Story Review: Making Arrangements by Rose Fox

I think people are quite aware of my opinion that the world needs more great lesbian Regency romances. Rose Fox has written a delightful novelette to this end that's freely available at Archive of Our Own. Here's the summary from the site: "Lady Darby's niece is a scandalous tribade. So is Lady Montgomery's daughter. And who ever heard of a society mama who could resist the chance to matchmake?"

Fox has captured the light-hearted, witty tone of the Regency genre perfectly, following the young women's progression from awkward arranged introduction to attraction to misunderstandings to reconciliation and concluding with a historically-appropriate happy ending. The matchmaking ladies are, perhaps, surprisingly openminded and frank with each other about how to solve the potential social disaster of a visiting cross-dresssing American neice but the premise is far more plausible than the number of handsome young unmarried dukes running around in the straight Regency world.

The romance is "sweet" in the non-explicit sense and the story's conclusion adds a charming bonus pay-off. This novelette is a quick read--but not so quick that it didn't have a chance to meet my "treadmill test" (10% past my regular workout goal in order to finish reading). Highly recommended.