An Attempted Engagement “Victorian Grand Tour Series, Book Four”

In 1857 London, Alice Loughton, a young, shy, and at times socially awkward woman, is going into her first season. Her brother, Oliver, wants Alice to find a husband. As Alice goes to the required social events, she is terribly uncomfortable. She is incredibly shy and finds she has a problem—her brother's longtime best friend Frederick Kempton. Frederick, or Freddie as he is known, has been banned from courting Alice by Oliver, especially after Oliver finds them kissing! As Oliver tries his hardest to keep Alice and Freddie apart, they find ways to communicate. Through letters… love letters. As time passes, Alice and Freddie come to understand their feelings for each other and hopes for their future, but will Oliver allow it? 

Lisa H. Catmull has composed a charming, sweet, and gentle story that will have readers swept up in the romance and the swooning from the notes written between Alice and Freddie. This fourth book in Ms. Catmull’s “Victorian Grand Tour Series” can be read as a stand-alone story. Readers will find themselves able to follow plot lines, and the characters in the story. An added bonus, Ms. Cathull has included historical notes, the poetry selections that were used in the story (to write your own swoon worthy love notes), a “social hierarchy in the Victorian Era 1837-1901,” and a list of the featured characters in the story.  Readers will find themselves not only enchanted by the romance but coming away with a better understanding of the Victorian Age. Readers will find Alice and Freddie a delightful pair to get lost with.

Heather Kroll