I'm not a huge fan of historical romance. TBH, I find the future infinitely more fascinating than the past, which is probably why I enjoy Science Fiction Romance so much. I get the characterization, relationship and growth arcs, and happy ending that I love, but in the future or on another planet or on a space ship. Historicals...well, I used to buy them and then they'd sit in the To Be Read pile while I read all the futuristic and contemporary romances that I bought. The cycle was repeated month after month before I finally realized I wasn't going to read those books no matter how interesting the plot sounded.
That said, I do have a some historical romances that I've loved. One of these is a sweet regency called A Suitable Match by Joy Freemen.
To briefly sum up the plot, the hero and heroine are the victims of a matchmaking plot that is very convoluted. It becomes further convoluted by misunderstandings that arise in the course of the book. These aren't "why don't they have a conversation" misunderstandings, but ones that arise because of what they were told by the matchmaker and perfectly logical in that context.
There were also some assumptions made by the hero because the heroine's father and cousin were drunken reprobates. He believed she didn't have the strict upbringing her station required because of this, but that wasn't the case. The heroine, who loves a lark, finds it amusing to let him believe he's right.
What I loved about this book was the humor. The lines flying between the characters, particularly the h/h made me LOL when I read the book. The heroine even zinged the hero a few times and that made it even better. The characterization was good, the growth arcs of the characters realistic, and while the culmination is the h/h kissing (no sex =8-O), I found myself waiting expectantly for that to happen.
There were a couple of stretches for plot that were a little difficult for me, but because it was a humorous story, I was willing to give the author more leeway than I would in a book that wasn't funny. There's also the prerequisite troublemaking young lady who wants the hero for herself and that's something I'm not real fond of, but I was willing to overlook this, too, because of how much I liked the h/h and the humor.
How much did I like this book? The first time I read it, I'd checked it out of the library in hardcover. I immediately hunted down my own hardcover of the book and I don't like hardcovers. :-) My shelves are all setup for mass market paperback size and the cost... Way more than I'd normally pay, but I had to have my own copy of this book.
On my spreadsheet, I rate books 1-10. I gave A Suitable Match a 10. IIRC, there are only ten books that I gave a perfect score.
