An Improbable Season

February 1, 2023
A trio of teens experience love, loss, and laughter in this Regency coming-of-age story. It's 1817, and hopes and expectations are running high as Thalia and Kalliope, the Aubrey sisters, head to London for their first season. Joining their cousin, Charis Elphinstone, who would rather be home studying birds and insects at Elphinstone manor in Oxfordshire, the trio embark on adventures and scandals with equal measure. Alternating third-person narration highlights the young people's personal loves--Thalia's for poetry, Kalli's of home and hearth, Charis' of the natural world--and their dreams for the future. Each one seeks happiness in a world that abounds in rules and regulations for women's lives. Heroes--and a scoundrel--are no match for the cousins, who, most importantly, have each other. The trio's friendships with one another shine throughout the story; their fights and loving interactions are true highlights. The heroes, for their parts, are kind and thoughtful, making them matches worthy of cheering on. Outings to Regency hot spots and balls are entertaining and include historical details for readers to enjoy. Regency fans will enjoy this comfortingly familiar feeling story of endearing young women chasing happy endings through a maze of societal rules. Main characters default to White. A delightful romp. (Historical romance. 13-18)

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February 6, 2023
In this extravagant, 1817-set Regency drama by Eves (Beyond the Mapped Stars), teenage cousins Thalia, Kalliope, and Charis—each with ambitions of their own—together arrive in London for their first collective social season. Each teen’s plan is quickly derailed by a series of curveballs. Thalia’s hopes to impress the literary cognoscenti to make inroads for a career as a poet lead to her swooning for a disreputable rake; softhearted Kalli’s goal to make waves as the life of the party until she ensnares the right husband is upended when she finds herself accidentally engaged after her first event; and bookish Charis, who wants to make connections in the scientific community, unexpectedly becomes a social butterfly. As scandal arises and the trio’s loyalties are tested, they are forced to reconcile their initial desires and current predicaments if they hope to move forward together into their uncertain futures. The protagonists’ swiftly alternating third-person perspectives occasionally split narrative focus, but Eves’s tight, punchy prose teems with idiosyncratic characters, a profusion of well-trod romance novel conventions, and a brisk pace that will appeal to fans of Regency media. The protagonists read as white. Ages 14–up.

March 1, 2023
Grades 8-11 Sisters Kalli and Thalia, along with their cousin Charis, are going to London for the season for the first time. Though all the girls know coming out into society means they will be considered eligible young women, not all of them are looking for a potential suitor. Charis, passionate about science, considers the season as a time to observe the customs of high society from a scientific distance, though she immediately gets up close and personal with the fashionable (and in her mind, quite rude) Mr. Leveson. A misunderstanding turned scandal throws Kalli into an engagement of necessity that could evolve into something more. And though Thalia expected to focus on her poetry, she finds her mind wandering towards the intriguing Mr. Darby. An Improbable Season will delight fans of regency novels, containing just enough twists and turns to keep the familiar beats and tropes exciting. Eves pens compelling romantic moments, but the real strength of this novel is the depiction of the strong love the young women have for each other.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2023

Gr 7 Up-This Regency romance exemplifies the thrills of the genre while being true to the historical period. When Charis and her cousins Thalia and Kalliope head to London for their season, they aren't just looking for husbands. Though Kalli wants her own Mr. Bingley, Charis is more interested in infiltrating the scientific Royal Society and publishing her research in its journal, while Thalia searches for freethinkers against whom to test her poetry. But soon, Kalli is accidentally compromised by her sister's best friend, Adam, and finds herself engaged to a boy she has not kissed. Thalia finds her boundaries challenged by a radical rake who subtly undermines her artistic voice. Charis finds the emotional safety of her bluestocking persona challenged by an Anglo-Indian dandy who just may be her intellectual equal. Eves develops her three heroines' intellectual and emotional journey with great respect, incorporating extracts of their reading from historical sources and writing. Thalia's writerly ambition and Charis's scientific passion are neither more nor less worthy than Kalli's more traditional desire for marriage and family work. Equally, the girls must save themselves in their own way: Thalia reclaims her voice during an elopement gone wrong; Kalli articulates her desires; Charis publishes a scholarly critique that challenges the theories of the man she loves. VERDICT This must-read for Regency fans combines the true friendship of Lisa Kleypas's "The Wallflower" series, the emotional thrills of Bridgerton, and just the right number of first kisses.-Katherine Magyarody

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