The Debutante is Mine by Vivienne LorretThe Debutante is Mine by Vivienne Lorret
Series: Season's Original #1
Published by Avon, Impulse on April 12, 2016
Genres: Regency Romance
Pages: 248
Format: eBook
Source: Advance Reader Copy
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

From the Season Standard: “A true Season’s Original embodies the class, grace, and style of the ton. Such an honor ensures the recipient her pick of eligible suitors…”

Lilah Appleton’s prospects are looking dim. With one last chance to find a titled husband before she’s forced to wed her wretched cousin, she must make this Season count. Plain, forgettable Lilah must become the Season’s Original. Desperate, she seeks help from the devilishly charming, untitled, and thoroughly unsuitable Jack Marlowe. All she must do now is resist the tempting rogue…

Bastard son and self-made man, Jack Marlowe loathes the aristocracy. When he meets Lilah, he expects her to be like all the other greedy husband-hunters. But she’s far more dangerous. Her alluring smiles and sharp tongue intrigue him. Before he knows it, he agrees to help her find a husband, revealing tricks to ensnare any man. The only problem is, his plan works too well—on him.

When Lilah becomes the belle of the ball, Jack realizes he may lose her forever—unless he can take a chance on love and claim his debutante...

Lilah Appleton is on her third Season, but it’s also to be her last. Her father’s will had a codicil that if she hadn’t married by her third Season, she had to marry her awful cousin since the lands were entailed. Her cousin Juliet, who is recently out of mourning, and her aunt are determined that this season, Lilah will not only snag a husband, but she will be named the Season’s Original. (a title bestowed upon one special debutante each Season who is felt to show such a special trait that she stands out). Unfortunately, most gentleman ignore her.

Jack is never going to marry, but he’s been carrying around a card with Lilah’s name on it since Christmas (it’s March now). His friend the Duke of Vale has devised a mathematical formula to match two people. He’s given Jack this card with instructions to bring her flowers. Jack believes that he’s implying she’s his match.

So Jack brings her flowers. And when he does, he finds so much more than he bargained for.

The romance between the two was well-done and I liked how the two of them were together. The storyline flowed, and was engaging. I just had a few issues.

A couple things really bugged me. The biggest thing is that I felt like I was missing on Ivy and North’s story. But it looks like All I Want For Christmas is a Duke has their story. It wouldn’t be a big deal, but the Duke of Vale’s machinations are what drive this story. Meanwhile, Juliet and Thayne have a huge history that i must have misunderstood, because I was confused at all the anger and betrayal between them. I have to read their story now of course, but I think that as much page time as the two had, and as many interactions as they had, we the readers should have known a teeny bit more about what was going on.

Another thing that bothered me was the ending. It was very abrupt. The thing with her mother was not satisfying, nor the thing with the cousin. Then the epilogue tidied it up a bit, but it was too tidy, if that makes sense. We had a perfect villain, and the ending shows that some things happened, but I don’t know if we’re to assume he got into some troubles? Are we to assume her mother was cast out on the streets? The codicil in the will made it seem like the cousin didn’t have to keep her mother, so you’d think she’d be out on the streets? I don’t know, it was like for such a tidy ending, some big things were left hanging.

This was a solid 4 star, I enjoyed it, but I will say that it could have been a 5.

***ARC courtesy of Avon Impulse

 

HighlandHussySig-300x54

four-stars