Customer Reviews

Private Arrangements

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm so glad I did not buy this book but instead got it from the library. I was eager to read it after the reviews on All About Romance and the Romantic Times Book Review: "Groundbreaking!" "Desert Island Keeper!" "Not Your Ordinary Romance!" I must disagree with the reviewers. Okay, the last superlative is true - it isn't an ordinary romance. Thank goodness, too, otherwise I would never read romance novels.

Set in late Victorian times Gigi, Lady Tremaine, seeks a divorce from Camden after 10 years of marriage. Their marriage actually ended after the wedding night and the two have been living entirely separate lives on separate continents since then. The story is bisected chapter by chapter between their courtship ten years ago and "current" times of 1893. In essence, Gigi was a scheming young woman hungry for a title. After meeting Camden, she fell in "love" and turned her scheming to get him to marry him despite his expressed love in another woman. After some trickery, she gets her wish but the plan unravels on the wedding day and Camden departs swearing vengeance upon her.

Ten years later, Gigi is now in "love" with the talented but dim Freddy and wishes to end her farce of a marriage. Camden arrives in answer to her divorce petition and says he will allow it ... so long as she gives him a year-long opportunity to get an heir off of her. Gigi agrees and now these two people are forced to deal with one another and ten year's worth of lies, deceptions, and hurt feelings.

The first two chapters were excellent - I was immediately sucked into Gigi and Camden's story. Things began to go downhill as Gigi's character was shown to be relentlessly selfish. Camden was likeable in the courtship chapters, but his cruel coldness in the other chapters soon made that initial impression a distant memory. Both Gigi and Camden are amazingly good at self-deception. A bone is tossed toward redeeming Gigi's character a little through her charity work, but this does not evidence itself in her daily dealings. I kept waiting for these characters to develop beyond amorality, but it never occurred. The "love" between the characters came across as twisted lust with no deeper emotion. Bottom line: these are not good nor nice people. I never found myself wanting to cheer for them. I only thought they deserved each other in the sense of "good riddance."

I enjoy reading novels with complex and flawed characters, but this was not it. The love scenes were uncomfortable and as dysfunctional as the characters. There weren't even redeeming secondary characters - the romance between Gigi's mother and a duke was just as deceitful as the main storyline. The storyline of past loves finding redemption again - with complex characters and everything - has been done better by other authors (see Eloisa James, Mary Balogh, Mary Jo Putney). I think Ms. Thomas has potential as an author, but this book did not display it well.

My recommendation: pass on this one.

I'm definitely not going to give 'Private Arrangements' low marks because it is a very well-written debut. I agree with the other reviewers in regard to the positive points of this book: great dialogue, wonderful period details, involving story, in-depth character development. But, here are a few of the bothersome aspects for me as a quick reminder before you plunge into this story - and the reason I didn't give this five stars. Thomas jumps back and forth between past and present too much...especially the first 100 pages. I quickly got tired of having to re-orient myself at the beginning of every chapter. I would get into the story and then be ripped out of it to try to remember the details of each time period. Very exhausting. Thomas should have stuck with one time frame for more than a chapter. And, here's another nit-picking detail. Maybe it only bothers me. But, Gigi has "torrid" affairs (Thomas' word, not mine) with other men during the ten years of her marriage to Camden. Yes, they are living apart, and Thomas wants to give Gigi equal-opportunity sexual adventures like she gives Camden, but it seemed that there was no remorse, no sadness about this, no apology at all for these affairs. While Camden also has sexual encounters with women, he feels badly about them and expresses that. I don't think there is one time in the book when Gigi feels badly about her infidelity. That bothered me. Made me not respect her as a character as much. But, I tried to ignore those details, and when I did, thoroughly enjoyed this impressive debut.

This book was a pleasure to read. The author's talent is incredible, I don't think there can be any quibbles about that. What some people are turned off by, are the characters themselves. I loved both Cam and Gigi; yes they were both unfaithful during their decade apart, but it only highlighted their human frailty. Cam was especially haunting..here is an exceptional man, with incredibly high standards. You can really believe that, as opposed to the standard romantic novel, which drones on about how virile,dashing, rich and perfect a hero is, but leaves you unconvinced in the end.

When Gigi fails to live up to Cam's standards initially, the way he reacts is convincing. Yes he takes it too far, but I loved the journey inside his head the author takes us on. I did have some problems with the book,the part with the Duke of Perrin and GiGi's mom is just distracting, while doing nothing for me; I would have liked it better if Cam and Gigi had had more time together, especially in the end.

But all in all these are characters you will remember, and this is a book to treasure. the excellent writing also makes it eminently re-readable!

I would give high marks for Sherry Thomas' writing ability & style, unfortunately her main characters were truly unlikeable, they completely ruined the book for me.

I like flawed characters as much as the next reader who appreciates a good book, but these two characters have no redeeming qualities whatsoever in my eyes. Sure, Gigi makes a BIG mistake by lying in order to get Camden to marry her. She was a spoiled rich 19 year old with a pushy mother who will make beauty pageant stage mothers weep. So I get where she's from. Plus Gigi humbles herself repeatedly in front of Camden in order to beg for his forgiveness, and suffers humiliation and pain everytime Camden rejects her efforts cruelly out of spite. Camden, well... is another story. He holds on to a grudge for 10 years, then when she finally gets tired of their sham marriage and wants to move on, he comes back huffing and puffing, dropping cruel insults to her every chance he gets, and expects her to start melting the moment he shows up and touches her. Sounds pretty immature and childish, doesn't it? But even a child knows how to move on quick enough.

It was SHE who pursues him all through the end and basically drops everything to prove her love for him, while he hasn't shown anything whatsoever about his so-called love for her. But then again, I was just too relieved that I reached the end by then, I couldn't care less about the two of them anymore.

Having said all of that, I will most likely pick up Sherry Thomas' next book, because I do like her writing style. Hopefully she gets better at characterization next time.

Gigi Rowland did something terrible in the name of love, which nabbed her Camden Saybrook, but lost him the day after their marriage once he found out. For ten years they've lived separate lives. He hates her, apparently, and she's gotten over him, apparently. Our story starts when Gigi wants a divorce in order to marry a devoted swain of hers, and Camden will only allow it if she gives him an heir.

Private Arrangements was fairly predictable, though it managed to keep my interest with its well written prose - great descriptions sprinkled liberally with literary allusions and a fluid style that made the book very readable. Though be warned the similies can get a little out of control. At one point the heroine found her heart caught in the jaws of Cerberus of all things : ) Regardless, I can forgive a lot if the book offers a voice so well crafted, and that voice is what earned Private Arrangements its 3 1/2 stars from me. I also liked the parts where it jumps back in time to when Gigi and Camden first meet. During these episodes, the set up for their romance was nice, and Gigi seemed like an interesting heroine, unrepentantly mercenary and practical, but felled instantly by true love in a way that was believable and, considering its outcome, sad. This picture of young, naive love was well done - and usually I find such romances too nauseating to bear. But after a while the flashbacks became redundant (fortunately they stop eventually).

When it comes to the reconciliation in the present the story really fell flat for me. Considering his antipathy towards Gigi, which borders on the psychotic, I don't understand why Camden returns to her with his ultimatum. Nor do I understand his reaction once he's discovered Gigi's deceit, particularly if he's so in love (yeah yeah, he hates her so much because he loves her so much, but still I'm not buying it - the love or the hate.) His prolonged separation from her seemed overly dramatic, the conflict between them overly contrived in order make me believe I was reading about some grand, doomed love of the century. Even worse, near the end of the book people start acting all noble and self-sacrificing, Gigi acts stupidly (but honorably), and Camden's feelings for Gigi do a 180 so abrupt it's disorienting. Their relationship didn't make much sense to me. All this diluted the emotional punch I was hoping to get from this book. Compared to other troubled marriage romances I've read, this doesn't really compare. But still, like I said, I liked how the story was told, and I'll be sure to read more by this author - what the story told just failed to engage me in the end.

On the plus side, the cover is pretty. And there's also a secondary romance between Gigi's mother and a reclusive, former rake of duke, that was very cute. If anything, the book earns points for generating a lot of discussion both by people who loved and people who hated it. It's interesting that such different opinions can be formulated about Private Arrangements, make of that what you will...

Overall, this book was entertaining enough to keep going. I did like the format. The book alternates between the past and the present. At first, it threw me off guard before I haven't seen an author do that before, but as the story progressed, I actually thought it was a good idea. How the characters met and fell in love and actually waited until their wedding night to have sex was a definite plus in my book. The fact that Camden was a virgin on his wedding day (which I have yet to see in a secular romance up to date) was very impressive as well. So that's why I gave it three stars.

Now the downside to this book: I found the way he left her, since she had lied to him, to be understandable but to hold onto that grudge for ten years was cruel, especially when she kept coming to him and apologizing for her lie. I wished he had been more forgiving. Also, the fact that they cheated on each other (with no feelings of remorse) was depressing. They had such a lovely and romantic beginning, but the rest of their relationship seemed like a wreck. I didn't find it very romantic since the characters seemed more concerned with themselves than with each other. It had a happy ending, but I felt sad after reading it. I would have liked to have kept it because of the positives but just couldn't bear to read about the guiltless adultery again.

This book has received so many rave reviews that I certainly feel like I am in the minority as I had a lot of problems with it. Some of them may just be some of my own personal dislikes but here they are.

1. Camden was so self-righteous in his anger toward his new wife and yet then goes on to behave in an even more dispicable manner. At least Gigi's mistake was made with the best of intentions. Camden was a vengeful, childish jerk who stupidly continues to turn away from the woman who loves him (and that he supposedly loves as well) without even having a reasonable discussion about what happened. She begs him to come back to her and he continually refuses. Frankly, her deserved her having affairs when he led her to believe that he was doing the same.

2. Though the two main characters were young when they first made their respective mistakes, they continue to be dishonest and childish ten years later. Frankly, I find it hard to see a HEA occuring between these two in the long run because I don't see that ether has really changed by the end of the book.

3. The love scenes (I hesitate to use the term "love") in the later time period were barely consensual and just plain not sexy. Compelling your estranged wife who you have not spoken to in 10 years to sleep with you is just uncomfortable for me. And I find it hard to believe that any woman, even if she is in love with the husband, would enjoy the type of intercourse that the characters engage in, especially early on.

That said, I didn't hate the book. It is well-written and engaging and kept me reading to the last page, unlike books that are just plain bad.

I actually enjoyed the love story between Gigi's mother and the Duke more that the main story. They at least seemed to have common interests and enjoying being around each other. I just didn't feel that the author made me believe that Gigi and Camden were truly in love.

I think that Sherry Thomas has definite potential and I will seek out her next book. With different subject matter, I think she could be an amazing author.

I should probably give this book five stars, because it's that good. I'm knocking it down a star because it's a romance novel and it really depressed me. Sherry Thomas is an amazing writer, which is, basically, the problem. She made the characters of Gigi and Camden so real for me, and their pain so vivid, that reading the book was kind of like walking on a bed of nails.

We have two stories here. There's the story of Gigi and Camden's young romance, which starts out sweet and breathless and wonderful. I really believed, as I read these flashback scenes, that Gigi and Camden were meant for one another, a perfect match.

But the flashback story is interwoven with the present-day story, so we know from the get-go that something very, very bad is going to happen. Present-day Camden and Gigi aren't just distant, they're cold and cruel with one another. We know that Gigi wants a divorce, and Camden agrees to grant the divorce if she'll give him a year to impregnate her. That could go a lot of ways; in most romance novels, Camden and Gigi would probably have blazing hot sex that quickly develops elements of sweetness and tenderness, and then the good feelings would gradually spread to the rest of their relationship. PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS is not most romance novels. For example - when discussing the prospect of having sex with Gigi, Camden tells her flat out that he finds sex with her disgusting, mocks her behavior in bed, and then announces he'll probably have to retreat to his room to vomit after he's done. Now, in reality, he's insanely attracted to her and loves having sex with her, but the dude's pretty committed to his role...and he STAYS committed. ALL the sex scenes in this book made me cringe.

While present-day Camden and Gigi are kind of, sort of working through their problems and putting the past behind them, the reader gets more and more of the flashback story. Gigi betrays Camden in a pretty major way, and when Camden explains why he's so hurt by her behavior his reasons are good and sound. But then he sets out to get revenge, and he's...really, really good at it. So I'm reading all these scenes where flashback Camden is basically taking a knife to Gigi's heart and twisting it, and getting such a clear sense of how deeply in love with him she is, and how very, very vulnerable she is, and it made the tension of the present-day scenes almost unbearable. It takes her years of separation to pick up the pieces and move on, and here he is, storming back into her life and re-opening all the old wounds.

I'm not the kind of person who likes to see heros grovel. I know some people dig groveling scenes and I generally hate them. But in PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS it seemed like Gigi was the one expected to apologize, to make up for the wrong she'd done him, when I thought it had been the reverse. I thought he was the one who needed to make amends and prove that he could be a better man. I wanted some grand gesture from him, at a bare minimum - I don't think any single act could really make up for all the pain he caused her, and continues to cause her through most of the book.

We get our requisite happily ever after at the end, and like I said at the beginning, it was easy to believe that Camden and Gigi were really meant for one another...but the scenes of emotional violence in this book are just SO MUCH more powerful than the scenes of peace and joy, and so much more NUMEROUS, that the happily ever after couldn't bring me back to a tonic note. I didn't close the book with a warm fuzzy feeling, like I generally do with a romance. Even at the end, Camden and Gigi's story seemed sort of tragic to me, and I felt sad.

I read NOT QUITE A HUSBAND just before I picked up PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS and I have to say, that was one of the most lovely, wonderful, bittersweet at times but ultimately joyful romances I have read in ages, really moving and excellent. I have every confidence in Sherry Thomas' talent, but PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS is pretty dark and if many more of her books are like this I might stop buying them and settle for wishing her great success from afar.

I found this book to be ok, and it did have it's flaws. The jumping back and forth between time became a bit confusing and made me dizzy. I would have preferred for the book to have started in the past and then brought to the future events, and not the jumping between the past and present. Also, I felt that the characters lacked substance. There wasn't enough effort placed in rebuilding the relationship. I really didn't see love develop between the two characters. Also, I felt that the second story line with the mother was useless to this novel. I felt that the author used this a filler information, instead of having the hero and heroine try to build their relationship. I would also have preferred more dialogue and scenes between the main characters, and not the mother. Also, the sex scenes were very tepid and not passionate enough, especially for two people who are trying to reconcilate. I also felt that the ending was rushed. This book started off really good, took a plunge in the middle due to the irrelevance of the scenes with the mother and her neighbor, started to pick up again, and then just had a medicore ending. I will read her second novel because this author does have potential.

After reading all the negative reviews here, I chose to wait and get it from the library today & read it in one sitting. I loved the book. Some reviewers had written that the hero and heroine seemed to be unlikeable characters for their attitude towards extramarital affairs and their deceptive behavior etc. I'm a very conservative person, but somehow I didn't find them unlikeable at all based on the choices they made, except for what the heroine did to marry Tremaine. Different people have different tastes I guess. Also, it is a story and the characters are imperfect just like most human beings. I have rarely read a romance novel that is so well written that you want to savor every word, every sentence. Her writing just blew me away. Yes, the hero and especially the heroine are a little unusual, but not immoral or horrible characters as some reviews seemed to imply. I've read quite a few romance novels recently which were not well written and seemed to be edited badly. This novel didn't have those issues. If you're a romance reader, I'd suggest you give this book a chance as there aren't that many books out there worth all precious the time we spend reading. In fact I'm going to buy a new copy of this book now so I can keep it after I return the copy I have to the library. I own Sherry Thomas' "His At Night" and I liked that one too.