Secrets of a Summer Night (The Wallflowers Book 1)

This is the one that starts off this entire series. It follows Annabelle; she’s beautiful and sweet. Any member of the ton should jump at the chance to snag her up. Yet, somehow, she’s a wallflower. The reason? She’s very poor.So poor her family can hardly make it through the season. She’s so desperate to save her family and get a good match, she’s willing to forgo love as long as has future husband is a peer.She ends up forming a friendship with the rest of the wallflowers, agreeing to get themselves married.Enter, Simon Hunt. A self-made man so rich it’s not funny. He has no title and Annabelle detests him. Only once she gets to know him… she decides maybe he’s not so bad after all.I love Annabelle and Simon and all the wallflowers! The romance in this is sweet and watching Annabelle fall for Simon is amazing.I also have to praise the female friendships in here. It’s heartwarming to see how close they become and how much they want to help each other. It’s so rare not to see anyone trying to tear someone else down to make themselves look better. A really great read!

I’ve never read Kleypas before. I can say I’ve fallen for her writing and the wallflower girls. I’ll be reading more

This is much more clever than your average romance. The characters are rich and lively, and it is a very easy and fun read. I picked this up in between a couple of more serious books to lighten my mood.

I read the reviews which prompted me to buy this book. It was so strange I never even heard of this author before. I saw an ad for another book by this author on my kindle that was on sale bought the book but didn’t hold my interest past the first sentence ,so me, ( always looking for new historical romances) looked for another book by this author. I’m so glad I did. All the reviews kept comparing all the authors book’s to the Wallflower series. So I checked it out and I’m so glad I did. This has to be listed as one of my favorite books,( only 2nd to ” Whitney my love ” by Judith Mcnaught .) I absolutely fell in love with these characters. Annabelle was an excellent leading lady and so relatable. I love how comfortable she was in her own skin, knowing her best qualities and humbling herself when she realized she didn’t know everything. Simon knew who Anabell was and accepted her as she was. He also was a very powerful leading man an very complex, I found myself very intrigued by him just as much as Anabell was . I found myself being drawn in more and more watching what Anabell’s mother went through to keep her family a float and then when the characters finally do marry watching Anabella struggle to find her way in her new world and still long for the comfort of her old world. These two characters were just raw and real and u couldn’t help but love them and fall in love with them as they fell in love with each other. I like how they didn’t just know they loved each other as so many other romance novels you read where the characters fall in love way to quickly . With Anabella and Simon they were just drawn to one another and when they fell in love you feel as if your falling in love as well. I literally couldn’t put this book down, I didn’t want to sleep or eat because it was a distraction from this book. I gave this book five stars because of an excellent storyline and characters I absolutely fell in love with. I LOVED the two days it took me to read this book because I got to see the world through Anabell’s eyes. I laughed and I cried I love this book and I can’t wait to read the next part of the Wallflower series. I could say more but it would take me all day I will just say if you like historical romances this is a must read!

I just completed reading the entire Wallflowers series of books. As a whole I give the collection 5 stars. I enjoyed a couple books more than others, but considering the entire work, the story of the Wallflowers flowed wonderfully from book to book.I decided to review all the books together as one unit in case the reader would like to see how the Wallflowers’ stories interweave and would like to read them in order. I began out of order by reading the third book first and wish I hadn’t done it that way. It kind of took some of the surprise out of the first two books for me.The Wallflowers is a group of four young women who, for various reasons, seem to be unable to attract the interest of gentlemen to dance with them at balls or ask for their hand in marriage. For a couple seasons they had ignored each other and sat alone on the sides watching and wishing. One day they break their silence and a wonderful friendship begins. They plot and plan and decide as a group they can hatch plans to get each other wed. Each Wallflower has her own book.Book 1–Secrets of a Summer Night was about Annabelle and Simon. Annabelle’s family was destitute and facing the possibility of being turned into a life of servitude if Annabelle didn’t marry well. She was in her last season of husband hunting because she was just getting too old to attempt another. She was desperate to marry a well off member of the peerage in order to rescue her family. Annabelle and the other Wallflowers came up with a scheme to compromise and trap a young Lord into marriage. However, Annabelle wasn’t counting on the attraction she felt for Simon Hunt, a common businessman who happened to be wealthy beyond measure. Hunt seemed to find amusement as he watched Annabelle fumble and regroup time and time again. He was willing to bide his time until Annabelle would willingly go to him to become his mistress. Will Annabelle get her Lord, or will she end up defeated? Read this book to find out.Watching the cat and mouse game played out between Simon and Annabelle was rather enjoyable. The scene in the book at the railroad facility was very emotional. Overall I felt this book was well written. The hero of the next book is featured quite nicely in this story without overshadowing the focus of the main characters. I’m adding it to my keeper pile and feel I would enjoy rereading it somewhere down the road.Book 2–It Happened One Autumn is the story of Lillian–a very outspoken American debutante whose family became wealthy in the soap manufacturing business–and Lord Westcliff. Westcliff was one of the oldest and richest earldoms in England. Marcus, Lord Westcliff, shouldn’t be attracted to Lillian due to her bawdy American ways making her entirely unsuitable for a wife, but he couldn’t help the pull of attraction. The more Lillian did to earn his stern disapproval the more Marcus found himself being unable to resist. What happens when this stubborn stern man meets the highly opinionated and free spirited Lillian? Explosive chemistry and heat overtakes them both. This story shows how opposites truly do attract and make fine bedfellows, that is, if they can get past Westcliff’s mother who vehemently disapproves of Lillian.The reader is introduced to the hero of the third book in this story–St. Vincent. St. Vincent is quite the charmer and tries to woo Lillian away from Westcliff. The reader finds out that St. Vincent is in desperate need of a wealthy heiress. Luckily for him his scruples don’t mind if the heiress is American or not. Although he and Marcus are long time friends, St. Vincent does something fiendishly awful toward the end of this book. I really enjoyed his character even though he was the bad guy.Book 3–The Devil in Winter is about Evie and St. Vincent. The book opens with the shy stammering Evie making St. Vincent an offer he can’t refuse. The book begins with a hasty marriage between the two, and we get to watch as St. Vincent begins his journey from cad to reformed rake. St. Vincent has many past hurts from his childhood. He had an uncaring father, and every woman who was important in his life was taken from him by death. He builds walls up around his heart and wears a mask of aloofness and won’t let anyone get too close. Well he wasn’t prepared for the force of nature that is our Evie. Can she penetrate his shell and melt his heart? You definitely need to read this book to find out. This is the book I began the series with. It kind of spoiled It Happened One Autumn for me since the end of the book was told in the beginning of this one. If you intend to read the entire series I would recommend with book 1 and following the series in order.Finally, book 4–Scandal in Spring is the story of Daisy–the youngest of the Wallflowers and Lillian’s sister–and Matthew. Daisy’s father, Mr. Bowman, is tired of the money he poured into the husband hunt not paying off. He gives Daisy an ultimatum of either finding a husband by the end of the season or he will force her to marry Matthew whom her father adores. Daisy, of course, cannot stand Matthew. She sees him as the usurper of her father’s affections. Mr. Bowman has always been focused on his business and did not have time to show his family attention or love.Daisy was unprepared for the drastic changes in Matthew. She can’t seem to help the elemental pull she feels toward him when she sees him again. However, Matthew tells Daisy there is no way he would ever consider marrying her. Not one to give up on a challenge, Daisy finds a way into Matthew’s heart.This book has a rather big scandal in it. The reader is informed Matthew has a huge secret looming over his past and this is the reason he has never allowed himself to act on his feelings toward Daisy. The unfurling of the scandal was nicely written. I truly did not see it coming, but enjoyed it a great deal. I felt Matthew was forgiven a bit too easily though and felt it was unlikely everyone would believe his story immediately. That just wasn’t too realistic. However, I did enjoy the book a great deal.So, while I did enjoy the entire series I rank my favorites in this order . . .The Devil in Winter–5 stars all the waySecrets of a Summer Night–5 starsIt Happened One Autumn–4 starsScandal in Spring–3.5 starsI plan on putting all four books on my keeper shelf.