TEST
Marcus Marsden, the Earl of Westcliff, has been a supporting character in several of Lisa Kleypas’ previous novels. He finally meets his match and gets his own love story in this second entry of the Wallflower series.
The nouveau-riche Bowmans, manufacturers of scents and soaps, have been unable to break into the very stuffy New York City society scene, and so have brought their daughters to England, part of the wave of rich Americans trying their hand at snagging titles for their daughters. The Bowman girls are not having much success in London either, having spent the last Season as wallflowers, though they have made good friends with some other girls while sitting on the sidelines of every ball.
Lillian Bowman is a sharp-tongued, cynical woman with a biting humor, but she is also fiercely loyal, especially to the Wallflowers. Marcus, while an exemplary man and excellent brother, can be a bit domineering, manipulative and arrogant. As these words can also be used to describe Lillian, it is inevitable that the two have clashed when they’ve met in the past. Lillian sees Marcus as a stodgy, pompous autocrat, and Marcus believes her to be a reckless, ill-bred hellion. And they’re both right. Now that they are much in each other’s company at Marcus’s house party, during which he hopes to do some business with Lillian’s father, the air practically seethes around them. Everyone but them can see that their antagonism masks a potent attraction. But will they kill each other before they admit it?
This was such a fun read, with much more humor than one expects to find in a Lisa Kleypas novel, who specializes in yummy tortured heroes and angsty relationships. Marcus has pain in his past, a demanding tyrant of a father and an uncaring mother, but he has risen above it to become a very good, if stodgy, man who doesn’t take his ill-treatment out on others. Indeed, he has become all the more caring because of it, becoming a reformist in Parliament, a loving brother to his sisters, and a good friend. Marcus has never been a slave to his passions and so it is a delight to see him wrestle with his attraction to the unsuitable Lillian and fail miserably as he can’t seem to keep from kissing her when they are alone, much as it – and she – vexes him.
Lillian is a smart, irreverent, physically active, independent woman who frequently acts before she thinks and has very little patience with the seemingly inane rules of society. She is just as befuddled as Marcus to discover when he murmurs, “I want to kiss you everywhere…”, that she would like nothing better. Kleypas does an excellent job of gradually changing their angry bickering to more of a mutual teasing, from being mean-spirited to a friendly one-upsmanship of kindred spirits. At the beginning of the book, there was no way I could envision these two being together without one of them eventually killing the other, but I ended it assured that, though their lives together would never be dull, they really are perfect for each other and would be truly happy.
Add to this enjoyable scenes of playing rounders (an early form of baseball), fun girlfriend gossip, magic perfume, a memorable dinner entrée straight out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, some hot love scenes and you’ve got a winner. So why the A-? The ending got a tad melodramatic with an out-of-left-field heroine-in-danger plot that seemed unnecessary and didn’t fit in with the rest of the story. But this is a small problem and doesn’t last long or take away from my overall enchantment with It Happened One Autumn.
Grade: A-
Book Type: European Historical Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 22/09/05
Publication Date: 2005/10
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I can’t stand Lilian m I’m sorry but…no. I like Marcus..and I love ro see more about him and how his relationship with the obnoxious Lilian develops.. .but I must say… he’s present in all the books almost taking the focus from the other characters..he and Lilian… Mnoo
I liked this book well enough but I found Lilian problematic. Some of her antics were downright immature, especially given her age. I liked Marcus a lot more than Lilian. I really wish she’d shown more growth and maturity towards the end. I also didn’t like the author using Sebastian as the bad guy at the end. It was out of character for him and it seemed convenient to drum up that conflict just to end the book. It also didn’t make it a very believable segue into the next book, because if some dude kidnaps your best friend, would you really turn to him for marriage? I mean, come on. I thought that was too convenient.
I’m a fan of the grumpy hero, and so Marcus really worked for me. I also for some weird reason really like buttoned-up and starchy men, and I enjoy the tension when this type of figure is paired with a free spirit, as Lillian is in this book. There are two scenes in this book that really stand out to me and make me want to reread this book periodically. They both show in quiet ways the decency and heroic nature of Marcus. The first is when Lillian is manhandled and forced to apologize to Marcus in front of her parents. Marcus has lots of reasons to gloat and wallow in Lillian’s submission and humiliation given the events preceding the apology, but he doesn’t. As angry and frustrated as he is with Lillian at this stage of the story, he finds it painful to see her mistreated and he comes to her rescue in just the perfect way, much to Lillian’s surprise. Love that scene!! The second highlight is when Marcus notices Lillian struggling with the cultural shock of being asked to eat items on the menu that certainly sound revolting to me as an American. I don’t think I could eat eyeballs or calf brain. He finds a way to get her out of the dining room with her dignity intact.
I also thought the scene where Lillian is tipsy and Marcus is struggling with aggravated sexual frustration to be hilarious. It’s perfectly understated in its humor. I definitely liked this book. I still like Secrets of a Summer Night more and really liked Annabelle as a more complex and unusual heroine in a romance, but this was a fine addition to the Wallflower series.
IT’S SO GOOD.
Hands down, my favorite Kleypas!