This is an interesting and well-researched look at courtship throughout history. It was especially interesting to see how it changed with the times.

This book was a thematic historical look into 800 years of courting techniques and relationships. It goes through many topics including courting, how to propose, and even writing love letters and giving gifts to one’s lover.
As the published summary says, “A History of Courtship is an entertaining and enlightening look at seduction over the centuries”.
Right…
So when I saw this book I was so interested. I love rather obscure History and was looking forward to discovering new facts about courtship and relationships through the centuries.
But did we?
Nope…
This one is another case of a great idea, but terrible execution.
The first problem was the length. At 176 pages, this book was wayyyy too short for 800 years of courtship. I didn’t even see 800 years of anything. She mostly explored the Victorian ages and then just a bit about every time period before that. And furthermore, a lot of those 176 pages were filled with lengthy and unnecessary quotes or poems that filled pages. It was like the author was writing a college paper and didn’t feel like researching thoroughly, so she decided to bullshit and add lengthy quotes to get pages. Plus, most of the info she wrote about I knew about anyway, as did anyone who read a beginner’s European History or beginner’s Victorian Ages.
The next problem was the organization. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching and learning history in a thematic or subject based way.
But it didn’t work here.
The themes weren’t organized in any way and holy crap they were all over the place. I would have liked this better if the book were organized chronologically instead. Or if the themes were organized according to what happened in each time period. And if there was way more detail with each theme.
Lastly, I was disappointed to find that this book was only about courtship practice in Europe. I mean that’s cool and I love learning about it, but I would have LOVED to learn about courtship and romance in other cultures and countries.
Overall, a big disappointment.

The title of this book seems really promising. I was hoping this was an in-depth look at courtship over the centuries with some solid research and interesting concepts I didn't know before.

Instead what I got was a surface level look at the courting practices of the super rich in England. Specifically Regency era London. It really felt like an overview of things I've picked up on from years of reading regency romances. At a few points the vox populi are mentioned but not very often and not to tell me anything I didn't already know (like the practice of hand-fasting).

There was also an annoying tenancy of the author to insert too-long descriptions of events from Pride and Prejudice. Pretty sure the author is a fan, which is fine because, hell, I am too. But it just made the whole book feel like a fangirl wrote a book after reading a Wikipedia article on regency London.

That might be a bit harsh, but it's how I felt so I'm sticking to it. If you want a surface level look at (mostly) Regency courting rules and don't already know a lot of it this could be an ok read. For me, it was a bit of a failure.

This was an easy and fun read. It clarifies some misconceptions we have today about how love and relationships were conducted in the past. I was especially interested to note how common sense was the basis for choosing a life partner, much more so than today. Similar backgrounds and social standing aren't entirely bad ideas. I know we think opposites attract, but can they make a life together? The Victorian considerations regarding finances wasn't the "gold digger" notion that we tend to have today. It was a genuine concern and so it should be. Love don't pay the rent, as the saying goes. Recommend!

"A History of Courtship" is a survey of courtship practices--mainly from the 1300s to the 1800s in England. The author described how couples met, beauty and clothing fads, acceptable gifts, improper behavior, the role of chaperons, love poems and letters, and areas of conflict after marriage. She also looked at the differences in practices between the rich and the poor. She described some scandals and other unusual stories to illustrate various behaviors. The material came from sources like diaries, guides on things like etiquette or letter writing, and preserved love poems and letters.

Keep in mind that this book isn't meant to be an exhaustive source on courtship, and the subtitle is a bit misleading. It's not about seduction techniques, and she didn't really cover 800 years. Most of the information was from the 1500s to late 1800s. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting and entertaining book.

Starting off by titling your book “800 Years of Seduction,” you are promising the readers a great deal of information. Instead readers of this particular book are left with a series of little bits of information from a mainly European, and predominantly United Kingdom view on seduction. While there a plethora of information gleaned from other books and several different sources are given out throughout the text, there seems to be very little real flow to the book.
If the book was able to focus on any one segment of time and be able to give details, and perhaps use a bit of narrative to give readers a focus point, it would have promise. As it is, promising 800 years worth of history with only 176 pages, both leaves the reader with not enough detail and too much jumping around. This book would be suitable for a light read and I would recommend looking at some of the references that author Tania O’Donnell has written about throughout if this is a subject that intrigues you.
*This eBook was provided by NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing in exchange for honest feedback*

When I asked Tania O'Donnell's book A History of Courtship, I was really looking forward to read a good entertaining book about courtship and seduction history, about tradition and customs. But ...

All I got was superficial survey of some tradition, some book references. Then there were some information about fashion, about customs, how church has been involved in courtship, how clerks encouraged higher class men to rape common woman, how there was a time when for marring someone was not needed much more than two people to decide they wanted to be together, and how it was fairly common, that lower class brides were already pregnant when they stood at altar. Then there was some information about diseases, prostitution and life after marriage. Even the illustrations (mostly caricatures) and poetry did not make the book any better.

Unfortunately it was total flop.