loves. Jonathan returns to London. James and Ashley date, and a year later he proposes.
**THOUGHTS/OPINIONS**
This was a lovely contemporary romance. There wasn’t too much drama and it was low angst, but it was still lovely. Ashley is a great character. And James is a pretty good character as well, he has flaws, and he needs to learn how to grow. He wants to “manage” Ashley, and Ashley shows him that you can live without managing a person. I wish the book had been longer. And I did feel bad for Jonathan, because he was a really nice guy, and at moments I even wondered if Ashley would be better off with Jonathan. But in the end, it made sense for James and Ashley to be together.
Displaying 1 of 1 review