The Pretend Wife

Finished July 13
The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher

This is a light romance novel, with a little bit of a twist. Gwen Merchant is out on a summer day standing in line for ice cream for herself and her husband, Peter, when she is surprised by the appearance of a college boyfriend, Elliot Hull, in line behind her. She finds herself both annoyed by his presence, as they parted after an incident that is described later in the book, and happy to see him because she genuinely likes him. He asks her out, and she lets him know that she is married, and then he gets himself invited to a party that she is going to later.
At the party, something happens to indebt her to him, and she finds herself agreeing to pretend to be his wife in order to help him with a lie that he's told his mother who is very ill from cancer and expected to not last much longer. Peter is the one that initially pushes for this, although he does have second thoughts. Gwen is intrigued to see more of Elliot's family and remembers meeting his mother briefly years ago at a college event after they'd broken up.
Gwen's backstory is important here. Her mother died in a single vehicle accident when she was very young, and Gwen was in the car at the time. Her father, a scientist, was a loving but distant man, very involved in his research into fish sounds. He still lives in the house that she grew up in. He hasn't discussed her mother with her much, avoiding the subject where possible, and she has a lot of unanswered questions.
As we see Gwen relate to Elliot, his sister and niece, and his mother, we also see her reach out to her father to finally learn more about her mother including the circumstances of her death. I found this book quite captivating with its flawed characters and enjoyed the read.