This guest review is by Emma Holliday.  Emma Holliday is a Berlin-based writer, blogger, and all-around creative type. As a teenager, she read romance ironically, but these days she loves happily-ever-afters with her whole heart. She’s a feminist, an Episcopalian, and a Hufflepuff. You can find out more about her on emmaholliday.com.

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In for a Penny was Rose Lerner’s first book, and although it shows a little bit in the pacing, it was a delightful read! I picked this one up after reading Hamilton’s Battalion, which is a collection of three historical novellas that Carrie reviewed positively. Before reading Hamilton’s Battalion, I had never heard of Rose Lerner, but her novella in that collection grabbed my attention. Her story, “Promised Land,” had me laughing out loud and reading sections to my husband, and I was excited to pick up a full-length work. When I saw that In for a Penny featured one of my favorite tropes–a marriage of convenience–I was sold.

The story begins when our hero, Lord Nevinstoke (Nev), who spends most of his time drinking, gambling, and attending the theater with his mistress, suddenly finds out his father has died. Nev is now Lord Bedlow, in charge of the wellbeing of his mother and younger sister, not to mention a crumbling estate in deep debt. It’s all pretty standard stuff.

He proposes to our heroine, Penelope, because she’s rich, but her family made money from business (the horror!) and so she’s not had any titled suitors.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your father.”

“Thank you,” he said, then stood silent. “Dash it, this is awkward.”

“I own I am a little surprised to see you.”

“I suppose I had better out with it. My father had run into debt before he died. A great deal of debt.”

Penelope’s heart plummeted into her boots. She struggled for composure. “I see.”

“The long and short of it is, I’ve come to ask you to marry me.”

I appreciated how up front Nev was about his intentions, and that Penelope’s family was totally supportive if she wanted to turn him down. Surprising everyone, including herself, Penelope says yes – otherwise, there would be no book. Nev and Penelope had only met once before he proposed. They discovered they had similar taste in music and an instant attraction, but that’s not a lot to base a marriage on. Initially, Penelope’s motivations felt a bit unclear. She’s not getting a lot out of this arrangement because, even though her mother wants the family to marry into a title, no one is pushing Penelope into a marriage to a man severely in debt. Penelope even had a working class beau, Edward, who she wanted to marry, but she still decides to go for it with Nev. It’s partly impulse and partly distancing herself from everyone’s expectations of what she ought to do with her life. And, of course, similar taste in music and one good smooch.

Anyway, the premise of titled man in debt proposes a marriage of convenience to a nouveau riche woman isn’t terribly unique, but the realism with which the story progressed impressed me. Other than the central love story, the book is about managing the estate, small town politics, and class warfare.

I was reading In for a Penny one evening and my husband asked me if I was coming to bed anytime soon. I made incoherent too-invested-in-my-book-for-sleep noises, and he looked at me knowingly.

“Are they having sex?” he asked.

“Actually, no,” I said. “The tenant farmers might be staging an uprising and I need to know how it’s resolved.”

Yup, Rose Lerner explored class differences in this book in such a nuanced and interesting way that I stayed up late reading about tenant farmer politics. But, I know what you’re wondering: how was the chemistry between our main couple?

Penelope began to take a bite of her toast, then pushed it away, with a blush and a little laugh. “I can’t eat it now, you’ve made me embarrassed!”

Nev wondered if he would ever know the right thing to say again.

“I suppose I’ll have more tea.” She poured herself a cup and reached for the jar of honey. But as she opened it, she glanced up at Nev. She fumbled with the spoon, and honey flew all over her fingers.

Nev stared at the sticky molten gold sliding down his wife’s ink-stained fingers.

Penelope saw his fixed look and misinterpreted it.

“Don’t look at me like that! I know I’m hopeless.”

“That’s not it,” Nev said with utmost sincerity. “That…looks like it tastes good.”

“Well, it’s wasted now. Unless you want to lick it off?”

She spoke sarcastically, as if she were proposing an obviously implausible alternative.

“Of course I want to lick it off. But I said I wouldn’t touch you till we knew each other better.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this exchange leads to some hot make-outs in the breakfast room until–

He turned around, sure this was all a horrid dream, but it wasn’t. His mother was standing there, immaculate, her golden hair piled on her head.

He stepped frantically in front of Penelope. “God damn it, Mother, do you never knock?”

“Nate, such language. You ought to know better how to behave to a lady! I saw no need to knock. I am sure it never occurred to me that you would be mauling your wife at breakfast as if she were a common trollop.”

This dialogue highlights the exploration of class differences, with Nev’s mother insinuating that Penelope isn’t acting like a lady. I don’t think overbearing mother-in-law is anyone’s favorite trope, but the class conflict was believable.

And it meant our leads had more keeping them apart than just miscommunication. Characters who don’t use their words are a pet peeve of mine — if the whole conflict could be solved just by talking to each other, I’m not interested. That wasn’t the case here. Penelope is hyper aware of her background and worries she’s not good enough for Nev, even though she’s bringing a lot more to the table than he does in terms of assets. Nev, on the other hand, worries he isn’t smart enough for Penelope. In one cute scene, he’s embarrassed to admit that he enjoys the popular novels full of “constant swoons and desperate duels amidst Gothic ruins.”

Also, Nev is a total sweetheart. He truly is a reformed rake: as soon as he finds out his father has died, he quits drinking and gambling, stops hanging out with his friends who facilitate that behavior, and breaks it off with his mistress, Amy. Nev and Amy’s relationship was nuanced and played a much larger and more satisfying role in the book than I initially expected. Yes, Amy causes some trouble for our main couple, but not in a way that paints her as one-dimensional or villainous. Everyone’s feelings are given weight, and Amy and Penelope even develop a friendship of sorts.

As with so much of this book, the exploration of a lord’s relationship with his mistress feels believable. They care for each other, but Nev also paid for her company, and there was no getting around that arrangement. Even though Penelope was intimidated by Amy (and Nev was intimidated by Penelope’s ex, Edward), it never felt like a love triangle plot. No one is ever really in competition with each other because their relationships are all so different–it’s like they’re real people!

I really enjoyed spending time with this cast of characters, but I could see readers being disappointed if they aren’t into the small town politics. There are a lot of subplots in this book that pull focus away from the main couple and throw off the pacing a bit. One of Nev’s drinking buddies plays a large role, as does Nev’s sister, and we meet several of the tenant farmers by name. Occasionally, there are even scenes from perspectives other than our main couple. During the book’s final chapters, we briefly follow Amy and there is a scene from the perspective of the book’s villain. I think the fact that I haven’t mentioned the book’s primary villain until now speaks to how much was going on. It was a large cast of characters. Everyone had their own motivations, which made them feel realistic to me, but exploring so many people’s storylines, and especially wrapping them all up in the final chapters, was sometimes complicated and felt a little rushed.

A few characters definitely seemed like they were set up to star in future books that never came to fruition. (In particular, there was a spark between Amy and Edward that I really wanted to see explored.) But, ultimately, In for a Penny is a satisfying stand-alone novel. I was rooting for Nev and Penelope and invested in their world.