Title: Private Arrangements
Author: Sherry Thomas
Sub-Genre: Late 1800s/England/America
Ratings:

They say familiarity breeds contempt. Honey, you don't know the half of it until the man you're usually crazy about takes a month off and starts haunting your peaceful, work-at-home life like some clingy Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense."

Sure, having his extra help with the kids was great. But after, oh, say, a couple hours, the experience began to feel like a foreshadowing of what our retirement would look like — one big, gaping, tedious annoy-a-thon after another. Suddenly, I began to appreciate the sentiment of the old joke: If I'd killed you when I met you, I'd be out by now.

This, it seems, is the part of happily ever after they don't write about in romance novels.

But that doesn't mean romance authors can't explore in an entertaining way the complex emotions and realities couples experience after they say "I do." In fact, in her dazzling new must-read, "Private Arrangements," Sherry Thomas does just that, combining delicious wit, fiery sensuality and a distinctive style of storytelling sure to make Thomas a new favorite among romance readers.

"Private Arrangements" tells the tale of Lord and Lady Tremaine, a.k.a. the formerly Camden Saybrook and Gigi Rowland. Their marriage is considered the most courteous and desirable among the aristocracy. The secret to their wedded bliss? They've lived apart — on different continents! — for the past decade.

Camden left Gigi the morning after their union was joyfully, vigorously and irrevocably consummated. He'd learned a secret about her that shook him to the depths of his earnest and excruciatingly honorable soul. And he wanted her to pay for breaking his heart.

So for the next ten years, Gigi hopes Camden might forgive her, and Camden clings to his sense of honor like a lifeline. When Gigi decides all is lost and asks Camden for a divorce, he hies it on back to England from America, where he's made his fortune — without a penny of Gigi's enormous inheritance.

Before he'll grant her a divorce, Camden has a single demand for Gigi: She must spend at least a year trying to conceive his heir, despite his claims that he can barely stand the thought of bedding her!

Camden's demand — meant to punish Gigi — ends up being sweet torture for both as sensual pleasure inspires emotional connection Camden hadn't counted on. And the intimacy which results is one neither he nor Gigi can afford to nurture — or bear to deny.

"Private Arrangements" is captivating, a rich and luscious romantic treat. The heart of the novel — Thomas' beautifully created dialogue — is striking in the way it woos the reader with fresh, crisp exchanges. And the soul of "Private Arrangements" is Thomas' skillfully conveyed internal dialogue — the thoughts of the characters that help us understand their motivations, even as they offer their unique perspectives on the world around them.

If you've got a hankering to read a great new romance — and to find out what really happens after the happily ever after — give "Private Arrangements" a try. I think you'll be pleased when you —

Buy the book.

Get info about "Private Arrangements," and Sherry Thomas' July release, "Delicious," at http://www.SherryThomas.com/