Thomas, Sherry - Private Arrangements

[oyceter]

I hope Mely is right and that the Victorian era is the new Regency, as it means I might get more turn-of-the-century books.

Anyway. Gigi Rowland and Camden Saybrook have been married for ten years, but for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but them, they have been living on separate continents since the day after they got married. We, of course, know that something tragic must have happened, and indeed, it was a Really Bad Mistake on Gigi's part that then multiplied like gremlins. Gigi now wants a divorce so she can marry sweet but somewhat dense artist Freddie, which prompts Camden to come back and demand an heir as a condition to the divorce.

Despite the many good reviews this got on Dear Author, the last plot point kept me from reading the book for a while. That said, when I actually read the book, it hit a lot of my romance buttons, particularly the ones regarding second chances and lots of unrequited longing and people learning to trust again. I particularly love the flashback chapters; unfortunately, they were so vivid that I was startled at times to be thrust back into the main plot. I suspect part of this was because Gigi and Camden's reunion is paced very slowly and interrupted frequently by chapters about the secondary characters.

Gigi in the flashbacks is marvelous, cynical and hardheaded and then head-over-heels in love, and Camden is delightful as well, and fully believable as someone you would fall for in the space of weeks. I loved how well Thomas captured the insane, headlong slide into love, the tentative longing, the bewildered disbelief in your own happiness.

The current plot wasn't quite as good, particularly when Camden and Gigi stop angsting and start moving the plot along. I missed the combination of cynicism and delight in past!Gigi; current!Gigi felt too over-the-top somehow. And Camden's rather demeaning condition took away from past!Camden's sweetness, and I rather wish that he hadn't become a multi-millionaire. The secondary romance gets a little too much page space, and I spent much of it wanting to get back to the angst. And much of what happens in the current plotline is too dependent on misunderstandings and maneuvering by other characters. Even though the misunderstandings felt real and the characters dealt with them maturely, there was just one too many for me to not see the strings. I wish that Thomas had trusted more in her characters and had more of them talking to each other, but because she doesn't, the ending feels unearned.

That said, I was very engrossed in the book while reading it, and I particularly love the way Thomas dealt with Freddie. I also appreciated having actual adult characters dealing with past mistakes and regrets, and I love Thomas' focus on second chances, on the ability of people to change and learn, and especially on the importance of doing the right thing. I really liked the way she keeps revisiting Gigi's mistake and that it is a huge mistake, not some silly Big Misunderstanding, and I love that she lets her characters be wrong and make bad choices. It makes the times they make good choices even better, and I especially love one of Camden's, which goes against every Alpha Male principle ever.

Despite its flaws, I liked this a lot and will be eagerly anticipating Thomas' next book (plus, it will have food porn!).

Links:
- coffeeandink's review
- oracne's review
- gwyneira's review

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

"I hope Mely is right and that the Victorian era is the new Regency, as it means I might get more turn-of-the-century books. "

There seems to be more stuff all around that's set around 1890s-1920s~. I think that now that we're a bit into the 2000s, the period is freed of that "not quite modern, but not quite historical" murky grey area.

[oyceter]

Oh, in romances? Or other genres?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

In general, I think. I do remember a romance author on a mailing list saying that it was starting to get easier to sell them. I've been noticing more Victorian and early 20th C mystery series lately(though there have always been a few of those) and there also seem to be more and more fantasy novels set around that time. Then of course there's steampunk, which usually has a setting influenced by that time period.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I have this one on my TBR pile.

I hope they move up to Edwardians and WWI, too....

[oyceter]

I hope they move up to Edwardians and WWI, too....

ME TOO! Also, places not England, Ireland, Scotland, or the US would be very nice as well.

[keilexandra]

The ending of this book killed it for me and killed my confidence in Thomas. I will await your review of the food-porn book, though, and see if her plotting skills improve.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I can definitely see how it would. Normally if I like the characters a lot, I can handwave happy endings, but that one was just too sudden.