Private Arrangements, by Sherry Thomas
Mar. 25th, 2008 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keilexandraPrivate Arrangements
by Sherry Thomas
351 pages (paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Historical
I don't normally read category romance--contemporaries are too light compared to my usual fare of secondary-world F/SF, and historicals are extremely hit-and-miss. Private Arrangements is a historical romance that, from cover copy, looks like your typical cliche formula story. In one fundamental way, this is true, but otherwise I have to agree with trusted review sources. This is a good book on its own merits, and for historical romance readers it will likely be exceptional.
Gigi Rowland is the daughter of "new money" and has known her share of shunning by high society. Armed with her beauty, wits, and fortune, she--pushed in no small part by her conniving mother Victoria--is determined to marry a duke. When her first arranged marriage falls through by freak coincidence (the duke in question dies two weeks before the wedding), Gigi falls in love at first sight with her late fiance's heir, Camden. He, however, is courting a sweet, spineless girl named Theodora von Schweppenberg. Various events occur; Gigi and Camden marry, but the day after their wedding, Camden leaves. Cut to the beginning of this novel: Gigi and Camden now live civilly on separate continents, she in high English society, he as an entrepreneur in America. The couple have what society deems a perfect marriage--polite and passionless. However, Gigi files for divorce in order to marry again and Camden returns to Europe to win her back (or at first, to torment her by invoking his long-abandoned conjugal rights).
The plot sounds trite and unoriginal. On the surface, it is. Misunderstandings abound, perhaps a touch too many though they are pulled off well. Gigi and Camden are what made this book work for me; their history of enmity is not without basis, through a series of misunderstandings and decisions made in the heat of the moment. Private Arrangements is a study of consequences, though it is a romance story first and foremost. Thomas writes with quick and comfortable prose, and her timing skills are excellent--the lengthy flashbacks worked unexpectedly well. I ached for Gigi and Camden both.
So what's not to like? Well, several things, some of which aren't entirely the book's fault, but rather the genre's. Gigi and Camden are not the only couple in this novel; I found the side characters either boring and underdeveloped (Freddie) or interesting but distracting from the main story (Victoria and the Duke of Perrin). The latter, in particular, could easily and more realistically have made up an entirely separate novel. The skimmed development required to keep it a subplot also kept me from making any emotional investment in the pairing. Even when the story focuses on Gigi and Camden, certain scenes were unrealistically confessional and subconflicts too easily resolved (the Freddie-arc, for example).
Then there is the ending. Oh, what an ending. If I had not been so emotionally invested in Gigi and Camden, the ending would have made me throw the book across the room (something I've actually yet to do). As it is, I was just irritated. I suppose I misunderstood the author-reader contract in this case, which may stipulate such a saccharine ending. But after all the fresh interpretations of romance cliches, I thought that Thomas would have at least some bittersweetness after such an intense conflict. An HEA is required; however, if all category romance HEAs read like this one, I may never pick up another book in the genre. It is, in a word, disappointing.
I do not regret reading Private Arrangements for the pleasure of indulging in Gigi and Camden's story, right up until the ending. But due to that major flaw, I would not recommend the novel to someone who wasn't already a fan (and familiar with the rules) of romance novels. An unfortunate final verdict, because I truly enjoyed the rest of the book; Thomas is a promising writer, and I'm sad to write such a review on the book's publishing date.
by Sherry Thomas
351 pages (paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Historical
I don't normally read category romance--contemporaries are too light compared to my usual fare of secondary-world F/SF, and historicals are extremely hit-and-miss. Private Arrangements is a historical romance that, from cover copy, looks like your typical cliche formula story. In one fundamental way, this is true, but otherwise I have to agree with trusted review sources. This is a good book on its own merits, and for historical romance readers it will likely be exceptional.
Gigi Rowland is the daughter of "new money" and has known her share of shunning by high society. Armed with her beauty, wits, and fortune, she--pushed in no small part by her conniving mother Victoria--is determined to marry a duke. When her first arranged marriage falls through by freak coincidence (the duke in question dies two weeks before the wedding), Gigi falls in love at first sight with her late fiance's heir, Camden. He, however, is courting a sweet, spineless girl named Theodora von Schweppenberg. Various events occur; Gigi and Camden marry, but the day after their wedding, Camden leaves. Cut to the beginning of this novel: Gigi and Camden now live civilly on separate continents, she in high English society, he as an entrepreneur in America. The couple have what society deems a perfect marriage--polite and passionless. However, Gigi files for divorce in order to marry again and Camden returns to Europe to win her back (or at first, to torment her by invoking his long-abandoned conjugal rights).
The plot sounds trite and unoriginal. On the surface, it is. Misunderstandings abound, perhaps a touch too many though they are pulled off well. Gigi and Camden are what made this book work for me; their history of enmity is not without basis, through a series of misunderstandings and decisions made in the heat of the moment. Private Arrangements is a study of consequences, though it is a romance story first and foremost. Thomas writes with quick and comfortable prose, and her timing skills are excellent--the lengthy flashbacks worked unexpectedly well. I ached for Gigi and Camden both.
So what's not to like? Well, several things, some of which aren't entirely the book's fault, but rather the genre's. Gigi and Camden are not the only couple in this novel; I found the side characters either boring and underdeveloped (Freddie) or interesting but distracting from the main story (Victoria and the Duke of Perrin). The latter, in particular, could easily and more realistically have made up an entirely separate novel. The skimmed development required to keep it a subplot also kept me from making any emotional investment in the pairing. Even when the story focuses on Gigi and Camden, certain scenes were unrealistically confessional and subconflicts too easily resolved (the Freddie-arc, for example).
Then there is the ending. Oh, what an ending. If I had not been so emotionally invested in Gigi and Camden, the ending would have made me throw the book across the room (something I've actually yet to do). As it is, I was just irritated. I suppose I misunderstood the author-reader contract in this case, which may stipulate such a saccharine ending. But after all the fresh interpretations of romance cliches, I thought that Thomas would have at least some bittersweetness after such an intense conflict. An HEA is required; however, if all category romance HEAs read like this one, I may never pick up another book in the genre. It is, in a word, disappointing.
I do not regret reading Private Arrangements for the pleasure of indulging in Gigi and Camden's story, right up until the ending. But due to that major flaw, I would not recommend the novel to someone who wasn't already a fan (and familiar with the rules) of romance novels. An unfortunate final verdict, because I truly enjoyed the rest of the book; Thomas is a promising writer, and I'm sad to write such a review on the book's publishing date.
