Marigold's Luck — Helen Ellis

Be careful what you lie about, for lies can twist back to truths. When two intractable cousins set out on a world trip together, things are bound to become unstuck. Past experience tells Australian party-girl and wannabe actor, Marigold Sheppard, that taking her unhappy cousin with her on the world trip will be a gamble. However, when Lainie falls off her mule on the Greek island of Santorini, Mari is diverted by her rescuer, the dishy Jeremy Sandford, English gentleman, who succumbs to the Marigold Sheppard A-1 special smile and invites them to dinner. Lainie doesn't want to go, so Mari has him all to herself. She goes for an Oscar to impress him, after all she does want to further her acting career. However, Jeremy has a surprise request, one that intrigues Mari enough to accept. She has to tell Lainie a huge lie, causing the girls to part company. Jeremy takes Mari to London with him where all is not what it seems in the Sandford family, and soon she is out of her depth with Jeremy's upper-class dysfunctional relations. Mari finds herself involved with a much bigger deception, and even more lies are told. But the lie she told Lainie soon becomes the real thing. It changes her life, and she and Jeremy have a difficult learning curve before they admit their love for each other.