Hello friends, it is time to share with you the debut book for author Alene Wecker. The cover is beautiful and I will share a bit more about the story. I meant to get this up earlier this morning, but that's life, right?
Book Description
Much to her mother’s dismay, spirited Anne Fletcher spent her youth seeking her father’s approval by hunting and riding. More comfortable in breeches than ball gowns, Anne sees the freedoms she once enjoyed slowly taken from her in the name of fashioning her into an eligible young lady. When her parents try to force her into marriage, Anne makes a desperate attempt to salvage her last vestige of independence. If she is to marry, she will do so on her own terms.
Anne strikes a deal: if she cannot secure a man for herself, she will agree to marry the husband her parents approved. She soon finds herself in the last place she would ever choose—that stifling parade of etiquette, the London Season. Anne’s plan is in motion. Now all she needs is a man willing to masquerade as her fiancé.
My Review
I believe I found the blurb slightly misleading, but not in a bad way. You will see what I mean as the plot unfolds. Anne and Thomas were delightful characters and the way they interact injects a lot of humor into the story. It makes me happy that some of these characters were based on real people as indicated by the author. It adds a bit of genuineness to the story. I will admit that I got lost a time or two, but was able to find myself. I will chalk that up to my own exhaustion. Anne is a heroine that knows her heart and is determined not to marry the person her parents chose, in spite of their being "friends" I put that in parentheses because of the way she is treated by him and by her parents. They don't understand her eccentricities and the fact that she does not mold well in society. Her parents had basically written her off and Will talked down to her. I hate it when people treat someone that way. I did like the way that Thomas saw her. He was delighted with all the traits that made her who she was and drove everyone else nuts. He saw her for who she was. To me that was the most important and organic thing in their relationships. This was a good story and I found the highlight to be the interactions between the main characters. I did not rate this as high as I do many of the things I read. It just didn't fit me as well as I would have liked. It is still a good book and a worthy read and on that I will recommend it. I received a copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley and this is my honest review.
About the Author
Alene Wecker writes because her favorite authors—Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer—haven’t published anything new in ages! Alene graduated from Brigham Young University with a Master of Music in Vocal Performance, though she rarely uses her degree. She likes to tell herself her education comes in handy as she describes debutantes who, like herself, are frequently forced to display their mediocre skills at the piano-forte. When she’s not writing or mothering her six children, she is usually reading, or can sometimes be found singing with Utah Symphony/Utah Opera. She also enjoys traveling and learning new languages. Some of her favorite haunts include: Berlin, Brașov, Bucharest, Budapest, London, Maui, New York City, Oahu, Paris, Rome, San Diego, Vancouver, and Venice