An Improbable Season is the story of three different debutantes and how they make good – or don’t – during their very first season. Unfortunately, some terminology and title bobbles don’t allow this one to glimmer like a diamond of the first water, but teens will likely find it to be an amusing diversion.

Sisters Thalia and Kalli Aubrey and their cousin, Charis Elphinstone, all hope to accomplish different things by immersing themselves in the parties and balls of the London season. Thalia wants to become a writer – and she’ll do anything to get attention for her skills and get her poetry published. Charis hopes to become a scientist, even though doing so will require her to crash an entirely male hierarchy. Kalli’s the only one really looking for a husband, but she’s planning on partying and enjoying the best of what London society has to offer before she marries.

Each of the girls meets with adversity. Thalia’s sober plan to remain a bachelorette is complicated by her introduction to the roguish James Darby which causes her to throw caution to the wind in spite of the affections of family friend Mr. Adam Hetherbridge, and Charis finds herself the belle of the social season but becomes entangled in a battle of wits with the mysterious Mr. Leveson. Sweet but clumsy Kalli gets stuck in the worst mess of all – she finds herself betrothed to Adam after a scandal arises when they’re caught alone in a garden together but finds herself romantically torn between him and Henry Salisbury, who pursues her ardently.

An Improbable Season could have used a little more time to bake, and perhaps it would have worked better chopped up into three different novels, but the end result is still a fun read. The best story belongs to Charis, who is trying to balance her scientific aims with the attention thrown upon her by the ton – and Mr. Leveson, with whom she has a meeting of the minds. But I did enjoy Kalli’s romantic pas de deux and the way Thalia tries to loosen up, even though James clearly doesn’t deserve her.

There are some major errors in forms of address and protocol here, and even though they’re not as bad as I’ve seen in some wallpapery historicals, and they still kept me from rating this one any higher. But though not perfect, An Improbable Season is fun and entertaining, and will please its intended audience.