Miss Lattimore’s Letter

Indecision and miscommunication strain the relationships in Allain’s lackluster sophomore Regency rom-com (after Mr. Malcolm’s List). After 28-year-old Sophronia “Sophie” Lattimore overhears an intimate conversation between star-crossed lovers Priscilla Hammond and Charles Beswick, she pens an anonymous letter to suggest to Priscilla’s betrothed, Lord Fitzwater, that he’d be better matched with the infatuated Lucy Barrett instead. After both couples get engaged, Sophie’s cousin Cecilia reveals Sophie as the architect of the couplings, and she is suddenly beset with the romantic woes of everyone she knows. But when Charles and Priscilla’s marriage begins to fray, Sophie regrets her position as matchmaker. In truth, she’s no expert in love, having been jilted by her own suitor a decade earlier. Now that gentleman, the charming Frederick Maitland, is back in her life, leaving Sophie struggling to choose between her old passion for him and her growing connection with the thoughtful, reserved Sir Edmund Winslow, whom she’s enjoying getting to know, but who may be too far above her station to consider marriage. Sophie, Priscilla, and Cecilia all vehemently doubt their own desires and decisions, which will leave readers unsure of the longevity of their happy endings. Only the sustained romantic tension enlivens this otherwise dull Regency. [em]Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Aug.) [/em]