Joseph Tierney, a naturalist commissioned by the Royal Society, stumbles upon the perfect assistant: an eager lad who knows the lay of the landscape and his flora from his fauna. But Joseph finds their fruitful partnership compromised when this so-called Arthur Baddely turns out to be one Miss Alice Hapgood, daughter of the neighboring squire.

The anticipated follow-up to THE NATURALIST, a Regency romance described by Austenprose.com as "a literary feast for any Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer fan...If you read one Traditional Regency this year let it be The Naturalist." Book One of the series The Hapgoods of Bramleigh, THE NATURALIST was also a finalist for Best Romance in the 2013 PNWA Literary Contest. In Book Two of the series, A VERY PLAIN YOUNG MAN takes up the story of Elfrida, the most beautiful of the Hapgood sisters, as well as the most practical. If she must marry eventually, she intends to choose a husband not with her eyes, nor even with her heart, but with her common sense. He must be respectable and steady—not given to gambling or wenching or idling like her scapegrace uncles. So naturally, Frederick Tierney, the rakish brother of her new brother-in-law, will never do. Not only is his chequered past not entirely in the past, but he is too handsome for his own good and takes delight in unsettling her. But when another offer comes her way which meets all of her supposed requirements, Elfrida finds choosing duty over desire not as simple as she imagined.

Hugh Hapgood, cousin to Squire Richard Hapgood of Bramleigh, finds himself alone after the death of his first wife and scrambling to care for his three motherless children. He must see to their care and education, and yet he feels he hardly knows them. Those around him believe he should choose a second wife to assist him with the burdens of life, and, it seems, nearly everyone has just the person in mind for him! But will the fates allow Hugh to have the woman his own heart chooses?

With her two older sisters married, managing family affairs has fallen to capable Miss Margaret Hapgood, leaving little time for thoughts of marriage. But a trip to Bath to find her uncle a wealthy bride throws her in the path of a handsome recuperating soldier, who is equally determined to keep his mother’s fortune out of grasping hands.

Scandal makes its own rules... Harriet Hapgood has always delighted in arranging the lives of others, while generally doing as she pleased. And after having thwarted her cousin Caroline’s engagement the previous summer, what better way to pass a dull winter than in helping Caroline to a new husband? Her cousin sets her sights on the glittering Mr. St. John Rotherwood, so Hetty cheerfully puts her shoulder to the matchmaking wheel. St. John Rotherwood didn’t always glitter. A magnificent inheritance has catapulted the erstwhile impoverished Oxford mathematics tutor to the top of London society, where he finds himself eagerly pursued as a matrimonial prize. This apotheosis has not been an unqualified blessing, however. The attention is wearisome, and his formerly humble mother has been transformed by ambition. Is it nostalgia for his university days that draws St. John to Miss Hapgood, sister of his former pupil? Hetty feels the lure of the season’s most eligible bachelor, but when an evening’s lark leads to scandal, she discovers society has laws as rigorous as any found in mathematics. She could let Mr. Rotherwood rescue her, but if the world breaks her will, will it also break her heart?