Well, I was confused with timelines at first but after re-reading the first chapter I was up to speed. It does help to pay attention to those dates!
This story takes place during "The Season" the time when girls are introduced to society and become women. If it had not been for Elise and her friend Beverly all the endless parties, the dances, etc., would have been boring.
However, it was clearly brought to the fore that that is really all women had to look forward to: being introduced to society, wearing dresses, and looking for a husband with money and a title so she can give him an heir.
Elise is different, though, and although she chafes at the restrictions women must adhere to during The Season she nevertheless does her best because of her love for Michael.
Michael is a happy man who appears on the surface to be somewhat easy-going considering all the women in his family. Still, there is Elise, who annoyed him as she grew up. She's Ren's little sister for god's sake, and he tries his damnedest to keep that in mind but Elise has grown up. She is trying so very hard to prove to those that matter to her (Ren, Lia, Michael, and her Grandmother) that she truly has grown up. She is still a tomboy at heart, and she loves her horses, but she truly does understand what her role in society is to be, and she is willing to embrace it for Michael.
My only real complaint came with the moment Michael and Elise made love for the first time. His reaction to her "not being a virgin" was all too real, and I was right with Elise for "hating" him so abruptly.
Virginity is such a valued, strong, and extremely symbolic commodity during these times. Yet, it was all too realistic that some young ladies, who did not "sleep around" came to the marriage bed as "not virgin".
I wish there had been more about this and not just Michael realising that Elise truly loved him because of what he "saw in her eyes". I was really hoping that Grandmother would set the dummy right and tell him what many women already understood back then -- a woman's virginity could be lost through riding a horse as Elise did, or through other such strenuous exercise.
I also think the danger of Sinclair and his "Dominus Rex" fellows could have been expanded to a delicious darkness. As it was I spent nearly the entire time of the book waiting for the axe to fall and when it did it was anti-climatic.
Still and all, I loved the characters, and I look forward to Sarah's story. Adventure is promised.