Creating a hero and heroine readers will actually care about is quite difficult. Creating two couples and giving them equal weight must be even more difficult still. Though Vision in Blue has its weaknesses, Nicole Byrd gives readers a tale of two likable couples and two rather tender romances to enjoy.

Gemma Smith, a former student and now boarder at a girls’ school, has a dilemma: She has no idea where she is from or who her family might be. There is a young man nearby who would like to offer for her, but his family does not want him to declare himself lest Gemma have an unsavory background. When Gemma receives a letter from the solicitor who has been paying her school fees, she decides to go to London in order to seek out the family hinted at in her letter.

Gemma meets Louisa Crookshank along the way in an inn. Louisa, accompanied by her chaperone and her fiancé, has decided that she simply must have a London Season before she marries. When Louisa sees Gemma traveling alone, she feels sympathy for this woman who has no one to protect her in the rough inn and invites Gemma to join their party. Realizing that it is not quite seemly (or safe) for a woman to travel alone, Gemma agrees and quickly forms a bond with Louisa.

After arriving in London, Gemma and Louisa embark upon finding out Gemma’s identity and enjoying the Season. On their adventures around London, they meet a number of people, including Gemma’s intended suitor Mr. Cuthbertson, and Captain Fallon, a mysterious man whose lost sister has ties to Gemma.

In addition to letting readers experience the Season and Gemma’s search for her true identity, we get to see Louisa and Gemma’s various romantic adventures as well. Since it is not readily apparent at the beginning of the story who ends up with whom (and unless you want a spoiler, I would suggest avoiding that back cover blurb), I will not reveal it here. However, I will say that Byrd does a good job of finding each lady a suitor who matches her well. Gemma and Louisa get almost equal time in this story so there is no real distinction between the primary and secondary romances and, since both are likable heroines, this works well. The two relationships are also both very sweet and I often found myself rooting for each lady to end up with the right man.

Vision in Blue is a very pleasant read. My only quibble with it involved the slow movement of the middle of the book. Even though quite a few things do happen to the characters, the author glosses over quite a bit and does not always make the reader feel thrust into the action. This book felt languid enough to me that I found myself putting it down and picking it up again later with some frequency. In addition, both Gemma and Louisa’s romantic relationships were somewhat over and, without more emotional detail, the depth of their feelings seemed to make itself known a bit abruptly.

For the most part, I enjoyed Vision in Blue and, if I had been given a little more insight into the feelings of the primary characters‚ it probably would have gotten a solid B from me. Still, I did enjoy Byrd’s writing and I am curious to read the earlier books in this series. If you are looking for a sweet and engaging Regency-set historical, this one may be worth checking out.