Book Review: The Arrangement by Sylvia Day, Minerva Spencer and Kristin Vayden
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The Arrangement
by Sylvia Day, Minerva Spencer and Kristin Vayden
Category: Historical Romance
Tags: Friends to Lovers, Marriage of Convenience
Kindle | Paperback | Apple Books
Rating: ★★★
The Arrangement is a collection of 3 historical romance novellas from authors Sylvia Day, Minerva Spencer and Kristin Vayden. I thoroughly enjoyed these friends to lovers and marriage of convenience romances though Day’s was my favorite.
Mischief and the Marquess by Sylvia Day
In Mischief and the Marquess, we find Lady Sophie Milton-Riley making a rare social appearance after a scandal that has left her reputation in tatters. She is visiting Justin, the Marquess of Fontaine along with her grandmother.
Despite the nerve-wracking situation, she is not blind to her grandmother’s scheming with Justin’s mother to make a match between the two long lost friends.
When she was younger, in her late teens, Sophie assumed Justin to be an arrogant, aloof man who had no sense of adventure compared to her wild ways.
Unbeknownst to her, he was quite infatuated with her and lost his chance at love when she married another. But now that she knows of his true feelings and returns them herself, he is prepared to do anything to repair her reputation and marry her.
I love friends to lovers romance novellas because there is already history between the two making it easier to believe the quick love affair. Day does a great job of describing their current attraction and establishing their past history so that you fall right along with them in their sudden connection. Plus, their sneaking around at night adds to the intrigue, especially in a historical romance.
Justin’s mother was a hoot. She made a few appearances which had me loving her frankness with Justin and their honest communication with one another. Sophie and Justin are a great pair. Each with their own differences and yet together, the perfect compliments to one another. A great read!
The Duke’s Treasure by Minerva Spencer
The Duke’s Treasure brings us a marriage of convenience story. We first meet Beaumont Halliwell, the Fifth Duke of Wroxton, and Josephine Loman at their wedding. Beau has arranged this marriage with Jo’s father because he is in desperate need of her money all while unaware that she’s harbored feelings for him for 5 years since their first meeting.
This is a short story of their growing affection and trust in the early days of their marriage all while Jo’s father is on his deathbed, causing her heartache. They also have to suffer through an unwelcomed visit from a meddling sister-in-law.
Jo is very likeable and feisty to the demanding Beau. He’s harder to like, but I do love his outlook on the marriage he hopes to have.
Overall, I felt like the novella was very well written and had great pacing with great character development for such a short story.
I couldn’t really understand why Jo was heartbroken that Beau didn’t remember her from 5 years ago given how she “saw” him back then, but it was such a minor part of the story that I just let it go.
The Inconvenient Countess by Kristin Vayden
The Inconvenient Countess is another marriage of convenience romance story. Diana Lambson is the eldest of 5 daughters who feels duty bound to protect her family since their estate has grown destitute since her father’s death.
Given their dire straights, she has no choice but to agree to the marriage of convenience proposed by Charles Brook, Earl of Barrington.
Brook has lived a life of debauchery and is now saddled with a reputation in tatters. This wouldn’t otherwise bother him however it’s impeding a business deal that he’s been counting on and the only way to seal the deal is to find a wife who can give him respectability.
Both are desperate and faced without a choice, but this is fiction so of course they luck out in their marriage becoming more than just friendship. With it being a novella, things of course move very fast.
Given his reputation and her age, it’s hard to buy that they fall in love after just one week together. The story, however, was very well written and pulled together for a novella. You’ll just have to go with the instalove on this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the advanced reader copy. All opinions of this book were my own.
Do you have a favorite book by one of these authors? Share in the comments below!
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