Review - The Season by Sarah MacLean

Published by Orchard Books
Published 1 March 2009

Summary from Goodreads - Seventeen year old Lady Alexandra is strong-willed and sharp-tongued -- in a house full of older brothers and their friends, she had to learn to hold her own. Not the best makings for an aristocratic lady in Regency London. Yet her mother still dreams of marrying Alex off to someone safe, respectable, and wealthy. But between ball gown fittings, dances, and dinner parties, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get herself into what may be her biggest scrape yet.

When the Earl of Blackmoor is mysteriously killed, Alex decides to help his son, the brooding and devilishly handsome Gavin, uncover the truth. But will Alex's heart be stolen in the process? In an adventure brimming with espionage, murder, and other clandestine affairs, who could possibly have time to worry about finding a husband? Romance abounds as this year's season begins!

You know how sometimes you buy a book and it just sits on your bookshelf unread until you finally get around to reading it and then your like "what on earth was this just sitting there all unloved for? and why did it take me so long to finally read it, because this book is crazy sauce awesome?".  Thats what this book was like for me, so a great big hug to Alea who is the biggest cheerleader for this book on the whole darn planet!

Alex is preparing for her first season, her debut into the life of Londons Aristocratic society.  She's expected to be a lady and to court many a lovely gentleman to find her future husband.  Who obviously needs to be a noble man of wealth and consequence.  But, Alex can't be much bothered with finding herself a worthy suitor, she's more interested in having fun with her friends.  Being left on the shelf seems like a good thing to her, she'd rather be seen as an intellectual lady instead of some boff's wife.  But her coming out season doesn't go as she planned, and something sinister is going on, something that could destory her life and the lives of those she loves.

I would like to point out that I have never considered myself a fan of historial fiction.  I've read and loved  many of the classics, but never really classed this genre as something I loved.  The Season changed this for me, oh boy, the dresses, the gentleman, the parties and the balls just sucked me in.  Regency London is a place that I would've loved to have been able to witness, as a respectable rich lady of course.  I just love the whole outlook people from this period have because it differs so much from how we view the world here in the present.  

The characters are what made the book for me.  The easy witty banter between Alex and Lord Blackmoor *swoon*, the easy and teasing relationship between her and her brothers, and especially the way she and her friends, Vivi and Ella interacted with each other.  I found them all so easy to like.  The dialogue is amazing, how it zings from one character to another, where you find yourself chuckling or gasping at some of the characters views and how they present them to each other.

My favourite part would have to be how different peoples views of "courting" were back them.  It's seen as this atrocious thing to kiss a gentleman if you are not courting with intent to marry.  Inviting someone to take a ride in your carriage through the park is seen as a special honour not to be taken lightly.  If your seen alone with a gentleman then you are "destroyed" so to speak.  Your left with your reputation destroyed, your seen as the footloose girl who is very unrespectable.  And kissing, kissing is a serious no no, especially if your not betrothed to be married.  Thats like giving the goods away for free, something a respectable lady would never ever do.  

This isn't just a fuffy love story, there is mystery and intrigue added to the mix.  This was an amazing addition to the story line and made the story seem more alive somehow, because the behaviour of the characters in this sudden confusing situation was really interesting to read.  It added suspense to a book that could've certainly packed a smaller punch. You know you really enjoyed a book when you speak like your from the 1800's for days afterwards.  I laughed so much reading this book, I squealed like a girl (not like me at all) and I oooo'd and ahhhh'd and once I was finished, I wanted more.  Begging your pardon kind people, but this surely isn't a book to be missed, if you shan't read it, your repuation will be destroyed.  Destroyed I tell you.