A Daring Arrangement

September 1, 2017
A lady hunting for scandal finds a fin de siecle fairy tale instead.Lady Honora Parker behaved so badly with a starving artist named Robert Landon that her family has banished her from London all the way to New York City, where she can be matched with a suitable "American man." Nora decides to create an even bigger scandal by becoming temporarily engaged to the most unsuitable man in the city: new-money financier Julius Hatcher. She proposes the ruse after finding him soused at a dinner on the second floor of one of the city's finest restaurants, and he's delighted to be part of this new caper in order to finally be welcome in high society. While they wait for the news to get back to London and upset her father, thus freeing Nora to marry Robert, they're obligated to act as an affianced couple--which uncovers a powerful attraction between them. Shupe (Tycoon, 2016, etc.) returns to the Gilded Age with the Four Hundred Series, using two outsiders to introduce readers to the opulent world of Mrs. Caroline Astor's Four Hundred, the New York aristocrats who looked down on upstarts like Julius. She uses clever historical detail to bring to life both the ballrooms and the trading floor of New York City in 1890, and Regency readers will appreciate Nora's observations of how her new world is very different from London society but also very similar. As she searches for a proper scandal, Julius' respect for Nora's reputation and intelligence makes the scenes where they give in to their attraction all the sweeter. Shupe builds tension beautifully, and readers will be pleased to finally come to the opulent wedding at the end. Shupe continues to raise the bar for Gilded Age romance with the first book in a promising new series.

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September 25, 2017
Shupe (the Knickerbocker Club series) takes readers back to the Gilded Age of 19th-century New York in the enjoyable debut of her Four Hundred series. After Lady Honora “Nora” Parker’s father learns of her unsuitable relationship with penniless artist Robert Landon, he sends her away from her home in England to live with her aunt and uncle in New York and find an appropriate husband. Nora devises a plan to find a most unsuitable fiancé so that her father will relent and allow her to return to England to marry Robert. She settles on Julius Hatcher, a wealthy financier known for his outlandish parties and scandalous liaisons with actresses. Julius agrees to pose as Nora’s fake fiancé in exchange for her assisting him in his quest to enter New York upper-crust society. He’s astonished to feel intense attraction and come to admire her. When the romance sizzles between Nora and Julius, the barriers of their arrangement begin to fall away. Mystery simmers in the background as Julius searches for the unknown men he believes drove his father to suicide. Shupe has expertly developed her winning protagonists to reveal great depth of character.

October 15, 2017

Lady Honora Parker is furious when her noble father scotches her plans to marry a struggling artist and sends her to her aunt and uncle in America to find a worthy husband. Undeterred, she hatches a foolproof plan to ensure that she is sent back to England--and into the arms of her beloved Robert. All she has to do is become engaged (temporarily, of course) to the most totally unsuitable, obnoxious Yank she can find. Brash financier Julius Hatcher is the perfect choice, though he has a long-standing hidden agenda of his own. While Nora's proposition is a good one, the results are not at all what either intended. VERDICT A young lady's outrageous plan to marry the man of her dreams backfires most effectively in this steamy romance that takes excellent advantage of a seldom-used New York Gilded Age setting. Shupe (Mogul) lives in South Orange, NJ.

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