I really enjoyed this book. I like clean, light Regency romances and this fits the bill. Charles and Henrietta are old friends - basically growing up together. Charles is about 9 years older than Henrietta (Henry is the nickname Charles gives her), and when Henrietta turns 18 her father sends her to London to be with her aunt for her 1st Season. She goes to London and is a success because of her beauty, honesty, and sense of humor. Everyone enjoys being around her. Meanwhile, Charles is missing her a great deal because he has loved her since she was 16 yr old. With each letter from London, he becomes more and more nervous that she will marry another. With encouragement from her father, he travels to London to win her hand. In many situations, he bungles all efforts and he feels he is losing ground on winning her affections. This story includes situations with her aunt and cousins, several men vying for her affections, and how things can get messed up quickly. I enjoyed the story very much and would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes clean, sweet Regency romance stories.

The Season tells the story of Henrietta Gaydon, whose aunt is sponsoring her debut among society, and Charles Henfield, her neighbor and her father’s godson. Nine years older than Henrietta—or “Henry” as he calls her—he doesn’t realize the depth of his feelings for her until after she has left for London.
As for Henrietta, on the surface, Henrietta’s season seems to be a success. She is popular, well liked and has several other suitors. However, underneath it all, she longs for home, and eventually realizes that part of that longing is connected to Charles.

This a very traditional Regency and once Charles arrives in London, the majority of the story focuses on the ongoing miscommunication between the two as they try to deal with the evolution of their relationship from that of friends to something warmer and deeper.

Charles and Henrietta are both likeable characters but the miscommunication went on too long for me. Several times, it seems like they are on the cusp on resolving their differences and revealing their feelings, when another obstacle pops up. Despite these obstacles—and other complications involving secondary characters, such as Henrietta’s aunt and cousin—the story lacked the spark to take it from good to great.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #AllisonandBusby for a copy to review.

4 stars

Very good story. The heroine is very young, only seventeen and she is devoted to her father and has a dear friend in Charles. At the beginning she views him as an older brother and until she leaves for the season he thinks of her in a similar way. He soon misses her and then starts to worry that someone else will ask for her hand.
Her cousin is having problems with her romance and once Charles gets to town he meet Miss Yates who is also having problems.

The middle section didn't seem to be going anywhere but then Charles starts to save the day with the help of his friends mother who is a dynamic mentor. There's only kisses biut I founf it a delightful story. I will look out for more of this authors work.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Season
by Sophia Holloway

You follow Henrietta’s journey from her Shropshire home to London for her first season with her cousin Caroline. This follows Henrietta’s journey trials and tribulations whilst dealing with eligible young men who may be a suitable match. Whilst the best may well be in Shropshire -Lord Charles Henley.

There are some wonderful characters and there are a few twist when things are not what they seem.

Although the book has a bit of a slow start as it follows the correspondence between Henrietta and her father an her life long friend but do stick with it as it a lovely story.

I am a sucker for historical romance, but this one missed the mark, for sure. I couldn't get past the first few chapters due to the writing style.

This was a fast, entertaining read. If you liked Miss Lattimore's Letter or Mr. Malcolm's letter, you will like this book. The style was similar, although probably more angst and strife, if you like books with more of that (which I personally can do with just a light touch of). Henrietta is sweet and I adored Charles.
I was a little put off by the cousin being too into Henrietta, but small quibble. I love a friends to lovers trope, as well as one that takes place during the machinations of the season goes on. There are a lot of machinations going on by the mothers of the debutantes in this one, and maybe almost too much because I didn't really get a sense of the younger women as much as I wanted, but I liked this weekend read!
I received this as an ARC and all opinions are my own.

The writing in this is not great. I couldn’t make it past the first few chapters. Some sentences are structured so poorly they are difficult to read. Disappointing.

Sophia Holloway's simply-named "The Season" is an amusing tale detailing the all-important quest of finding a suitable husband (preferably rich and titled) during the London Season. The large cast of charming characters dance, have tea, visit museums, and even see a balloon ascension. Henrietta and her cousin Caroline do their best to enjoy themselves, and along the way they find love.

Their dual paths to wedded bliss are not smooth sailing, however, and misunderstandings abound. There's no excessive melodrama, unless you count Lady Elstead and Lady Pirbright trading clever barbs, although even that is pretty funny.

I enjoy Holloway's writing style. Her characters are witty, and this book is clean. Infused with lots of humor and engaging characters, "The Season" shows a definite nod to Georgette Heyer, although Sophia Holloway has her own voice. Heyer's tales don't display Deep and Profound Truths, either, they are just good, clean fun. And that's what this is.

Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for an ARC of this enjoyable novel.

The cover and the description were so promising but I found that I was unable to read past 10%. There wasn’t a flow to get into; the writing was painfully awkward and stilted.

I am unable to recommend this.

Not sure who was reading the book for the positive reviews but I failed to finish the first chapter, the writing was so stilted and even in the first few pages it was clear how it would end

To be honest I could not get past thr first chapter of this book. I'm not sure if this is a new author or what but my heavens. The writing was iverly descriptive . It felt like a fifth graders essay where they were trying to meet the word count.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Allison & Busby for a copy of this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was an easy read for my first historical romance ARC I've requested. Whilst it was quite different from what I normally enjoy reading, I found it easy to slip into the world Sophia Holloway created in The Season.

I enjoyed watching Henrietta navigate her way through the Ton after her debut on society. Whilst she struggled at times and was overwhelmed by the attention she received, she also remained somewhat true to herself, even when her feelings were most conflicted by her childhood friend Charles. But what I enjoyed most about her was her friendship with her cousin Caroline, and how she helped her get her happily ever after too.

Charles, however, was far more interesting to me. With his lack of understanding of how to court a lady, let alone allow Henrietta to know of his feelings for her in amongst many other more charming suitors, I found his clumsy approach endearing. He was very much so a Darcy, having come across in multitude of ways to confuse Henrietta from friend and lover, yet had a decent, caring side to him that was witness with how he helped those around him - and not to purely his own advantage.

The side characters of Lady Vernham, Lord Martley and Caroline were also some of my favourites. Admittedly, I did struggle with how vast the character range was and how many voices there are in this novel, but I presume that to be common within a historical novel. Outside of Austen, I don't have a great plethora of regency reads under my belt. Admittedly, I did expect this to be more romantic than it was, and whilst the ending was sweet, I felt it was a little too late into the game, and would have liked seeing more of Charles and Henrietta's love story.

Still, I enjoyed this story and am thankful for the opportunity to review it.

I read this book very quickly. I could not put it down. If you are looking for a sweet, charming Regency romance that keeps things chaste, this is for you. It has a little bit of Jane Austen's "Emma" vibe, but the leads were only 9 years apart in age instead of 16 or 17 years apart in age. There was also a side romance that was just as fun to read about as the main one going on. On top of all of that, the descriptions of Regency London/the London season that the debutantes found themselves a part of were some of the best that I've ever read and it was all well researched.

Of course there's some miscommunication and mixed emotions along the way (it wouldn't be a romance without it), but overall I thought the leads were likable and charming. I loved how close Henrietta was to her father and that she'd established a friendship with Charles long before she ever went to London to find a husband. I loved that Charles recognized early on how he felt about Henrietta and spent much of the novel pursuing her instead of denying his feelings. Not to say that he did the best job pursuing her all the time (he did put his foot in his mouth occasionally) but it's refreshing to read a novel that has the hero openly saying he wants to marry the girl early on instead of spending 80% of the book denying his feelings for her or arguing with her and calling it banter. Just very entertaining and non-angsty. 5 enthusiastic stars for the joy and escape it brought me during a difficult season.

I would highly recommend to romance lovers who like the style of Georgette Heyer. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC ebook copy of this book. The Season releases on June 23, 2022.

The Season was a pleasing Regency romance with an engaging principal couple in Henrietta and Charles. It was fun to follow Henrietta as she attempt to navigate London life and budding romance, and likewise to see Charles grapple with his own feelings and uncertainty over how to win her hand. The pacing was good and there were no glaring anachronisms, which made me happy. I would definitely read further such books by this author in the future. It gets a solid 4 stars from me.

I had to dnf this book. When I first saw it I was so interested in it and the premise however it failed to keep my interest. The dialog is so forced and the banter that author is trying to established feels like two people who can't stand each other but are pretending to be civil to each other. The writing style was just not for me. It happens. I also had issues with the choice to use the term bitch in reference to the female dog. I understand that it is the term but it is was in my opinion completely unnecessary.

You've grown up together and had a somewhat sibling like relationship, is it okay when feelings changes and how do you navigate that? If you read regency, you know of the season and it's matchmaking mamas and simpering misses. I feel Sophia Holloway elevates the game with her clever writing. Yes, it's Heyer-like, but not as a cheap imitation, rather a wink, a nod, an ode. Her characters here are not malicious or mean spirited, but imperfect and mistaken at times. I've read or listened to her previous books and she keeps getting better. I'd love to see a future book with Mr. Newbold as the hero, a bit humbled, mooning over some older spinster or widow who is uninterested in him and he's unsure of himself! All the side characters are good, the dialogue snappy, and though nothing really truly happens, as in no kidnappings, dastardly villains, or giant secrets, writing like this doesn't need plot contrivances to be good. This author is legit, I wish I was an influencer, she deserves all the recognition and readership, her writing is sharp, none of her books have been the same or dull, this is pure escapism and delight. I received an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review

I really enjoyed this book! It was sweet, romantic, and compelling, and I was hooked from the very first chapter!

A regency novel that I found very enjoyable, featuring a lovely heroine, and by a brilliant author, I love Sophia Holloway, and I recommend this novel highly. Pure escapism as historical fiction is supposed to be, with details of dress that I loved. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

A sweet story about a young Lady who has her first Season and all that comes with that . Her childhood friend who does not see her as his little sister but as a woman . Will he be the lucky one to win her heart ?
I received this book from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.