Her social graces are lacking, his finances are in ruin, but together they can solve both their problems. As long as they don’t fall in love.After years of escaping etiquette lessons in favor of the stables, Christine Devon’s grand debut in London is only weeks away, though her deportment lacks the sophisticated polish she needs to achieve her goals of a lofty marriage. Desperate to take her … marriage. Desperate to take her place in society, she needs someone to instruct her in proper behavior.
Thomas Gilbert, newly returned from Italy, is ready to begin his dream of founding a horse farm. But during his time away, the estate’s finances have dwindled to almost nothing. Unless he can find a way to save his family from ruin, he will be forced to sell his horses and give up his dreams entirely.
A chance meeting between them may solve both their problems. Christine gains a tutor in the finer arts of polite behavior, while Thomas is given access to the finest bloodlines in England. But as time passes, the arrangement is less about business, and more about love. Will they see it in time, or will Christine leave Thomas behind for the splendor of London’s ballrooms?
The Social Tutor is the first novel in a sweet Regency romance series. Each novel is a stand-alone romance but, read in order, are immensely satisfying. The novels in the series are:
Prequel Novella: Martha’s Patience
The Social Tutor
The Gentleman Physician
His Bluestocking Bride
The Earl and His Lady
Miss Devon’s Choice
…and Book Six coming in March 2019
more
Thoroughly enjoyable read. Ready for Julia’s story.
Christine & Thomas’s Story was Sweet, Adorable & Delightful.
A clean, Romance Book.
I didn’t care for the over Internal Dialogue from the H&H.
Other than that, the Story was very enjoyable.
If you’re in the mood for something sweet and regency that is written with love and care, go with Sally Hanson. I love all her books, but The Social Tutor might be my favorite.
Sally’s books are so good! Her characters all have real life to them. You can see how much research she does, but only to texture, never to bog down, her sweet, wonderful romances. I would marry the hero of this adorable book. 🙂 Sally Britton
After having read everything from this author starting at book 3 of this series, I’m finally going back and reading the first 2 books. The overall series is solid and I can now appreciate what happens in later books.
As far as this particular book is concerned, I’m not entirely sure how realistic it is, but I enjoyed it nevertheless and like how she used it to develop her future books in the series.
Christine starts out as cold and unfeeling because she’s determined to meet her father’s expectations. Yet, as time passes, she wakes up to the reality that he simply wants to use her to achieve his own goals and there’s nothing in the bargain for her. At this point, she has to reevaluate her goals. Does she pursue peace with her father and maybe never satisfy him? Or, does she seek her own happiness as well as heal the division she’s caused with her sisters?
Thomas’s character grows as well. At first he accepts Christine’s offer in a rather mercenary, self serving way in which to fulfill his personal goals. However, as he gets to know Christine, he realizes that he doesn’t want her to go to London. He wants her for himself, but is there any possible way to stop her?
The development of the romance is at a perfect pace. What started as mere acquaintances grew to friendship and more. I also loved the interactions of Thomas’s parents with him and Christine’s sisters with her. But, nothing compares to the ending! My favorite part of the book is the ending. It’s absolutely classic how everything turns out.
Romance – PG / kissing
Language – nothing offensive
Violence – threats and anger expressed by one character
My rating – 5 stars
A beautiful story born from an unconventional arrangement between Ms. Christine Devon and Mr. Thomas Gilbert that will develop into something more.
If I must be honest, it really took me a while to be able to get into this book. The first part is full of introductions and descriptions of both the main characters, their current situations, and their families. However, once the reader gets over that part, and the arrangement has been made, the true, though at times slow, interest and magic begin. I really loved how the author set the base for Christine and Thomas’s relationship on their friendship. I really liked how, through each lesson and question, the reader is able to understand a bit more of what social convention expected as proper behavior. And I certainly loved how each character started to flesh out a bit more as the story progressed, especially with the author’s emotional descriptions of both Thomas and Christine, as well as the timely background bits of characters such as Julia.
All in all, a very sweet, clean, and beautiful recommended read.
My introduction to Sally Britton, which was enjoyable. Christine was refreshing for the regency period as she spoke what was on her mind but that was social faux pas as she was about to start her first season in London. She needed to brush up on her social skills, who better to help her then her next-door neighbor Thomas, since there wasn’t a female around to help. Lessons were done secret. Would this be the demise of them both?
The main characters enter a crazy deal that requires them to spend time together––which is great because we get to see their character growth.
This is also one of those stories where the main characters don’t realize they’ve fallen in love until someone points it out.
I love how it all works out!
I have loved all of Britton’s work that I’ve read. I accidentally have read the 4th book already in this series, but I honestly didn’t know how Thomas and Christine would get together. I can’t wait to read the other books and see if her horrible father gets any better.
The Social Tutor is about Christine Devon’s preparations for her grand debut. She receives little to no help from her older sister, whose debut several years earlier was a flop. Christine comes across Thomas Gilbert one day and they strike a bargain. Since Thomas wants to start a horse farm to save his family from poverty, and Christine needs lessons in the fine art of polite behavior, they decide to swap and Thomas agrees to tutor Christine while Christine agrees to allow breeding rights to Thomas for her prime bloodline horses. This starts a relationship that grows and grows.
I really liked this book. I have read a few books by Sally Britton and I have never been disappointed. If you like clean historical romances with love, fun characters, a fabulous plot and romance, of course, then you will enjoy this book very much. Pick up your copy and Enjoy!
I wasn’t sure about this one when it started. Christine comes off in the first bit as a spoiled brat and I could not figure out why the sisters had such a weird relationship. Thomas was aloof and I could not figure out where the author was headed with this one. As with her other books everything came together beautifully! I really enjoyed reading this one, the end was so well done and I just wanted to cheer:} I am totally falling in love with the Earl and I am so excited his book is next. I have now realized I read these all out of order but that didn’t diminish them and I was able to sort everything out. These are well written chaste romance books.
A good start to this series
This is a really clever story and I loved every moment of it.
It is about how two special people get together so that Thomas can teach Christine how she should behave in company and teach her he does!
Neither of them are willing to openly admit that they are in fact beginning to fall for the other and this delightful story is about what actually happens in those fascinating ‘lessons’.
I am enjoying Sally Britton’s easy style of writing which makes this story very easy to read and follow and for this reason am happy to recommend her entertaining book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.