The Arrangement

November 4, 2019
Though Day receives top billing, it’s Spencer and Vayden who give this spicy historical romance anthology its heart. Day’s “Mischief and the Marquess” (originally published in 2007) is packed with steamy love scenes but is light on plot. It follows scandalous single mother Lady Sophie Milton-Riley as she tries to foil her mother’s attempts at pairing her with Justin, the Marquess of Fontaine, even as Justin resolves to show Sophie how perfect they would be together. In “The Duke’s Treasure,” Spencer gives the plain, heartbroken Josephine Loman, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, a second chance at love with Beau, the Duke of Wroxton. Though Beau marries Jo for her fortune, his journey to respecting and then loving her is genuinely sweet. Vayden’s “An Inconvenient Countess” also begins with a marriage of convenience, but the romance between destitute Diana Lambson and roguish Charles Brook, Earl of Barrington, develops into a tender and consistently surprising tale of honest friendship and unexpected love. Each of these three takes on arranged marriage is loaded with passion and tenderness. This sparkling collection is a surefire hit. Agents: (for Day) The Whalen Agency, (for Spencer) Hopkins Literary Agency, (for Vayden) L. Perkins Agency.

January 1, 2020

The consequences of an arranged marriage are explored in this collection of three Regency romances from acclaimed authors Day (Butterfly in Frost), Minerva Spencer (Scandalous), and Kristin Vayden (Falling from His Grace). Originally published in 2007, Day's "Mischief and the Marquess" opens the compilation with a couple in the midst of fending off meddlesome relations, but Justin, Marquess of Fontaine, is certain Lady Sophie Milton-Riley would never want him, while Sophie is convinced that a previous scandal will in turn bring down his estimation of her. New from Spencer, "The Duke's Treasure" follows Josephine Loman, who is usually forgotten among the beauties at the ball, but that doesn't stop her dying father from arranging her marriage to Beaumont Halliwell, Duke of Wroxton, who needs to settle the debts of the estate. Vayden concludes with "The Inconvenient Countess," about an arrangement struck between Miss Diana Lambson and Charles Brook, Earl of Barrington. Diana's father always warned his daughters from straying near their rakish neighbor Charles for fear of scandal, but Charles can provide for her family in exchange for the respectability a marriage will bring him. VERDICT A well-curated selection of sexy, short, captivating romances from big-name authors investigating the unexpected twists of arranged marriages.--Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati Blue Ash

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