{"id":20605,"date":"2025-02-08T01:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/?p=20605"},"modified":"2024-09-07T03:22:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T07:22:59","slug":"book-an-eccentric-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-an-eccentric-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"An Eccentric Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"book-3086\" class=\"bdb-book-info\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_aneccentricengagement.png?fit=250%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"An Eccentric Engagement\" class=\"alignright\"\/><strong>Title:<\/strong> An Eccentric Engagement<br \/><strong>Author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/author\/donna-lea-simpson\/\">Donna Lea Simpson<\/a><br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/series\/classic-regency-romances\/\">Classic Regency Romances #18<\/a><br \/><strong>First Published:<\/strong> <span content=\"2017-05-14\">May 14, 2017<\/span><br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/publisher\/beyond-the-page\/\">Beyond the Page<\/a><br \/><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 121<br \/><strong>Genre:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/historical-romance\/\">Historical Romance<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/regency\/\">Regency<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/romance\/\">Romance<\/a><br \/><strong>Format:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/format\/earc\/\">eARC<\/a><br \/><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/source\/netgalley\/\">NetGalley<\/a><br \/><strong>Rating:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/rating\/2\/\"><span class=\"bdb-font-awesome-star-wrap\"><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"far fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"far fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"far fa-star\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/35149129-an-eccentric-engagement\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/addtogoodreads.png?ssl=1\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><br \/><br \/><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> <p>Sorrow Marchand has patiently endured the taunts of London society for her bold speech and curious ways, yet it was those very qualities of the sparkling young beauty that caught the eye of the Honorable Bertram Carlyle and ultimately elicited an offer of marriage from him. But the usually candid Sorrow has kept her ludicrously madcap family a well-hidden secret from her betrothed\u2014and now he is coming to visit!<\/p>\n<p>Bertram was an exceedingly suitable suitor, but for all his many fine traits he had been harshly schooled under the oppressive thumb of his father and had meekly embraced many of the man\u2019s conventional attitudes. Upon meeting Sorrow\u2019s family and becoming swept up in the endless swirl of silly chaos, he senses a conflict of epic proportions on the horizon\u2014both within himself and with his father.<\/p>\n<p>As Sorrow grows more concerned that her outrageous relatives will damn her only chance at happiness with a man she truly loves, Bertram must find the courage to defy his very traditional father and become part of a family that\u2019s anything but\u2014and become the man Sorrow always knew he could be.<\/p>\n<p>This novella was originally published as \u201cSorrow\u2019s Wedding\u201d in the anthology With This Ring.<\/p>\n<strong>Get the Book:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3zDOMw7\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon<\/a>\r\n<hr \/><\/div>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Review\",\n\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2025-02-08T05:00:43+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\"description\": \"An Eccentric Engagement\",\n\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Radical Dreamer\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-an-eccentric-engagement\\\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"An Eccentric Engagement\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"author\": [\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Donna Lea Simpson\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-database\\\/author\\\/donna-lea-simpson\\\/\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t],\n\t\t\t\t\t\"isbn\": \"\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"numberOfPages\": 121,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Beyond the Page\"\t\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\t\"image\": \"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/book_aneccentricengagement.png?fit=250%2C375&ssl=1\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2017-05-14T00:00:00+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.goodreads.com\\\/book\\\/show\\\/35149129-an-eccentric-engagement\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"genre\": \"Historical Romance\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Jamie\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/\"\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"ratingValue\": 2,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"bestRating\": 5\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<h2>Review<\/h2>\n<p>So this was a bit of a non-traditional romance as it takes place after the courtship. Sorrow and Bertram are engaged to be married and the two return to Sorrow\u2019s country home for the wedding. The two are are in the early stages of excitement over a new relationship, stealing kisses and admiring each other \u2014 the \u201cpuppy love\u201d stage. The actual romance was more told than shown and it unfortunately didn\u2019t work for me.<\/p>\n<p>The romantic aspect seemed to take a back seat to the other two major plot lines: Sorrow\u2019s altruistic family and Bert\u2019s difficult relationship with his overbearing father. Both are decent, but woefully underdeveloped. All conflict was resolved in a few pages with barely any resistance and a lot of moralizing. Not that the message was bad, I appreciated the way that the author chose to approach topics about mental health and the elderly. I liked the Marchand\u2019s way of life, but I think it could have been delivered better.<\/p>\n<p>It also didn\u2019t help that Sorrow annoyed me. Every time she talked to other people to try and explain her views turned into a pretentious lecture. Her insistence on absolute harmony and her willingness to throw everything out of the window if she doesn\u2019t get her way was extremely grating. Creating needless drama for the sake of drama is not a good way to fill pages. Overall its not bad, it\u2019s a cute and clean love story that will appeal to readers with a strong sense of social justice. It was a fluffy and pleasant way to pass the time, but I didn\u2019t feel much of anything while reading it and found it quickly forgettable.<\/p>\n<h2>Quote<\/h2>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;My only goal was to help people. Whoever needed it. But when I opened my eyes it was to see how terrible we are here in this country at looking after those who do not fit into our narrow strictures of proper behavior.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ubb-about-author\">\n<h3>About Donna Lea Simpson<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_donnaleasimpson.png?fit=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft ubb-about-author-photo\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_donnaleasimpson.png?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_donnaleasimpson.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Donna Lea Simpson is a nationally bestselling romance and mystery novelist with over twenty titles published in the last ten years. An early love for the novels of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie was a portent of things to come; Donna believes that a dash of mystery adds piquancy to a romantic tale, and a hint of romance adds humanity to a mystery story. Besides writing romance and mystery novels and reading the same, Donna has a long list of passions: cats and tea, cooking and vintage cookware, cross-stitching and watercolor painting among them. Karaoke offers her the chance to warble Dionne Warwick tunes, and nature is a constant source of comfort and inspiration. A long walk is her favorite exercise, and a fruity merlot is her drink of choice when the tea is all gone. Donna lives in Canada and also writes under the pseudonyms Victoria Hamilton and Amanda Cooper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ubb-author-links\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.donnaleasimpson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/55690.Donna_Lea_Simpson\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Goodreads<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Y5Is9P\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review So this was a bit of a non-traditional romance as it takes place after the courtship. Sorrow and Bertram are engaged to be married and the two return to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[305],"book-author":[4373],"book-illustrator":[],"book-series":[],"book-publisher":[],"book-genre":[],"book-source":[],"book-format":[],"class_list":["post-20605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-canadian-literature","book-author-donna-lea-simpson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_aneccentricengagement-header.png?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20605"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20611,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20605\/revisions\/20611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-author?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-illustrator?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-series?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-publisher?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-genre?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-source?post=20605"},{"taxonomy":"book-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-format?post=20605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}