A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews

 

Summary (from publisher): A Courtship of Convenience: Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He’s grim and silent. A man of little emotion—or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she’s ready to put an end to things.

A Last Chance for Love: But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn’t as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there’s Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What’s a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there’ll be no false formality. This time they’ll get to know each other for who they really are.

Review: Sophie Appersett comes from a well to do family who no longer has a great fortune. Edward Sharpe is a London merchant. In Edward, Sophie's family sees a chance for Sophie to marry into wealth that will help support her father's lavish spending on their family home, Appersett House. While Sophie is amenable to the match, she finds Mr. Sharpe taciturn and silent and interprets it as dislike for her. In a last-ditch effort to explore the potential for the two to make a match, she invites Mr. Sharpe to their family home for Christmas to spend time together and make a decision. 

This was a sweet, short love story with a nice Christmas theme. I enjoyed the interactions between Sophie and Edward and their discovery that what was keeping them apart was a simple misunderstanding. This was more of a novella in length, so it was a relatively simple plot, but it still managed to capture a sweet love story between the main characters. 

I did think it seemed very far-fetched that her father would be so foolish in how he spent money, to the detriment of his children's futures. And that the oldest daughter would be encouraged to make a match outside of their class to somehow preserve the chances for the younger daughter. When in reality a better match for the oldest would have promised a better match for the youngest. I also found Sophie's younger sister very flippant and unlikable. 

Stars: 3