Rules of Engagement
Eliza’s aunts are sponsoring a season for both her and her sister Grace. Grace cannot wait to find herself a husband, but Eliza is determined to get through her season unscathed so she can claim her small inheritance and leave for Italy to study painting. She has no use whatsoever for a husband, and is not even perturbed when she commits the terrible faux pas of sneezing on Queen Charlotte when she is presented at court. However, her plans begin to go awry when she runs smack into Lord Somerton outside the Presence Chamber. Eliza’s endearing and rather impish aunts are using their father’s copy of Rules of Engagement to assist their nieces through the season. Entries from this handbook preface each chapter and fittingly describe a tactic used therein. While the characters are engaging and the author writes well, some situations stretch the bounds of reality, and a few times the characters weren’t consistent in their actions. However, the book has received universal acclaim, so those interested in Regency-period romances may want to form their own opinion and not rely upon this reviewer and her quibbles!
