For a young society woman seeking a favorable marriage in the late 1890s, so much depends on her social season debut. Clara Carter has been given one goal: secure the affections of the city's most eligible bachelor. Debuting means plenty of work--there are corsets to be fitted, dances to master, manners to perfect. Her training soon pays off, however, as celebrity's spotlight turns Clara into a society-page darling.
Yet Clara wonders if this is the life she really wants, especially when she learns her best friend has also set her sights on Franklin De Vries. When a man appears who seems to love her simply for who she is, and gossip backlash turns ugly, Clara realizes it's not just her heart at stake--the future of her family depends on how she plays the game.
It's not that this was a bad book, except it wasn't good. At first I was very conscious that a New York season is dirty and inelegant compared to England. But the truth is that it's only because we've so romanticized the English season and because [a:Siri Mitchell|2598371|Siri Mitchell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1296425417p2/2598371.jpg] was trying to cast a light on the things that were dirty and painful in our transition to a more modernized society. And I can't fault her for a valiant attempt to acknowledge the social problems of the time, or for exploring the corruption of humanity even though I was expecting flirting and dancing.
The problem is the characters weren't engaging enough for me to care about much of anything she was saying. Clara is a dim-witted heroine who was more frustrating than interesting. Lizzie was the only one who was any fun or somewhat interesting and there wasn't enough of her. Everyone else is portrayed at such a distance that I was never invested in any of them. The book was so slow in places that made me painfully aware of how long it was. I never really got to know the guy she loved enough to love him also or to delight in their interactions or to even really need them to be together. At one point I hoped Clara would end up with the wrong guy and be miserable for the rest of her life because she deserved it.
I definitely thought the corruption that was revealed was disturbing and honest and sad. But by that time, it was too late. I didn't like the book enough to be interested enough in it. I would much rather have really known fully developed and interesting characters and been invested in their romances and had fun reading about the dancing and the flirting and then had the rug pulled from under me. I would have enjoyed and respected a book like that.
