I was pleasantly surprised to realize this is actually 3 short stories. All three were heartwarming and engaging and I binged this book in an afternoon. I loved Sylvia Day's Crossfire Series so this was a must read book when I saw it pop up. It was a perfect rainy afternoon book. It was a little steamier than what I have recently read, but the love stories are great!

I did not realize when until I started reading that this is a compilation of three stories. It was enjoyable to read three shorter stories in one collection. Each of the stories is based off of the idea of an arranged marriage.

The first story in the collection is Mischief and the Marquess written by Sylvia Day. This was by far my favorite of the three. I loved the spirited relationship between the couple. The story had a great flow that left me wanting to know more.

The second story in the collection is The Duke's Treasure written by Minerva Spenser. I really love this story. I felt that the Beau and Jo had some amazing character qualities. Even though it is a steamy romance novel, I felt that the way they handle their arranged marriage was very inspiring.

The third story in the collection is An Inconvenient Countess by Kristin Vayden. This was a good story with two strong characters. I enjoyed it, but perhaps it was a bit overshadowed by the first story being so amazing.

I really enjoyed reading this compilation and would recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this advance copy.

This book is a collection of three short, romantic, historical fiction stories.

I enjoyed the one by Sylvia Day the best. She was able to establish a fun plot along with wonderful characters (who had a whole lot of chemistry) in such a short story. The other two stories were also enjoyable, just not as gripping.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was a little confused when I first began reading until I realized there were 3 stories included in The Arrangement. I enjoyed Sylvia Day’s story the most. Engaging couple and I especially liked how the main male character loved his wife and gave her his devoted love and attention. She fully reciprocated his feelings even though she could have resented him as her father set her up in this relationship. The other two stories were ok but not as interesting.
#The Arrangement
#Net Gallery

This anthology contains three stories, one of which by Sylvia Day was previously released in 2007. They are all historical romances with a loosely common theme of women who for varying reasons need a husband and men equally needing a wife, but none of their “arrangements” is quite traditional for the time period.

Mischief and the Marquess by Sylvia Day

Justin, the Marquess of Fontaine, and Lady Sophie Milton-Riley have known each other since childhood and unknown to Sophie, Justin wanted to marry her years before when they were much younger. Sophie has fallen out of favor with the Ton due to a scandal so she is not the appropriate wife for Justin. He, along with his mother and her grandmother, are determined to find a way to bring them together.

The Duke's Treasure by Minerva Spencer

Josephine Loman’s father has lot of wealth but no social standing because of his low bred, merchant background. His dying wish is for Jo to marry a man of high standing who is in need of a wealthy wife to save his heritage. Though they have a rough start, Beaumont Halliwell, the Fifth Duke of Wroxton, comes to see that this woman who has become his wife carries more value than purely monetary.

The Inconvenient Countess by Kristin Vayden

Charles Brook, Earl of Barrington, has quite a poor reputation as a rake to the extent he is having trouble finding a wife. Brook’s main desire to wed has to do with a business proposition. His neighbor in the country, Miss Diana Katherine Lambson, has a family in dire straits after the loss of their father. With younger sisters to care for and a crumbling country house, Diana decides to accept the rascal’s proposal. Much to Brook’s surprise, he finds that having a fine wife such as Diana is decidedly a better thing than he could have imagined.

As to be expected with Ms. Day’s writing, this story has steamy scenes and strong passions. Ms. Spencer’s tale was my favorite of the three as her characters are the most disparate and interesting. Ms Vayden’s hero was a bit hard to take because of his seamy ways, but I liked her heroine’s strength and fortitude.

I received an ARC of The Arrangement from Netgalley. This book is made up of three fabhlous stories. Sylvia Day's Mischief and The Marquess is a fun loving sweet humorous love story between two childhood friends. Minerva Spencer's The Duke's Treasure is a story about a marriage of convenience between a Duke, Beaumont and a cit's daughter, Josephine and their developing love.
Kristin Vayden's An Inconvenient Countess is the story of Brook, an Earl, also called The Devil's Bachelor, and Diana, a strong but poor young lady wanting to take care of her family. Thiers is a marriage of convenience that turns out to be inconvenient when emotions get involved. What I loved most about each story was how quickly they flowed and came to their HEA conclusion. Great stories!

I liked Sylvia Day's Mischief and the Marquess the best out of the three. It's apparently a reissue and tells the second chance story between Justin and Sophie.

The other two stories in this compilation didn't wow me. I didn't care for The Duke's Treasure by Minerva Spencer. The heroine was too passive and I really didn't care for the hero who I felt was very superficial.

Mischief and the Marquess by Sylvia Day
Justin has adored her for years but she is not for him any longer. Sophie, living in scandal, thought he always disapproved of her but now finds him disturbingly attractive. Can anything happen between them?

Coming to the end of this short story gave the same sense of completion as readings a full length novel. The character development and unraveling of plot gave the fullness of feeling of inhabiting the lives - and falling in love - of Sophie and Justin. The sex scenes were just plain hot. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Duke’s Treasure by Minerva Spencer
Penurious, His Grace Beaumont, is forced to marry Cit heiress Josephine to save the duchy. Josephine has yearned for five years for this handsome duke but he doesn’t even remember her. She knows he is marrying her for her money so she is defensive and prickly. But Beau is determined to have a real marriage. Will Josephine be able to put aside her attitude and allow herself to freely love the duke, to become his treasure?

This short story was satisfying, realistic and hot, hot, hot. The characters were believably drawn and the bickering scenes were fun and realistic. I would recommend this book to my patrons.


The Inconvenient Countess by Kristin Vayden
Brook needed a wife for business reason. But he wanted nothing to do with love. He wanted a marriage of convenience. Diana needed a husband to rescue her and her family if five daughters and no father or dowries. She expected nothing else form this marriage if convenience. Neither expected friendship let alone love. But what did they get?

I loved the plot trick of ending most chapters with a question: X (liking your husband, etc.) isn’t possible. Is it? Brilliant! Ms. Vayden has breathed new life into the marriage of convenience trope. Both Brook and Diana were lovely well drawn characters. The plot did not seem hurried even though it was a short story. And the loves scenes were excellent. I would recommend this book to my patrons.

This book was received as an ARC from Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

At first I was a little confused by the approach to this book and did not realize it was a collaboration of authors coming together and writing short romance stories that had their own plot, characters and theme. My favorite one has to be the one by Sylvia Day called Mischief and the Marquess. Their families feel they are not a fit and should not be together but nobody is to judge the love and bond that they share for one another and they will stop at nothing to be together no matter who approves or not. All of these stories were so breathtaking that you can't help but to get lost in the book. I know it will be a refreshing pick for our community and our romance collection.

We will consider adding this title to our Romance collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.