The Arrangement

by Lyn Stone

WHICH WAS THE TRUE JONATHAN CHADWICK?

The childlike innocent or the sophisticated cynic who despised society? Whatever the man's mysteries, Kathryn Wainwright was determined to uncover them. Especially when her incessant questions uncovered a passionate soul that she found herself helpless to resist.

Jonathan Chadwick swore there could not exist a more maddening woman than Kathryn Wainwright. The cheeky writer for an outrageous gossip sheet seemed hell-bent on destroying him. And the desire that flared between them was becoming impossible to ignore!

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Victorian, Harlequin

297 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Lyn's foray into book-length fiction began in the early '90s, and she signed her first contract with Harlequin Historicals on Valentine's Day, 1996. "Flowers, candy, kisses, and a book sale, too! There will never be another day quite like that one!" she says.

"I always loved to write and even got excited about doing reports and term papers. I neglected other homework just to make that short story for English class as riveting as I possibly could."

Even so, she never really considered writing as a career until much later. Instead, Lyn studied art and worked in Europe while she visited the places she now writes about in her historicals. At that time, she was painting those sights and selling pictures.

While working at Boeing as an illustrator, she had the idea of trying to freelance book covers. Since she liked to paint faces and figures, romance novels seemed a logical choice. However, the field of cover art is highly competitive and she discovered it would take a great deal of research and preparation.

While studying the market on covers, she became firmly hooked on the contents of the books and decided to try writing instead. "Definitely one of my better decisions," she admits. She is still an avid romance reader and manages to read an average of four per week in addition to one or two books outside the genre.

Lyn feels a special affinity for England and Scotland with their wonderful castles and intriguing history. The American South and Southwest are her favorite settings for contemporary adventures.

She and her husband, Allen, both natives of Georgia, live in North Alabama near their two children and four grandchildren. "The family contributes to my research," Lyn says.

"They buy me books, clip articles, sketch costumes, and sometimes act out scenes. Even the grandchildren serve as inspiration for the younger characters."

Reviews

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book by an author I had become a fan of after reading The Wicked Truth, and I was struck by the uniqueness and the beauty of this romance. Jonathan is considered an idiot savant because of his incredible abilities as a composer but his lack of social skills. Knowing this initially, I wasn't sure how things would go before I met him, but I fell in love with him. I really like books with unusual heroes and heroines. Jonathan is that. He's perfectly intelligent, he just has a different way of looking at things. He doesn't care much for what's going on in the world, and has a tendency to be wrapped up in his music. I would use the phase, "He needs a keeper," to describe him. He bonds almost immediately with Kathryn and in a very sensual way. It involves a piano bench. Definitely a wow moment for me. I knew I'd like this book at this point. Another truly enjoyable thing about this book was how capable and practical Kathryn is. If you are a fan of Jessica Trent from Lord of Scoundrels, I think you would like Kathryn. She is slightly older than Jonathan, and has taken care of herself for many years. She is the perfect match for Jonathan, tempering his passion with reason, although he brings out the latent passions in her. He gives her what she needs, the desire to nuture and love him and his children. Kathryn gently encourages Jonathan, supporting him in his music, but giving him nudges to remember that there is a world outside there beyond his music. There are poignant moments that involve how he was farmed out to women to father their children so they could have children who were musical geniuses. Kathryn helps Jonathan find all his children, and they bring them to live with them, and start a ready made family. I enjoyed seeing their family moments and the marital intimacy between Jonathan and Kathryn. I found it very touching. I really love this book, although most people have never heard of it. If you want to read a wonderful love story with a different kind of hero who will endear himself to you very quickly, I think you'd like this book.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so surprised! I didn't expect any of that.
Kathryn was the bomb! At the end, you can't love her more :)
Everytime I thought the story was going to go one way, bam, I was totally wrong.



It was full of twists and turns. I loved it!

[Ceecee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone has a Harlequin phase, right? Right?

So here I am reviewing another book for the heck of it, because I happen to love this book, a most unforgettable romance from Harlequin, among the hundreds of formulaic romances I read which I promptly forgot the moment I picked up another book.

It's a classic case of a "book calling out to me", considering I don't buy bodice-rippers, I borrow them from friends.


Jonathan Chadwick is a piano genius, also a recluse. He maintains an eccentric facade to keep people at bay. Enter headstrong Kathryn Wainwright, journalist, out to uncover Jonathan's secrets. They meet, there's an attraction, and through circumstances, they arrange to marry in order to save their lives (or something like that).

What I really love about this book is Jonathan and Kathryn's relationship. They became friends, looking out for each other, and also, I loved picturing Jonathan playing the piano. God, I want to learn to play the piano so much! Kathryn is no damsel in distress, and Jonathan is no Heathcliffe. J & K are supportive of each other, and they were funny (I think) and I never felt like the romance was trying too hard. These were two people made for each other, who made a great team, and isn't that what marriage is supposed to be like?

Edit: 9/30/2022

After I moved to the US, one of the first things I did was look for this book (because it only ships within the US) lol.

Now that I'm older with "fresh eyes", I can see how there are technical errors here like when Katherine initially thought Pip was younger than Jonathan but then in the next chapter she believed Pip was Jonathan's older bastard brother. And i can say that it is such a 1990s storyline: A relationship that started with deception lol. And a loooot happens in this book I forgot about them, but there were so many plot points.

What I still love about this book is the male lead's maturity, the female lead's spunk, and their ✨partnership.✨

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was highly enjoyable, and I have to thank my Goodreads friend, Lady Danielle, for her excellent review, which interested me in the book. Otherwise I don't think I would have ever come across it.

Ms. Stone employed several well known plot points familiar to us who read lots of historical romance. A young woman is an heiress, but she has a dastardly relative (an uncle) who plots to cheat her out of her money by marrying her off to a man of his choosing, who will then split the money with him. She escapes this plot by marrying someone else. There is a case of mistaken identity. Also, the hero is a younger son who did not expect to inherit the title.

But this book has qualities that give it that different twist. It is set in the late Victorian period (1889) and English society is changing, becoming more democratic and less tilted toward favoring the aristocracy in everything. Women are becoming more cognizant of their own strengths and our heroine actually works, writing stories for her uncle's newspaper. She is a modern woman and doesn't wait for the man to solve everything.

The story was action filled until the very end.

[Cristina Contilli]

"Verrà pubblicato oggi. Prima di sera il nostro matrimonio e il tuo titolo saranno saranno sulla bocca di tutti. Duchesse e sartine parleranno di noi. Questo è il potere della stampa, Jonathan."

Carino, ma per ora niente di eccezionale perché il tema del finto gemello mi sembra trattato in modo un po' ingenuo... la cosa divertente è dal mio punto di vista che la protagonista è una mia "collega", visto che fa la giornalista, di gossip però più che culturale!!!

Finito, nel complesso non è male, petò, in certi punti il protagonista maschile è davvero "irritante" e poi ha pure due figli illegittimi, insomma, un po' troppo per innamorarsene davvero!!!!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was interesting, but I had a difficult time finding anything about the hero or the heroine that I liked until close to the end. I am glad that I stuck with reading the book though.

[Izy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating~ 4.5 stars
This was unusual story with some amazing protagonists.