Finished 7-19-10, rating 3.5/5, historical romance, pub. 1999

The spring Charlotte turned 20, her family gave up hope of her marrying.  In the three seasons since she made her debut she had done surprisingly well, considering that she rarely attended balls and had to be coaxed into attending garden parties and tea parties and rides in the park, the normal activities for gently bred young ladies.

Chapter 3

Lady Charlotte is fresh from boarding school and caught in situation with her friend where she makes a very bad decision.  She decides this indiscretion left her unsuitable for marriage and she rebuffed any suitors.  A few years go by and she decides, with the help of her very liberal mother, to put herself out there in the London ‘dating’ scene.  Charlotte is beautiful and rich and has no trouble attracting potential husbands, but the one she has always wanted just walked back into her life without remembering her from their liason years before.  He pursues her anyway and she tries to resist him because she is heartbroken he doesn’t remember her.

This is a very good first novel and I would gladly pick up another book by James because I enjoyed the writing.  That being said this is a story set in late 1700’s through the early 1800’s and Charlotte and her mother were very modern in their behavior at times and this did take me out of the story.  Also, things left unsaid is a hallmark of many romance, historical or otherwise, but this one was just too much.  One or two sentences could have cleared up any misunderstanding and it did make the book feel a little too long.  But even with those disappointments I will be giving Eloisa James another try because the story was entertaining and kept me interested.

This was from my personal library.