Review: Pretty Good Short Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2013
I've read this novella twice.  The first time I read it, I gave it a 3 star rating.  Now that I've read it a second time, I've increased my rating to 4 stars.  In my view, any book I read more than once, from cover to cover, deserves at least a 4 star review, no matter what problems it may have.  Ms. Chapman weaved a tale that engaged my interest and kept me entertained for it's entirety.  She has a beautiful writing style that brings to mind authors such as Jane Austen and others of her ilk.  She keeps her characters' behavior true to the time period in which the story is set--Regency period.  Although the story is very enjoyable, there really isn't much interaction between the protagonists.  The two meet a mere four times--one of which lasted all of five minutes!--before a marriage proposal is issued (I'm sure during that period that was more than sufficient, but I personally would have liked to have seen more.)  Furthermore, considering how the marriage proposal is issued--via letter--IMO, an epilogue is needed.  It would have been wonderful to see Kitty and James reunited at some future point, maybe even at their wedding.  I think that would have made the book a much more satisfactory read.  As you might expect with a story of this abbreviated length, there really isn't much character development, although Ms. Chapman does manage to make me like Kitty and James.  Another minor issue for me is that we were never given any kind of description of the heroine, which I personally did not like.  Part of my enjoyment in reading is derived from being able to picture the characters in my mind's eye as I read.  Bottom line, I enjoyed the story.  It's good, but could have been a lot better.  I read it twice, however, and so it is deserving of a 4 star rating.  Needless to say, this is a clean romance.  Happy reading![Update 4/2/2014]  FYI since reading this novella, I've read another by this author,Brizecombe Hallwhich for me was an almost 5 star read.  It's now being offered for free on Amazon.