This was another fun read, I really enjoy this series (and I’ve read them in an absolutely ridiculous order 😂). 

This one is about Evie and she comes off kind of quiet, a bit demure but she really goes for what she wants. She wants to be able to go take care of her father who’s dying but her uncles that she lives with won’t let her, they’re abusive and controlling. So she hatches a plan to ask notorious rake Sebastian to marry her so she can be free to do as she pleases. I honestly feel like he was just bored and curious so he agrees. They had an interesting relationship. She gained a bit more boldness and with her he finally found things to care about (slowly falling in love with her but also managing her father’s club). Lol this man, she asked him if he’d ever thought about getting a job and he was like why the devil would I do that and then proceeded to inspect every inch of her fathers club when he walked in the door and suddenly he had ideas and things.

For the most part I did enjoy his progression. He started out not caring about anything or anyone but developed feelings throughout the book and realized feelings are okay. He did do a couple questionable things at the start like trying to initiate sex while she was sleeping just after they were married (really Sebastian) to which she did end up reciprocating but she was asleep, just cause you’re married doesn’t mean you can take liberties especially when this is a marriage of convenience and then he called her a bitch when she wouldn’t sleep with him again and I was just like well that was rude and uncalled for. But like I said throughout the book he got better.

Not my cup of tea for the romance, the other plots were interestingly driven. The delivery of the characters background story made it make sense. I didn’t read the steamy parts, but the other plots were alright. The bullard and cam dynamic was sad. Sebastian was a bum. Evie was annoying. 

Meh. So many fans of jelypas seem to love this pairing of Evie Jenner and Sebastian. I didn’t really get into their romance. I got bored with the melodramatic side stories of the casino and stalker and Evie’s friends. I don’t know if I will bother with others from The wallflowers. But at least I can return to the Ravenels and see the 1880s St Vincents. 

Solid early 2000s historical romance, complete with pretty much everything that entails — super spicy scenes, lots of "male virility," a learns-to-be-strong female character, sexist stereotypes, and random danger. Also, for some reason, Sebastian's backstory was completely left out of the book; I guess we're supposed to have read the previous books? That doesn't cut it for me, because it means his character went basically unexplored.

It was lots of fun, I must admit, and kept me turning the pages. But despite everyone saying this is Kleypas's best, I think I've learned to stick to contemporary historical fiction, thank you. It's just a bit less…sexist :)

I know this is a lot of people’s favorite Wallflowers book, but while I enjoyed it, I didn’t like it quite as much as the two before it. The story is fast-paced and fun, and I did love the characters, but it didn’t quite click for me as well as the others. It’s still a fun read.