HOW TO RUIN A SEASON

Author: Jennifer Mueller ISBN: NA 11/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: THE DARK CASTLE LORDS
Time Period: 1814

Sophie went to London to have her season hoping to find a husband, never knowing her father lost all his money and her mother claimed her sum was still intact, but gossip spreads quick all of London already knew. Now 2 years later given a second chance will Sophie ruin another season when her brother gets her involved in a deserter wanting treasure she has no clue where to find.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I wanted so badly to absolutely love this book, and some parts of it I really did. But other parts kept me wishing that things were done just a little bit differently.

Sophie is sure that she has never been so embarrassed in her entire life. Not only has her father lost her entire inheritance on a silly business venture, the entire ton is talking about it. Worse yet is the fact that her mother went on a campaign to try to get her married before her father's misdeed became public knowledge. Now, the entire ton thinks she is nothing more than a deceitful gold digger, and she is taken from London amidst a horrible scandal. A couple of years later, living as a genteel impoverished woman in her father's run down estate in the country, she decides that a trip back to London is just the thing to help her escape her mother's clutches. When a thief on the street sets upon her, Mr. William Kittridge appears in her life. Looking like a tanned god of a man, he is literally her hero. He has just come to London from his estate in Jamaica, and is just off of his ship when he comes upon the beautiful Sophie being attacked. William is a good man, a strong man, and perfect for the perpetual damsel in distress that is Sophie.

There is so much to recommend this story. The setting is great, the characters are loyal and inspire the reader to keep turning the page, and the story itself is a great little mystery that kept me on my toes. My problem with the book is that the romance seems a bit lukewarm. There are only a couple of extremely chaste kisses and they seem to be an afterthought. There is no great passion or emotion moving this couple, even though I did enjoy having William play the Knight in Shining Armor time and again.

Jennifer Mueller clearly has a very bright future ahead of her, even if this book wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Her writing is good and the storyline was fast paced and interesting. Sophie and William are great characters in and of themselves; I just wasn't 100% sold on a romance for them.

Kristal Gorman