I know I am in the minority here, but I did not love this book.

I was in the mood for some fun, romantic escapism, so when I was approved for this ARC from #netgalley I settled in to have a relaxing evening of reading. But I struggled with this book. I could not relate to the characters at all. I was not drawn into the story and was actually bored and found myself skimming.

There was nothing WRONG with this book - but there was nothing to excite me either. The story was interesting, but I just couldn't connect.

I found myself loving “A Spirited Engagement” from the very start. Anne’s story begins with the threat of an arranged marriage with her childhood friend, George. He (George) loves the idea of marrying Anne, but Anne can’t imagine life with him, and especially having to kiss him! Then Anne is given the rare opportunity of a season in London and a chance meeting with a hopeless flirt (Thomas) at her first dance of the season. I found Anne to be quick tongued and funny. Thomas, at first glance, appears to be a hopeless flirt . . . but there is much more to Thomas than meets the eye. And George, well, you will need to read this novel to discover if he and Anne can work out their differences and find any semblance of love.

The author (Arlene Wecker/first-time author) drew me quickly into Anne’s quagmire of a life by providing lots of spirited dialogue between various main characters. Can Anne find her way out of the hole’s she continually digs herself into? Can Thomas give himself the chance to care for someone despite the ghosts in his closet? And can Anne find ultimate happiness with either George or Thomas? This is a fun read for those who love lots of verbal banter between main characters. My only criticism of the novel is some of the words thrown in here and there pulled me out of the story in order to look them up to determine definitions and context. I give this book a resounding 4.5 stars! It is one I look forward to reading a 2nd time. This rating is not lightly given and is completely my own! A big thank you to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for allowing me to read an ARC of this wonderful novel!

What a fun read for this debut novel of Alene Wecker! I loved the characters of Anne and Thomas because they were so unconventional for that time in history, but that’s what made them so interesting! Anne’s mother was horrid to her because she would not “conform” to what was expected, but that’s where Thomas came in as he relished her non-compliance. They both had many hurdles to overcome, a villain and society as a whole. Don’t miss this super fun and swoon worthy regency romance. I can’t wait to see more from Alene in the future!

I found this ARC on Netgallery for a review.
I really enjoyed this book. It's a slow burn romance with some great humor. I didn't think I would like Anne or Thomas, but both of them stole my heart. Their romance was sweet and it made my heart warm.
I love that it is all told in Anne's point of view. That's my favorite kind of romance. It keeps you guessing about what the man is thinking. She shows nice development over the course of the narrative.
The back of the book tells you what is fact and what is fiction. It's interesting the author chose to write about some of her own ancestors. The author paid special attention to the historical details, and you can see the research that went into this.
The story and the humor reminded me of Georgette Heyer, which may be why I loved it so much.
I couldn't put this book down! After I read it I looked up the author and found this was her debut novel! I hope I see more from Alene Wecker in the future.

I really enjoyed this book! Anne and Thomas have some good chemistry, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow as they went through their charade. I wish more people had taken Anne seriously when she spoke about Mr. Smith accosting her, but the fact that Thomas did made him stand out even more in the book. The love letter writing scene reminded me a bit of a scene from Edenbrooke, and the author mentions she was inspired by Julianne Donaldson's work. Not exactly the same, and I enjoyed it as the letter writing scene was a favorite from that novel.

I think there could have been some more character development for me, a few more conversations of depth. Anne goes frequently from being annoyed and distant with Thomas to being very honest and herself, and I think that didn't always make sense to me. I think it's borne from her not being sure whether he's just being a flirt or being serious with her, but I think that could have used a little fine tuning to make more believable or just deeper emotionally.

All in all, I loved Anne and Thomas, and enjoyed the book. It was a fun read and I'd definitely recommend to people who love the Proper Romance series.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was absolutely delightful! I'm always up for trying a new or new-to-me regency author and I'm a huge fan of other regency authors from this publisher...so my hopes were high for An Engagement of Sorts. This book was everything I hoped it would be—romantic, charming, packed with witty banter and likable characters. My favorite thing about it? The author's writing voice. Loved it! I'm a sucker for a fantastic writing voice...and sometimes, for an amazing author voice, will keep reading a book even when I'm not that invested in the plot or characters. But thankfully in this case, I loved all three. Can't wait to see what she writes next!

Alene Wecker's debut novel is a charming and clean Regency romance. Determined not to marry a man she views as a brother, unconventional heroine Anne Fletcher agrees to a fake engagement to a man who merely wants to help her (at first).

Desperate and determined not to dance with a man she views with the utmost distaste, Anne takes the bold step of approaching a stranger to remind her of "their dance". Of course this behavior is unacceptable in Regency England but again, it's Anne Fletcher. Then the fun begins in this mostly lighthearted novel.

With the exception of the villain, the characters are nuanced and well-developed. The antagonist has zero redeeming qualities. If the book were longer, more of a backstory could be given. However, this book was delightful and a pleasure to read. A few characters in this well-written novel actually existed. I hope to read more by this promising new author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for an ARC of this enjoyable novel.

Much to her mother’s dismay, spirited Anne Fletcher spent her youth seeking her father’s approval by hunting and riding. More comfortable in breeches than ball gowns, Anne sees the freedoms she once enjoyed slowly taken from her in the name of fashioning her into an eligible young lady. When her parents try to force her into marriage, Anne makes a desperate attempt to salvage her last vestige of independence. If she is to marry, she will do so on her own terms.

Anne strikes a deal: if she cannot secure a man for herself, she will agree to marry the husband her parents approved. She soon finds herself in the last place she would ever choose—that stifling parade of etiquette, the London Season. Anne’s plan is in motion. Now all she needs is a man willing to masquerade as her fiancé.

This was such an enjoyable read! If you love regency romance, smart wit, and unconventional female leads --- you'll love this book.

A fast-paced plot that was interesting and unique and filled with smart dialogue throughout.

Surprisingly, I did not enjoy "An Engagement of Sorts" at all.

The summary, cover, and period in which it takes place seemed wonderful, but I'm afraid I did not appreciate the story. I didn't really feel like I was drawn into Regency England with this book.
I did not appreciate the characters: Anna sometimes sound a bit featherbrained, while Thomas was flirtatious in a way I didn't appreciate. It's good that the author tried to make more interesting characters than the usual archetypes we usually see in Regency romances, but for me, these ones didn't work out, I couldn't get attached to them at all.
I feel like this book didn't follow the usual "unsaid rules" of clean Regency romances, and therefore I didn't find myself in a typical story scheme and was a bit lost amongst the characters. What they said also seemed a bit confusing/unclear at times.

I ended up skipping the middle of the book to read the end, which seemed a little better, but still didn't convince me to read the whole book...

*I received an ARC and this is my honest opinion*

I received this book for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Sweet and endearing. Great character development and so moving.

This was absolutely stunning and is one of my new favorites! The characters were delightfully charming and the dialogue was very witty. The plot was well-paced and held me captive to the very end! I can't wait for more from Alene Wecker! Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

This book was a fun regency romance, with an emphasis on FUN.

Let's start with things that I liked;
- chemistry between hero and heroine
- Anne is a strong, independent woman who does not rely on the men in her life, but rather works in tandem with them. There were multiple strong women in this novel.
- Thomas has dimples *dreamy sigh*
And then maybe the things that I didn't like as much:
- Anne's actions didn't make sense a lot of the time, especially for somebody in her position in her time period. I know that she is a free spirit that rejects the rules of society (which I totally LOVED), but a lot of the time the things she said or did were just unrealistic and ... dumb? Not to say that she was the only dumb character. They all made a lot of blunder that left you asking what rational person would do such a thing.
- Thomas is closed-up and afraid to be vulnerable. Although you see this start to change by the end of the novel (yay!), I didn't think that he and Anne had enough REAL interactions to justify their relationship. They only knew each other for a few weeks, and during most of that time their conversations were incredibly superficial. I would have liked to see a few more substantive interactions that were not filled with flirts and veiled insults.
- I think because of this, I wasn't able to connect with Anne or Thomas as much as I prefer. It felt a little rushed.

Despite the aforementioned critiques, this book was filled with lots of fun banter and swoony moments between Thomas and Anne. It was a fun, easy, exciting read that I would reccomend to those who love clean regency romances. I look forward to reading Wecker's next work!

Oh wow!!! This book was amazing! The chemistry between Anne and Thomas is fire!! I loved the storyline and the suspense. Great romance, filled with wit and charm!

What would you do to protect your family? Friends? Your heart?
What would you be willing to do to protect those that you care about? How much is too much to sacrifice to help insure another’s safety? Is your happiness of value when someone else is in danger? These are the questions Anne must answer. Anne has no prospects for marriage. She frequently has an unbridled tongue, unconventional behaviors and is not at all what society expects. When her longtime friend and vicar, Will, asks for her hand Anne’s parents are relieved but Anne is not happy. She simply doesn’t feel what way about Will so she strikes a bargain. If Will can convince her mother to let Anne have a season and she doesn’t find a husband she will return to the country and marry Will. Her simple arrangement holds more surprises both good and bad than she could never have imagined. She soon finds herself accosted by another man, rescued by yet another, and in a sham engagement to protect those she cares about. This is a fantastic book that you will not want to put down. I can’t wait to read other books from this author. I received an early copy and this is my honest review.

I ended up really loving this! I saw a new author and worried, I saw that cover and thought any author who picked that cover can't be bad, I was right. The cover is beautiful and the story is fun. Writing about a hoyden in regency times is always a fun character to create and Alene did and amazing job of it. I just loved Anne! She was the best character. I loved that each scrap she got in fit her, seemed real and not contrived and made our leading man fall more and more in love! Sigh..... he was so great! This was a great story line, good characters and put together so well! I never knew what would happen next! Proper romance with some sweet kisses and a couple of nasty men making sexual threats at woman.