So here in the heart of summer, I decided to dive into Mrs. Julien’s Shameful Tally, starting with her “Classics” and “Favorites” sections. I’m familiar, of course, with Courtney Milan — if a little behind in reading because I keep trying to “save” them for the perfect day — but I’ve been growing more interested in historicals and Mrs. J’s streamlined list of favorite titles and authors is exactly what I need to jump in. (How easy it is to piggyback on the work of others!)
Two of the four books in Lisa Kleypas’ “Wallflowers” series were particularly recommended: Secrets of a Summer’s Night (#1) and Devil in Winter (#3). Now, I started with the latter — it came up more quickly on my library queue. Having read both, I would have preferred to do the two more in order. Although they’re both standalone stories, the more thorough introduction of the individual Wallflower ladies and character building in the first book made the payoff for Evie retroactively better in the third.
It goes like this: Secrets of a Summer’s Night introduces us to a group of women who for various reasons aren’t considered to be the most marriage-able young ladies in society. Annabelle Peyton, the lead of this book, is strikingly beautiful, but her family’s former wealth has been dashed, leaving her without a dowry. The majority of the peerage, then, would rather wait to keep her as a salaried mistress than marry her. Despite her financial situation, Annabelle retains a bit of upper-class snobbery. She is only interested in marrying the nobility, though she understands she can’t be especially choosy about whom. Within the context of this novel, there are two eligible men of the nobility; however, one of them already dislikes her and she’ll have fierce competition for the affections of the other. Enter Simon Hunt, a shrewd businessman and financial savant. He’s not titled, so that makes him middle class, despite being vastly more wealthy than most of the peerage. Tying his lack of title and gentility to his more forward courtship and finding all subpar, Annabelle spurns his advances time after time… until, eventually, she doesn’t.
The heroine of Devil in Winter, Evangeline Jenner, is wealthy but middle-class. Even worse, she suffers from social anxiety: with a seemingly absent personality and a stammer, she’s not managed to charm anyone. On the other end of the spectrum, Evie finds herself unaided by her wealth. Compounding, and in fact probably fueling, her social timidity is her awful extended family who are responsible for her. With the threat of them marrying her to her awful-in-so-many-ways cousin, Evie more than ever needs to find a husband she prefers, and ideally one suitably titled so has to subdue her family. Enter the rakiest rake who ever raked, Lord Sebastian St. Vincent (that name!) He’s titled, obviously, but his father before him has squandered the family wealth, so St. Vincent could really use a wife with a substantial dowry and fortune. Evie proposes a marriage of convenience between the two, and after a quick trip to Vegas Gretna Green, they’re married! But it’s not a love match. YET.
These were both well-written, clever, funny, and above all romantic, novels. Devil in Winter‘s rake/innocent pairing is a classic example of the trope, and though it requires a bit more willing suspension of disbelief, the romantic payoff may be a bit higher for some than that of Secrets of a Summer’s Night. After all, you already know Secrets Simon Hunt is interested, but to be able to fall in love with the rogueish Sebastian St. Vincent at the same time he’s falling in love? That’s quite the fantasy, no? That said, I may have still preferred Secrets on the whole. The romance between the two wasn’t quite as superlative as Evie and Sebastian’s, but Annabelle and Simon still had a plethora of swoon-worthy moments (including one in the first scene!) and I clicked more with the subplots and backdrop of the story. All together, a generous hat tip to Mrs. Julien and much thanks for the recommendations! After I catch up with Milan — I can’t stand waiting anymore! — I’m definitely trying more Kleypas.
Malin and Mrs. Julien both have very good reviews of Lisa Kleypas’ work. I bring this up because she is one of those authors who is very, very good, but doesn’t always live up to her own standards. I have a soft spot for It Happened One Autumn if you haven’t read that one yet.
I liked the Bowmans a lot in the two I read here, so I’m definitely planning on reading their stories. I just have a few reviews to catch up on so I figured I’d throw up these two!
re: Kleypas in general, I’m going to follow both Malin and Mrs. Julien’s recommendations for “Dreaming of You” and the Hathaways series, but beyond that her catalog is so vast that I’m not sure how to pick out which ones might fall into my particular interest niche.
“Enter the rakiest rake who ever raked”. HA!
Malin and I actually refer to “Sebastians” as a type based on this name. He’s the ultimate example of the character. “Oh, this book has a Sebastian. That’s a lot of pressure.”
I did not like the hero of It Happened One Autumn, but I understand many people, such as Emmalita, do. Simon, however, is one of my all time favourite heroes: tall, dark and sardonic. I am so in. Kleypas specializes in self-made me which I really like.
This review has a full Kleypas recommendations summary:
http://mrsjulien.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/the-hathaways-mine-till-midnight-seduce-me-at-sunrise-tempt-me-at-twilight-married-by-morning-love-in-the-afternoon-by-lisa-kleypas/
Kleypas announced on Facebook that she will be re-entering the historical romance fray. While not as thematically interesting as some other writers (and, yes, I overthink this stuff to identify consistent themes in their work), Kleypas gives world class smolder, doesn’t she?
Thank you for the shout outs and for letting me know people are using my lists. I get all organizational-zeally, but never really know if it serves any purpose.
Ah! Thank you for the link; it’s perfect! Exactly what I need.
I totally agree about Simon. Many heroes I love, but I love them exactly where they are in time and place. Simon, I had a good mind to pluck him right out of the book and drop him in my lap. I didn’t mention this in my review, but I liked that Kleypas didn’t end the book right at the marriage and actually explored a bit how the two really needed to actually get to know each other beyond the swoon! There was one issue that was, IIRC, still left unresolved — Annabelle makes a comment about how she doesn’t fit in anywhere, either with the peerage or with Simon’s “people,” and it hurt him. Though she does demonstrate her love for him in other ways following that, that particular conflict was never really visited again and I so wanted it to be! On the other hand, in retrospect, I appreciated that it was left untouched, because it further added to the theme of that love and relationship taking time to really flourish.
I guess I just really went on a spiel there, didn’t I?
That bit about getting to know each other was EXACTLY what I said in my review. Great minds.
Doesn’t she tell him (ya, like I haven’t read the book a bajillion times and know for sure) that she knows where she belongs and it is with him and that is why she decided to stay with him in the foundry rather than spend a lifetime without him?
Man, that does sound cheesy when you type it out like that.
Ooh I must have missed that! Thanks for relieving me of my stress for these fictional characters :)
Mrs. Julien is right. There is a lot of pressure if you name your historical romance hero Sebastian. I love St. Vincent. He is indeed “the rakiest rake that ever raked”.
Between Mrs. Julien’s blog and my top 100 romances (which you can find if you search my blog) you should be all set for romance for the foreseeable future.
I go back to your list all the time.
I have your list bookmarked, Malin! I am indeed all set.