Laura Paquet

This is a delightful, easy read and the perfect way to start my personal mini-challenge this year of reading traditional Regency romances.

Lady Clarissa Denham is in a quandary. Her father is beyond ready for her to be married and out of his house (she's already had 4 Seasons on the marriage mart), but she will agree to nothing less than a love match. Her father finally gives her an ultimatum: marry Matthew Carstairs, the Earl of Langdon, or go to live as an indentured servant with her Great Aunt Agatha in Yorkshire.

Clarissa agrees to meet Lord Langdon, but she turns down his proposal flat. He is beautiful - a Corinthian - but emotionless. He wants a marriage that is actually a business arrangement, with no attachment, romantic or otherwise.

Her refusal leaves them both at loose ends. Clarissa doesn't want to go to her Great Aunt Aggie's, and Matthew still needs to acquire a wife, so he proposes a deal: if she will help him learn some of the finer points of the courtship ritual, he will not tell her father that she turned down his offer of marriage, which will buy her some time to figure out Plan B.

The two of them find themselves arguing more often than not, but pretending to be besotted with each other to keep her father in the dark. Matthew is determined to find a wife that will agree to a loveless marriage so that he can marry before his beloved uncle, his last living relative, dies. He takes his pointers from Clarissa and begins courting one of the Season's Incomparables, but finds he can barely stand her social-climbing mother or the girl's own desire for wealth that she can show off.

Clarissa, meanwhile, becomes besotted with a fortune-hunting poet. When Matthew tries to warn her off, she takes offense, and their already strained relationship takes another beating - until she realizes that Matthew truly does have her best interests at heart, when her poet baldly asks her for money that she doesn't have. Both are becoming frustrated and upset, but neither really understands why. When Matthew officially calls off his suit, Clarissa's father is apoplectic and immediately sends her away.

Both Matthew and Clarissa realize that their ideal relationships are not actual ideals, and both struggle with reconciling themselves to this. Clarissa has put her Plan B into motion, but she can't quite make herself take the final steps; Matthew, meanwhile, thinks that he wants to save her from herself, but realizes during the journey that what he really wants is for her to be in his life.

Matthew and Clarissa are lovely characters. They have strongly delineated personalities and are well-rounded and three dimensional. Matthew takes his political career seriously, and there are extended conversations about his stance on various topical issues, which is very much welcome in my HR. The immediate secondary characters (Matthew's friend Spencer, Clarissa's sisters, Matthew's uncle) are also well-drawn.

The book moves at a generous pace, and though the ending is a bit much (a Grand Romantic Gesture basically out of nowhere), it puts a nice bow on things. I thought Matthew and Clarissa's feelings for each other evolved authentically, and realistically, and they share a toe-curling kiss at one point. That certainly put a nice bow on things for me!

I don't have any other books by this author in my collection as of yet, but I certainly wouldn't mind reading more of her work. I found that she struck just the right balance between intelligent conversation, multi-dimensional characters, the hazards of courtship on the marriage mart, and history. I definitely recommend!… (más)