How does Quinn use and adapt Regency conventions in her novel? Beyond the central focus on marriage and courtship, consider the genre’s emphasis on social class, etiquette and manners, and the reliance on social engagements or leisurely pursuits as venues for action.

Discuss what the Lady Whistledown papers add to the novel as a plot device, a mystery, and a secondary narrator that comments on the action and the characters. How do language and style characterize Lady Whistledown’s columns? How does this voice compare to that of Quinn’s omniscient narrator?

Discuss Colin and Penelope’s romance in light of the friends-to-lovers trope. How does Quinn follow or subvert this formula?