/ The Season by Sarah MacLean

The Season
By Sarah MacLean
336 Pages


Summary
This is a fun little story about a young girl, Alexandra (Alex) Stafford and her very first season in Regency England (the 1800's) Alex is SO not excited to be paraded around wearing stuffy dresses talking to stuffy people so she can meet her future stuffy husband. Unfortunately for her though, her mother has been waiting since the day Alex was born for her to be old enough to be part of the social whirlwind.

In the midst of balls and lavish dinner parties, Alex and her two best friends manage to get themselves involved in a murder mystery! When the Earl of Blackmoor is killed, Alex takes it upon herself to help his son, and childhood friend of her older brothers, Gavin uncover the mystery of his death. But as Gavin and Alex work together they find that maybe there is something between them more than just friendship. awe.

My Review
Writing/Plot
This was a cute little story! Not gonna lie, I was a tiny bit nervous to read it because of the cover. Not that there's anything super wrong with the cover, it's just a little...I don't know. 3 girls in dresses that don't really look like they fit them with one girl glaring at me...But it was only a penny on amazon and it had good reviews so I figured what the heck?

I'm sure glad I gave it a chance! The story was fun and a good light read. Before this I had been reading a lot of magic, dark, serious-ish books and this was like a breath of fresh air. No magic, or vampires, or wizards in sight. Just a cute good old fashioned love story.

I thought the writing was well done and the pace moved quickly. The characters were fun (allbeit a little immature at times, but they are 17 year old girls)

It was also fun to see what it was like during an old fashioned "season". I have always been a girly girl who thinks it would be fun to live back then with balls and dresses and the whole shebang so it was fun to be transported into that time period. The murder mystery wasn't anything too exciting and shocking, I had most of it figured out before it was revealed but it was still a fun element in the plot.

Romance
I cannot tell you how much I LOVED that this wasn't an insta-love boy meets girl thing. Those are fun when done right but I'm getting tired of it. It was nice to see someone fall in love with a friend who they have known for years. Because that happens...a lot in real life and it's never really written about. Another breath of fresh air if you ask me. But about the love in the book, so if you read they summary you know the main romance is between Alex and Gavin and it was perfect! Slow enough for them to figure out their feelings by themselves but not too slow that the reader is like "uggg! Come on and kiss her already!"

Overall
I like this a ton! One thing I like most about it is it's not a series! Yet another fresh air moment for me with this book! It was by no means life changing, but it was a cute little story and made me remember why I liked to play dress-up when I was little. The romance was sweet and, above all, believable and the story was well written. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good historical novel.