Carole's Sunday: The dress of the season - Kate Noble

Author: Kate Noble

Title: The Dress of the Season (The Blue Raven #4.5)

Genre: Historical Romance, short story

Pages: ebook

Published: April 3rd 2012

Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon freebie)

Harris Dane, Viscount Osterley, orders a very fine and scandalously cut dress to be made for a certain lady he wishes to woo. While with the dress designer, he also orders a pair of gloves to be sent to his ward, Miss Felicity Grove, to wish her well for the new Season. But when Felicity accidentally receives the dress, along with Osterley’s affectionate note, it sets into motion a tale of scandalous misunderstandings and love in the last place you look.

Gah! I was doing so well with not jumping into the middle of a book series. Whoops! Luckily this does well as a standalone since it is just a short story in-between the other books. 

Now...first....I must say....I AM UTTERLY IN LOVE WITH THIS COVER! Look at that beautiful dress! The flowers!? The colors?! So beautiful!

Alright.

Now, this story follows Felicity and her guardian Harris. Harris has been her guardian for the last 4 years since Felicity lost her parents and her brother which happened to be Harris' bestie. Harris has pretty much kept his distance from Felicity for many reasons that are not 100% clear to Felicity since they used to be friends in their youth. Things happen and Felicity accidentally receives a dress that Harris meant to send to his wannabe mistress. This dress, of course, causes a scandal because it is so beautiful and risky. 

This was a fun little story. I enjoyed how complex the author made this story and the characters. It is a rare day a short story can do this. I did not feel this was too short or missing anything. I really enjoyed the characters and their journey to find themselves, work past the past, and find the love inside their hearts for each other. 

The ending was very unlikely and made me roll my eyes...but it was bearable I suppose since I enjoyed everything else. 

I do want to go back to the beginning of the series and read book 1. The author's short story was good...I wonder what a full novel will be like. 

Besides for the unlikely ending, this was a good one. I swear! It is 50/50 with these Amazon freebies. It is either really good oorrrrrrr super meh. This falls under really good. I'll give this 4 stars.