Gillian Hawser is new to me author who writes in the style of Georgette Heyer. The Arranged Marriage is a slow burn, with lots of characters and twists and turns but an enjoyable read.

Lady Perpetua (Petty) is an unmarried daughter of the Duke of Staplefield who is shy, plain, and easily bullied. Despite her protests, she is forced into an arranged marriage with Lord Edward Milton, a newly titled man and rich from being in trade. After the wedding, she runs away and becomes a governess. Edward eventually finds her, but their relationship is rocky. Petty also becomes a companion to Verity, a young woman in danger, and feels obligated to help her. When Edward finds her again at a party, he realizes that his anger might have forced her to run off, and instead, he approaches her as a friend, keeping their marriage hidden. Their relationship develops, and they come to care for each other, but Edward is concerned that she still feels forced into the marriage and considers the most caring thing to do for her may be to let her go. Likewise, Petty starts to feel that being married to Edward may be good.

This story was rich in characters and plot—definitely a good read if you want to escape the day-to-day. I will definitely be on the lookout for Hawser's future books.

Every now and then I find it best to suspend belief in order to enjoy a historical book (looking at you, Bridgerton series)- and this is a good example. I enjoyed the initial premise (Regency lady is forced to marry in order to settle family debts, so far so believable) but after our heroine Petty runs away it all gets a bit daft. In a fun way, though. Petty manages to get herself a job without any references or anything to recommend her, and finds some very helpful friends - but a side plot where she attempts to help a particularly spoilt young lady was frustrating. Perhaps we'll come back to some characters later on in a series?
Overall a fun read, and I'd pick up another by the author.

Although the beginning felt like it dragged on a bit, I did enjoy the dialogue even if the characters annoyed me just a bit sometimes.

Gillian Hawser has written a sweet, charming, and witty Regency romance based on one of my favorite tropes—arranged marriage between strangers. This is my first book by Gillian Hawser and I found it to have excellent world building, multifaceted characters, and witty dialogue. The characters in this story are all quite colorful with various backgrounds and previous relationships that come into play with their behaviors and actions throughout this story. I found it very easy to connect with most of the characters and could understand their struggles throughout the tale. The writing in this story flows very well and the author does a great job keeping the pace smooth and steady. Meaning, I didn’t find myself skipping pages or falling asleep while reading! 😉 I will definitely be looking for future books from this author.

4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📚Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, comments, and interpretations of the story are my own and bias free. I did not receive any money in exchange for this review. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to review. Reviews are cross-posted to social media, goodreads, and blog. 🦄

I would like to thank Netgalley and Matador for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A unique narrative and an enjoyable book.

I DNF’d a similar title from the same author and I made it about 10% into this book before quitting it, too. The writing style, the characters, the plot, it’s just not for me.

This is a clean romance, which I can absolutely appreciate, but I just couldn’t slog through a book I wasn’t interested in.

Another sweet, well-done book that will definitely appeal to readers of clean romances. I don't think I was quite the right audience, but I can definitely appreciate the market for it!

Set in the first year of the Regency - 1811 - this novel is great fun. The characters are beautifully drawn, full of the morality and immorality, and odd quirks, of the Georgians. The hero and heroine have exquisite character arcs and a real coming-of-age experience. It's colourful, amusing, full of romantic tension and an absolute joy to read.

This genre of book was very much up my street and I was really looking forward to getting stuck in. All in all there were enjoyable elements to this book but I found the plot and the actions of the characters a little unrealistic at times. The first half really dragged for me and I found myself trudging through just so I could give an honest review. The second half picked up a little and the pace of the story definitely increased, but I still found the main Character, Petty a little confusing. Her actions and her reasoning for doing some of the things she did baffled me to be honest. The there is the romance element of this book which, judging by the title makes for a large part of the story. This fell pretty flat in my opinion. For 80% of the book they hated each other - then bam - they were in love with very little interaction. it just wasn't believable and I found myself felling very distant from the characters on the whole. Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ebook to review.

Nice reading although with the premise that she runs away after marrying which sounds a bit strange. However, this gives room for some of the things that happen once she encounters her husband and mainly that first conversation/argument once they meet again.
Petty actually finds positions that are pretty different but in the second one she sticks to what she feels is right, to protect that girl despite of being quite selfish and because of that girl there is the last and main event that could be called an adventure if it would not be something bad.
I did not really enjoy all the descriptions of all the women mentioned to be super beautiful, one more than the previous one. It seemed quite annoying to read that several times.
3.5-4 stars

I haven’t actually gotten around to read this because I didn’t really like The Rake. I just haven’t had the desire to pick this one up since reading The Rake.

A story of courage and independence, The Arranged Marriage focuses on Perpetua Mordaunt, the diffident, shy and plain daughter of the Duke of Staplefield. This book was a thrilling ride from the beginning. The author’s style places the reader in the book in each scene for an entertaining journey.

This one could not hold my interest. I had such high hopes, I do love thr cover art, but it just wasn’t for me, the story had trouble gaining my interest and really never recovered. Too slow moving, not enough heat.

This book was definitely an interesting read. The first half of it really dragged on and not much actually happened. I found that all of the characters were just a bit frustrating to read and I felt like I had to look up more words than I would've liked because the writing was just a bit weird. The characters didn't seem to do anything logical and their reactions were very unbelievable. The second half of the book did get much better in my opinion, the characters were still not my favourite but the plot itself started to develop and as things happened the book became a better read.

3/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this copy to review.

Such a fun and enjoyable read. Filled with great characters and a wonderfully dramatic plot! I loved reading them fall in love- very sweet and well written.

This sad tale of the seemingly unremarkable elder daughter; Petty, being forced to marry the wealthy Lord Milton in order to save her family's status and estate, is one that you can truly believe happening in such times.

Whilst Petty is loveable from the beginning, there are many others who are not even likeable in this tale. Petty’s mother is horrific and has no redeeming qualities at all. Verity is also very unlikable. In fact even Lord Milton has his moments throughout the story, although you could see that he was essentially a good man.

I really enjoyed this will they won’t they tale. I mean; you know that of course they will get together at the end but the book really does keep up the will they won’t they pretence right until the very end.

My only niggle with this one was that it was a little long. There were some parts that you just thought were a little unnecessary, but on the whole anyone, who loves a period love story will be satisfied by this book.

Perpetua Morduant is the plain daughter of beautiful, selfish parents surrounded by equally beautiful siblings but when her family finds itself in financial straits it is Perpetua who must bring them about by being sold off in marriage to a man she has never met. Petty being the dutiful daughter that she is goes though with the marriage but terrified of her new husband she runs off to Bath. Her plan is to find a situation as a governess but fate intervenes and Petty finds herself in the company of rich Mrs Lumsden who isn’t quite the thing but has ambitions for her daughter that Petty can help with until Perpetua’s husband turns up.
The Arranged Marriage is straight out of the Georgette Heyer playbook which is no bad thing. Petty is an appealing heroine who I liked alot. The prose sometimes runs away with itself as we get a lot of architectural detail and some historical nuggets thrown in. The last third gets a bit loose but all and all this is an entertaining read that fits the classic regency romance mould.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and, even though there were a few places where the book felt kind of slow, overall I really liked it.

The story was somewhat unrealistic for its time period. I found it hard to believe the main character would run away from her arranged marriage. Plus the main character doesn't have much depth to her and I found her very one dimensional.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Author and the Publisher with providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really drawn to this book thanks to the marketing of it towards fans of Bridgerton, and I love reading historical romances. While this book wasn't my favourite read of that genre, I did really enjoy reading it and particularly loved how the story was written.

I felt like the author's writing style was very similar to the style of classic fiction from the Regency era; for me, this made the story a little slow for my personal tastes, but it really added to the escapism of the novel. The author had a beautiful way of writing, and built up the world within which the story is set really effectively.

All in all, it was not the perfect read for me but an enjoyable book nonetheless.