Customer Reviews

The Arrangement

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read several of Joan Wolf's Regency novels and have enjoyed them all. "The Arrangement" is a very well-written book with strong lead characters and an interesting plot. The first person point of view (the story is told by the heroine in the past tense) is a refreshing change of pace from the usual romance novel. Because the heroine, a young widow by the name of Gail Saunders, is telling the story, we do not have to constantly get beaten over the head with descriptions of her beauty (i.e. her flashing blue eyes and her silky raven locks, as would be the case in the *typical* romance novel); the author lets us know that she is beautiful by the things that the other charcters say and do. Gail is a wonderful heroine--strong enough to care for her young son, Nicky, by herself after her husband dies, proud enough to resent the implication that she cannot take care of her family, human enough to be rueful about her shabby wardrobe when dining at Castle Sevile and passionate enough to fall in love with Raoul, the Earl of Sevile, against her better judgement and to enter into "an arrangement" with him which she suspects will leave her with a broken heart.
Raoul is a wonderful hero--fabulously handsome and obscenely wealthy (of course), but also loyal, kind and intelligent. He is perfect in every way for Gail except for the fact that he is light years above her in the social strata. The development of their relationship is very well done and Gail's conflicted feelings about it are heartfelt.
The mystery part of the book is also entertaining, although a bit predictable. Lord Devane, Raoul's cousin, has died and left a bequest to Nicky, Gail's young son. Immediately this raises questions about Nicky's parentage which Gail refuses to answer. When it appears that someone is trying to kill Nicky, almost everyone is a suspect until the mystery is neatly unraveled.
My only complaint with this book was that the ending seemed a bit too pat, but that is not a major problem.
In summary, this is a *very* enjoyable book with an engaging heroine and hero. I would also recommend "The Pretenders" and "The Gamble", also by Joan Wolf.

Though she prefers not to show up, widow Gail Saunders knows that she has no choice but to attend the reading of the will of George Davane at the castle of the deceased's cousin, Raoul, the Earl of Saville. Gail plans to reject any inheritance sent her way. However, George knew her too well; her eight year old son Nicky inherits a large sum of money. This bequest leads to much speculation and intrigue as to the lad's biological father. Though her reputation is destroyed, the mysterious Gail refuses to reveal anything about the birth of her beloved son, preferring to leave it as a enigmatic puzzle.

Gail quickly falls in love with Raoul, who sets her up as his mistress. She accepts the position because she needs to grab the few crumbs of happiness that she can in spite of knowing that they can never marry since she is way beneath his station. However, happiness turns into a fleeting illusion as someone tries (and almost succeeds) to kill Nicky. Gail and Raoul know that they must uncover the identity of a villain, who finds the child's inheritance threatening his/her lifestyle before another attempt occurs. If they fail to solve the who-done-it, an innocent child could be murdered.

Regency romance aficionados will howl with joy upon perusing Joan Wolf's latest romantic intrigue, THE ARRANGEMENT. Though the romantic sub-plot is well written, sensuous, and fun to read, it follows the Regency sub-genre's basic rules. However, the mystery is extremely exciting (especially with its first person narrative) that it turns the book into an intriguing historical who-done-it. Ms. Wolf successfully straddles the line between the mystery and romance genres.

Harriet Klausner

I usually hate regencies - I find that the 'heroes' are too egocentric to be likable, I can't abide all the references to former mistresses made just to embarass the heroine, and the heroines are usually too naive to be true. Well, this book is completely different - the hero is a very lovable man, we are spared information on his love life, and the heroine is a very real woman, a widow who has already been married, and to a man she loved. The story was very very good, and I am going to read as many books by Joan Wolf as I can find

This was my first Joan Wolf book. After the first few words, I wondered if this would be my last. After I finished this book, I could not wait to get back on-line to buy more of her books!

I do not ever recall reading a romance book from a first person point of view (POV) and I'll admit I didn't like it at first. But I kept reading it because I thought it would be too shallow of me to stop reading just because I wasn't used to this POV. What if it was a great book anyway? Of course, my intuition was correct and the book is a definite keeper. And keeping an open mind did have it's rewards. And the rewards are so so sweet. (But grab a hankie just in case! HINT, HINT) When the plot starts to thicken, you'll also realize how clever Ms Wolf was for writing this book from the heroine's POV.

Once more light was shed on the horoine's past, I regretted my earlier luke warm feelings for this book. Oh what a fool I was! I wanted to reread the book right there and then! I was amazed. I was awed. I was won over completely and so will you. This book definitely goes on my keeper shelf and if you haven't read The Arrangement yet, you are missing out on a very good book. Don't fret too much over the mild sex. If you read my other reviews, you know that I do prefer steamy if not explicit sex scenes in my romance books but I'm flexible and variety they say is the spice of life. I had just gotten through reading Susan Johnson's latest novel anyway so I was ready for a break and The Arrangement was just what I needed.

I am always interested in A book where the heroine becomes A mistress before A wife and I found that in this book and was pleasently surprised by the author's writing skills. Sometimes when I find A book that has the ideal set up of everything I love to read in A romance, the writing is so bad that I cannot waste my time reading the book, but this book had everything I was looking for and good writing to boot! I loved the first person narration and the suspense that the author kept me in by not letting me really knowing the hero's feelings. I only knew from his actions that he loved the heroine and that was very refreshing. The storyline was also very entertaining and kept me turning the pages. You really don't know who is trying to kill the heroine's son until the end. I also loved the fact that the storyline did not overshadow the romance but only showed you how the hero took charge of all the bad situations and was there for the heroine everytime.

I was A little disappointed in the fact that even though the heroine did become the hero's mistress, it only seemed like she was someone he was sleeping with. They really didn't go anywhere together and she still was wearing her dreadful old clothes through out the whole book. The Cinderella in me wanted to see some shopping and spoiling done. Also, the love scenes were very short and not engaging or detailed enough. I give it 3 out of 10. The last thing that stopped this book from being 5 stars is that it was very depressing to read that one of the neighborhood's children got killed instead of the heroine's son and the villian actually got off pretty easy! You just don't kill off A child in A romance book, I don't care if it's not the main one! Even though this book had A few problems, I have A standard to know if I liked it, and that standard is-- if A book keeps me interested, then it's a good book in my eye, and this book definitely kept me interested! I recommend this book to lovers of good writing!

I love Joan Wolf, and this is one of my favorites. I just love the opening lines of this book. Right away, I want to know about these people. She is an expert at drawing you in and making you care about the characters. I noticed some reviewers were disappointed in the lack of sex scenes, but that is one of the reasons I like her books so well. These are character driven romances and the first person POV gives you the opportunity to really get to know the heroine.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It is my favorite of this new series of regencies from Joan Wolf.

The hero and heroine are beautiful,interesting, and mature, which is a nice change from most romances. I also liked the way the plot developed and the way Ms. Wolf provides proper motivation for her characters' actions.

I could have wished for fuller descriptions of the romantic scenes (read sex), but overall, this is a very entertaining and exciting story.

One of Joan Wolf's more interesting novels. I really enjoy that she usually has a bit of mystery involved as well as a love story. A good book

I've never read Joan Wolf before but knew she was a Big Name in Romance. This book - The Arrangement - did not disappoint. The plot was really well done - lots of dips and turns, just enough to keep you turning the pages quickly. The dialogue was witty and very well suited to the times. I really enjoyed Gail: strong, fiercely protective and proud. Raoul was an excellent hero: strong, fair, and he was so good with the children! The romance was a bit slow for my tastes but it did fit very well with the era. Wolf is an excellent writer - I'll try some of her other stuff.

Well thought out characters, snappy dialog, and a refreshingly different plot made this novel a very enjoyable read.