Retro Friday (27) - Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! 

And it's finally time to finish the Wallflowers series!

At First Sight: Daisy Bowman is the last Wallflower standing, as she has seen her sister and friends find love and happiness. As the youngest, she was the last to go, but now the Wallflowers are centering their efforts in her, particularly since her father has issued an ultimatum: either Daisy finds a husband by the end of May or she'll have to marry Mathew Swift.

Having known Mathew in New York, Daisy is sure he's the last man she could ever marry, as Mathew is her father's protegee in Bowman Enterprises and is widely renown as a cold sort who isn't very handsome or charming.

At least, that's the Mathew Swift Daisy remembers. The man he meets when her father ask Mathew to come to Hampshire is completely different. Mathew has grown into his looks and his accomplishments at work have made him confident; charm has harder but he also worked to get that. But there is one thing that never changed... the fact that Mathew has been in love with Daisy since he met her, almost ten years ago.

But knowing that the secrets of his past could destroy him any moment, and take her with him, Mathew had always avoided pursing Daisy, even with her father's scheme to get them married. He's determined to stay out of it, and he's fully prepared to let Daisy go. But, by then, Daisy has other plans once she realizes that all the things she ever wanted in a man... might be in-bodied in the least likely one.

Second Glance: Scandal in Spring is one of my favorite Wallflower books, because Daisy is my favorite wallflower. I have always loved how she embodies both the whimsical and the pragmatical. She's a romantic but she also has her feet on the ground.

And Mathew also holds a special place in my heart. I love how dependable he is and the fact he has so many feelings for Daisy but doesn't know what to do about them as he thinks they don't have a future together. I think a lot of people don't give him a fair chance since in the previous book it was sort of hinted Daisy would end up with Cam Rohan, who later went to find his HEA in Mine Midnight; and people sort of got attached to that idea.

I also loved seeing the other wallflowers and husbands around. I have to say I didn't like Lillian -again - for a large part of this book, but she does come around eventually.

Also, I love Westcliff, I believe he's the character that has hopped through the most books in the Lisa Kleypas universe and I always love how honorable a man he is.

Bottom Line: Scandal in Spring is one of my favorite comfort reads ever, though I'll admit the ending is a bit rushing, I still like it for the end of this lovely series.

Favorite Quote: There are so many scenes in this book that I love - like when Mathew comforts Anabelle's daughter when the poor baby is crying 'cause she's teething or when Daisy realizes he carries something of hers in his pocket all the time. And the lawn bowling scene - Not as good as Bridgerton Pall Mall but close!!!

But anyway, if I must pick a quote...

"She was the most provoking, beguiling woman he had ever met. Thunderstorms and rainbows wrapped together in a convenient pocket-sized parcel." - Mathew about Daisy

PS - I tried to listen to the Audio book of Scandal in Spring - as I listened to the audio books of the previous 3 books - but I didn't get very far into it. The narrator was very inconsistent with the voices, which made it very hard to follow as basically all the women sounded the same as did all the men.

Retro Friday (26) - Devil In Winter by Lisa Kleypas

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! 

For this week I'm continuing with The Wallflower Series by Lisa Kleypas, and tacking the third book Devil in Winter

At First Sight:
Desperate times call for desperate measures and Evie Jenner is desperate. Her father is at death's door and her mother's family is plotting to take everything Evie stands to inherit and then dispose of her.

But Evie is about done taking the abuse of her mother's family and runs off to Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent - a notorious rake who just a few days before tried to kidnap Evie's friend Lillian (now the Countess of Westcliff) - with a shocking proposition.

If he marries her, she'll hand over her dowry, and sleep with him once to make the marriage valid; and require nothing more from him than to return her to her father's gambling club once the deed is done.

St. Vincent needs the money - hence the attempted kidnapping - and Evie does have a lot of money, so even if his ambition wasn't to marry a Wallflower, he agrees and they set off for Scotland.

But things don't go as planned, as they get to travel to Scotland and back, and become rather attached to each other, even if they are still learning to trust one another. 

Second Glance: Evie is one of my favorite Wallflowers, she has a type of vulnerability that I find very endearing while she never comes across as whinny or annoying - even if she does jump to conclusions once or twice where Sebastian is concerned.

Sebastian is a villain that redeems himself, he did something very foolish in the previous story and betrayed his best friend, but he eventually realizes he made a stupid mistake. Learning his story and watching him fall in love is awesome to see each and every time.

I love Evie and Sebastian together and I love them apart, and how they become each other's family. As always, I love the Wallflower's friendship, but I also loved seeing - in this book in particular - a bit of the male friendships, too.

Bottom Line: Devil in Winter is one of those romances that often get voted as fan favorites, and I do think it's worthy of that praise. It has good characters - both old (the other wallflowers and their husbands) and new (like Cam Rohan) - and I love that it's set in a gambling club, it brings back good memories from Dreaming of You.

1/2

Retro Friday (23) - It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! 

I've slowly been making my way through re-reading The Wallflowers series, and this week I'm going tot talk about book two, It Happened One Autumn. 

At First Sight: Ever since they met, Lillian Bowman and Marcus, Lord Westcliff have been at odds with each other. Lillian sees Marcus as an stuff aristocrat who doesn't like her; and Marcus sees Lillian as an abrasive girl with no sense of propriety.

But, one of his best friends just married one of her best friends and he really wants to get his hands on her father's company, so they have to spend nearly a month together in Hampshire in the house party Marcus is hosting. And, as every romance reader knows, something always happens at house parties!

When a chance encounter makes Lillian and Marcus realize something about each other  - that they are overwhelmingly attracted to each other - things get complicated because that's the last thing they want to admit.

But with the help of a little magic perfume and the prodding of family and friends, these two are in way over their heads.

Second Glance:  I think this is a lovely addition to the wallflower series but it's also kind of my least favorite book of the series. While I adore Marcus as a hero, Lillian is my least favorite Wallflower. She's very stubborn and there is this scene near the beginning of the book that always pisses me off because it shows that Lillian sometimes is stubborn for the sake of being stubborn, which is kind of dumb to me.

She does grow on me as the book goes on, and I do see that she is what Marcus needs in his life. And, like I said, I like the book, it just isn't a favorite.

The wallflowers continue to be awesome - I seriously love the friendship aspect of these books - and Lord St. Vincent is also introduced (for a while there there is a tiny little love triangle, but not really).

Bottom Line: It Happened One Autumn is a very nice historical romance, I just have some issues with Lillian but its a story full of romance and friendship and humor.

Favorite Quote: "...what’s the harm in allowing for the possibility? I refuse to believe that we’re going to go through life without something magical happening" - Daisy
1/2

A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas

It's Christmas time and the Wallflowers attack again!

First we met the Wallflowers Anabelle, Lillian, Evie and Daisy in their respective books (Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, Devil in Winter and Scandal in Spring), which are adorable books about four friends who help each other navigate London's society and find husbands and happiness.

On this novella we met Rafe Bowman, Lillian and Daisy's oldest brother, who comes to England to court and marry Lady Natalie, a girl picked out by his father. Rafe is neither for or against the marriage but he's willing to go through it to gain joint proprietorship of his father's company European branch. In an effort to help him with the courtship, Lillian, Daisy and Anabelle, invite Hannah - Lady Natalie's cousin and companion - to tea, so they can pump her for information on Lady Natalie and how Rafe can woo her.

Well, things don't go as expected, mostly because the moment Hannah and Rafe met, sparks fly!

It's a wonderful, happy book. It doesn't mean everything runs smoothly, Hannah and Rafe do have obstacles to overcome but there is an enchanted feel about the book, maybe because it happens around Christmas and it seems like everything is possible.

I loved the novella, loved revisiting the original wallflowers and seeing that they are still friends and are still up to their old schemes! all in the name of love!

I just hope one day we get to meet the Bowman twins Ransom and Rhys, because if they are anything like Rafe, we are in for something good!

Grade: