Review: Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas

Title: Private Arrangements

Author: Sherry Thomas

Publication: March 25th, 2008

Genre: Historical romance

Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Love has designs of its own. . .

To all of London society, Lord and Lady Tremaine had the ideal arrangement: a marriage based on civility, courteousness, and freedom—by all accounts, a perfect marriage. The reason? For the last ten years, husband and wife have resided on separate continents.

But once upon a time, things were quite different for the Tremaines. When Gigi Rowland first laid eyes on Camden Saybrook, the attraction was immediate and overwhelming. But what began in a spark of passion ended in betrayal the morning after their wedding and now Gigi wants to be free to marry again. When Camden returns from America with an outrageous demand in exchange for her freedom, Gigi's decision will have consequences she never imagined, as secrets are exposed, desire is rekindled and one of London's most admired couples must either fall in love all over again or let each other go forever.

Review:

Sherry Thomas is a writer extraordinaire. She has a big historical romance backlist, a YA fantasy series and just recently she released her first contemporary romance. Every book I read by her has stood out to me as excellent and Private Arrangements is no different! I especially love Thomas' historical romances because they're victorian era and they have heroines who Get. Shit. Done.

Thomas' writing is just so clever but it also hurts. Her characters make their way to you heart and their journey is a lovely and bitter and sometimes you have to put the book aside so your feelings can take a break and then come back to it (no worries! They always end in a happily ever after).

Private Arrangements has one of my favorite tropes, (an estranged) married couple so I KNEW I was going to love it (especially since it's Sherry Thomas, duh) and I was right! The fact that the book begins with Gigi, asking her estranged husband, Camden, for a divorce. 

A marchioness. In Victorian England. Asking for a divorce!!!!

!!!!!

What's better, Gigi has taken lovers after Camden left her which is a fact I loved. Camden and Gigi have been estranged for 10 years and neither have stopped living, especially Gigi. She's a successful business women and she has a FREAKING LOVE LIFE!!!! I repeat, this is Victorian England! I'm just so happy Sherry Thomas went there without any shaming undertones and it just was not a big deal! Even more importantly, when Camden came back into the picture, he never shamed her or help it against her. Happy sigh.

Married couples in any way is a favorite trope of mine but so its hate-to-love and while Camden and Gigi are soulmates, there is a whoooole lot of bitterness over the direction their marriage took. It was glorious reading about them in the beginning when they couldn't stand each other.

"You should know I'm above such petty vengeances."
Her expression was a pained sneer.
"Of course. You prefer your vengeance grand and spectacular" 

So much snark! It was swoony because it was paired up with this:

Camden had been certain God lingered over her creation, beathing more life and purpose into her than He bestowed on lesser mortals. Even now, with the ravage of a sleepless night plain on her face, her onyx-dark eyes still burned brighter than the night sky over the New York Harbor on Independence Day.

Oh my heart. It was a beautiful journey from hate-to-love, it was just so very well done. I also appreciated The Thing that separated Camden and Gigi was actually a big deal and not a small insignificant matter (I hate when that happens). I just loved that Gigi was ruthless when it came to her own happiness. She knew what she wanted and nothing will stand in her way. This is not very prominent in historical romance but again, Sherry Thomas goes takes wonderful chances with her characters. Camden is an alpha hero, sure, but Gigi is one heck of an alpha heroine herself which is something I LOVE (the reason I love Julie James!).

So yeah, read this book. Read Sherry Thomas!