The Maiden's Court: Book Review: An Improper Arrangement by Kasey Michaels

An Improper Arrangement by Kasey Michaels
Book 1 of The Little Season series
ARC, e-Book, 380 pages
Harlequin HQN
December 29, 2015
★★★★☆

Heat Rating:

Genre: Historical Romance, Regency

Source: Received for review with TLC Book Tours

Experience the drama of the Little Season in the first of a new series by USA Today bestselling author Kasey Michaels, in which three dashing war heroes have finally met their matches…

Gabriel Sinclair has returned from battle as reluctant heir to a dukedom. As if his new responsibilities weren't enough, Gabriel's aunt enlists him to sponsor a young heiress through London's Little Season. Yet Miss Thea Neville is hardly the tedious obligation he expected. She's exotic and enchanting—and utterly unaware of the secret poised to destroy her family's reputation.

After ten years in America, Thea is ready to do her duty and marry well. Deportment lessons, modistes, balls—the ton is a minefield she could scarcely navigate without Gabriel's help. By rights, she should accept the first bachelor who offers for her. Instead, she's succumbing to a dangerous attraction to her wickedly handsome chaperone—one that could unhinge her plans in the most delicious way.

An Improper Arrangement is the first novel in the series titled The Little Season. Where many Regency set romance novels take place during The Season, the official period of time where debutantes are introduced into the social sphere in London, The Little Season is virtually the minor leagues or a practice run for those ladies who might be deemed not quite ready for the major leagues yet. In An Improper Arrangement, Thea comes to London to from America to take part in this Little Season that her mother always wanted to have; however, first she has to go through some prep school if you will with Gabriel Sinclair to learn the ropes. Not only does a romance grow throughout this novel, but the plans held by the parties in question crisscross and resolve in quite the humorous ways.

One of the things that I loved about this book was the dialogue between Gabriel and Thea; from the moment they are introduced they engage in a witty, bantering, discourse that equally enraptures and infuriates the other. I just love it when characters can get under each other’s skin like that because it keeps them on their toes and keeps the dialogue light. These two characters were well defined and fleshed out and the dialogue was well used to enhance their individuality.

In some romance novels the plot can get lost behind the effort to bring the two would be lovers together. While the plot did ramble at times, I thought that the story arcs (and there are actually a couple of them) were crafted well. There is the greater story arc of Thea coming to London to have her debut, but there are a few smaller ones that thread throughout that resolve nicely by the end of the novel. It was nice to see that the plot wasn’t an afterthought, but crafted amongst the romance.

And that segues nicely into a discussion on the romance factor. The romance continuously built throughout the novel; the tropes of instant attraction or dislike turning to lust were not used here. Instead it developed overtime as Thea and Gabriel were paired together through the lead up to the Little Season and the drama they had planned. By the time things evolved into something more it made sense to their characters. And here the scenes became a little steamy! The two major scenes were descriptive without being pornographic. They were short, tasteful, and felt appropriate to the characters. While descriptive, the author leaves enough to the imagination as well. Done well in my opinion!

This book also served to introduce the readers to the other men who will be featured in the following Little Season books! They were given enough of a role in a few scenes that didn’t get in the way of the main story arc but still give the reader enough of an introduction to be interested in seeing how their stories progress in the future.

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Also by Kasey Michaels:
Kasey Michaels has over 100 books in her backlist, so I’m not going to post them all here, but here is a selection of her more recent releases!