Private Arrangements was Sherry Thomas's debut, and WOW! Does it ever take historical romance to a whole new playing field! She has a knack for creating such an intriguing story - a husband and wife who pretend each other does not exist and would rather not sleep in the same room - or the same continent?! I simply could not resist - and Gigi and Camden both complement each other so excellently that you wonder how they could have gotten in such a heart-rendering mess.

If you are looking for a contemporary but historical romance (I know, it sounds almost impossible), then I would definitely recommend this book - it will definitely get you hooked on Sherry Thomas! :) ( )

Gigi, Lady Tremaine, has been separated from her husband, Camden, for 10 years. Gigi loves her husband but she is tired of waiting for him and has decided to get on with her life and remarry someone else for some small chance at happiness. Camden doesn't want her but doesn't want anyone else to have her either. Especially dim-witted Freddie, her intended fiance. So Camden demands that they live together for one year so he can get an heir off her in exchange for the divorce she wants. And Gigi agrees.

The story goes back and forth between the past and the present and slowly reveals why these two imperfect and somewhat unlikeable characters are so bitter and cruel to each other. When they first meet both characters are immature and Gigi has no self confidence in her beauty or personal attributes needed to attract a man aside from her considerable fortune. Camden is on the verge of proposing to another girl and Gigi is very determined to have him so she plots and schemes to bring Camden to propose. On the eve of their wedding Camden discovers her deception and is very angry (and I suspect, very hurt). He decides to proceed with the wedding and consummates the marriage, then very cruelly humiliates and rejects her. Of course, in this way he can throw her out and still have access to all her lovely money. Let's just say I was not too fond of Camden at this point. Especially after Gigi grovels and begs for him to take her back. Gigi is at fault for her deception but I found her much more sympathetic and I actually liked her quite a bit.

The weaving of the past with the present was smoothly done and the use of language by Thomas was superb making this book hard to put down. When Camden and Gigi first marry they are very young and so I gave their initial poor behavior some slack, but it is now ten years later and Camden is still bitter and angry and seems to still want to punish Gigi for making him fall in love with her. Gigi has grown up and acts much more honorably towards Camden and I found her a much more sympathetic character.

There is a lovely romantic sub-plot involving Gigi's mother, Mrs. Rowland, and a reclusive duke who lives next door. Mrs. Rowland tries to bag the duke for her daughter but ends up falling in love with him herself. A very amusing and well done sidebar to the main plot.

Overall this was a somewhat deep historical with three dimensional characters and a very satisfying and romantic ending. Everything I enjoy in a romance. I enjoyed this book so much Thomas is an auto-buy for me now. I have read Delicious and have Not Quite a Husband on my wishlist. GRADE: A- ( )

Regency historical: After ten years' of polite and secretly bitter lack of cohabitation, Gigi requests a divorce from Camden so she can marry the sweet-natured and much younger painter Lord Frederick. Gigi and Camden are plausible as damaged and damaging to themselves: their misundertandings feel real, and Thomas avoids one of the easy outs of Gigi's obligation to Frederick. That said, by the end it feels a turn or two too many, the supporting characters are too flat for the romance involving them, and the uncomplicated happiness of the ending feels untrue. I'm not sure if Gigi and Camden feel quite rich enough to support the complexity of character the plot demands, or maybe it's that the plot ended up too predictable to do them justice: Anyway, the last third mismatches tones in a way the first two-thirds avoided.But nice prose, interesting characterization, will be checking out her second novel, which looks like it should have excellent food values. ( )

One of the most interesting romances I have read in a long time: an atypical storyline, excellent character development, sexy... The leading lord and lady have been married for a long time but have lived seperately after having deceived and hurt each other during their courtship leading up to their wedding. When they are finally in the room together, their mutual dislike does not prevent their attraction for each other, but overcoming their painful history does not happen easily and overnight. On top of that, the lady's mother has an interesting affair with her neighboring duke in a wonderful sidestory. A great read! ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/s... ( )