Importance of Almack's

Pamela Clarkdale has always been the ignored daughter by her father. In fact she is treated as more of a servant than a daughter, but in her mothers eyes she's a young lady. Pamela finds an injured man near a stream one day and takes him home to recover. But, as her father doesn't like strangers he is kept in the stables. Pamela is drawn to Kitt and after a shock one night she is caught by her sister sharing a kiss. This causes Pamela to be disowned and thrown out of her house. She seeks a position as a ladies companion, and finds it with Lady Claire. In a humorous twist of events Lady Claire turns out to be Kitt's Godmother. Kitt Covington is actually an Earl, but he doesn't reveal this to Pamela while he is recovering in the stables. But when she is disowned and banished he wants to step in and do the right thing. While he has sworn off marriage he is willing to be engaged to her to help her save face. But, even when Pamela agrees to the engagement she is still denied a voucher to Almack's. In a time when the `ton' considers these vouchers to be everything this is a blow. Things are heating up all around Pamela and suddenly everything she knew about her family seems to be dissolving around her, and she is falling in love with the one man who scoffs at love, Kitt. If you are a lover of the historical romance genre then The Importance of Almack's is a must have for you. After reading the story I just wanted to sigh. There were a lot of twists and turns as well as secrets being held in this book, but the author does a fantastic job of pulling them all together in the end. This was a love story at its best. In the end The Importance of Almack's made me want more historical romances from Denise Patrick. Tanya reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

By doing a good deed in saving a stranger's life, Miss Pamela Clarkdale, sealed her fate. When found out by her inhospitable father that she had hid and nursed a stranger in their stable, she was banished and disowned. With nothing more than the clothes on her back, Pamela ended up in London taking a position as companion to the elderly but sprightly widow Lady Parkington, who as it turned out was her stranger's godmother. Kitt Covington, Earl of Kittredge had never felt more comfortable than when he was with Pamela. At an early age Kitt had sworn off of Almack's and marriage, but knew he owed Pamela a debt of gratitude. He proposed a sham betrothal between them as a way of easing his conscience and a way of paying off the debt he owed for her saving his life. Refusing Kitt's plan at first, but knowing that it would only be to the end of the season, Pam agreed. Unfortunately, conspiracy's abounded and gossip along with the refusal of vouchers to Almack's were about to sabotage all of Kitt's and Lady Parkington's efforts in helping to launch Pamela into society. Pam and Kitt would have to weather the storm in determining the true importance of Almack's. *** This Regency set historical was truly lovely both in the sweetly toned romance, the vibrant personalities of the players, intelligent and witty dialogs and the exciting twists and turns as well as numerous revelations of intrigue popped up throughout the story. Pamela was a lovely heroine, who discovered early on that the father she had tried so hard to please was not her father at explaining away the partiality he'd always shown towards her sister and brother. Having lived with low-self esteem because of her inability to please the man she'd thought of as a father didn't help her in ever imagining that Kitt (who was also one of the ton's most eligible bachelor) really did want to marry her. Having Lady Parkington as her champion in negotiating thru the ton soon proved to be a major boon as she not only offered guidance but a loving and caring hand in helping Pamela to the realization that Kitt's offer of a `sham' betrothal was anything but! Bringing together a terrific cast of supporting characters including the snobbish patronesses of Almacks, the author masterfully weaves an unfolding story of deceit and a web of lies from a twenty year old scandal. As the lies began to unravel both Kitt and Pamela discovered how each had been deceived by the people they had once revered and loved. While I was immensely entertained by the story and the very likeable leads and their friends, I'm afraid I could not give this my highest rating, as there were numerous times when it seemed as though the story jumped prematurely, from one scene to another without benefit of an explanation. One specific example was from the time Kitt left her home, and all of a sudden Pamela was the companion to his godmother. Although an explanation did come later in the story, I found myself going backwards to s