She Walks In Beauty by Siri Mitchell(Kindle read)

What Clara Carter would like to do is go to college at Vassar. What she is forced to do though is to become a young debutant.

When the De Vries brothers return to New York Clara is forced to debut a year early. Her Aunt and father wish her to marry the elder brother Franklin De Vries, heir to the De Vries fortune.

Clara's aunt takes on the task of teaching Clara all that she needs to know to catch the heir. The first thing that she demands is that Clara's corset be cinched to make her have an 18 inch waist. She then proceeds to teach Clara all of the coy ways that a young woman needs to know to gain the attention of a man. In a time when women's opinions and intelligence do not matter to society it is hard for Clara to play at being a vapid female.

What soon becomes apparent is that both Clara and her best friend Lizzie have both gained the attention of Franklin. They both agree though that he is a bore. His younger brother Harry is much more entertaining and also the more attentive brother. But as women their goal is to win the heir so that they will be taken care of financially.

Clara has been told that at any cost she is to win Franklin even if it means giving him her virtue. Clara wants to marry for love though. She is tired of the pressures of her aunt and father and also the pressures of society. She also finds that her father is not the man that she thought him to be which causes her deep grief.

When Clara is "cut" from society will all be lost for her and her family or will Clara finally see her worth in God's eyes?

I really enjoyed She Walks In Beauty. I felt bad for Clara that she was living in a time when women didn't have many options for their future. At the same time that I wished that she would have stood up to her father and Aunt, I also admired her for being obedient. And of course I loved the Happily Ever After ending.