When two of your top romance series are tied together and the hero is your favorite supporting character from one of them- le sigh. This book was great in and of itself- the writing sparkled, the characters had depth, the setting was lovely, and the plot was convincing. Highly recommended for romance readers, who will enjoy it a LOT more if they read all the previous books from both the Wallflowers and Ravenel series first.

The title of this book should be changed to "The Romance of Farming." You'll probably enjoy this book if you have an interest in farming. The hero basically romances the heroine through fun farming conversations about bat shit and washing sheep. Even the hero's interactions with the heroine's children are all about farming! Not my scene, sorry. To be honest, I only liked the scenes with the original wallflowers and their children, excluding Gabriel and Phoebe. Most of the Sebastian scenes were good, except for that one scene where he called a dead man who had a chronic illness "tepid." YIKES. What an asshole thing say.

West and Phoebe's romance is blander than unseasoned chicken. There is no real conflict, except for West's wimpiness and cowardice. Practically nothing happens in this book — it is pure fluff with zero substance. I don't mind books with no plot or books that are just fluff, but at the very least, I need interesting characters so I'm motivated to continue reading. I love low key romances set in the countryside, but the protagonists here are way too drab and uninteresting. Neither the hero nor the heroine feel compelled to chase each other. Lisa Kleypas heroes ALWAYS chase their heroines. ALWAYS. Even Kev ended up chasing Win!! For that alone, I REFUSE to consider West a Lisa Kleypas hero. Both hero and heroine give up so easily and if it wasn't for Sebastian taking the spotlight and meddling, then they wouldn't have bothered finding their way to each other. In fact, we are 60% into the book when the heroine is actually kissing another man and contemplating marriage to him. At 90% into the book, Phoebe has already slept with West and finally decides she doesn't want to marry that other man. NEVERTHELESS...she allows that other man to kiss her. She doesn't even push him off. She just sits there and lets him kiss her. Sorry, that's not what I like in my romance novels.

Contrary to popular opinion, I will argue that West's character arc is weak and unconvincing. To begin with, we see the beginning of his arc in Cold Hearted Rake, where he was a dissolute rake with an alcohol addiction. Then, West completely disappears from the series, only to come back in Hello Stranger to deliver his Hamlet-like monologue about how much farming has changed him. That's telling, not showing. We never actually see that transition from rake to farmer (compare this to the way LK wrote Leo's redemption arc). Then, we see the end of West's arc in this book, which I think was regressed because of Sebastian's infamous interference.

There is so much more that could have been done with West, whose complex backstory is completely glossed over. Sebastian's meddling in the end completely regresses West's character development; instead of West realizing by himself that he can overcome his demons and be a good husband and father, Sebastian just pushes him into Phoebe's arms. West undoubtedly changed, but a big chunk of his progress is missing from the series and his character arc just goes downhill in this book. Do Sebastian and West think that marriage is the automatic solution for West's feelings of inadequacy? Does West think that his trust issues stemming from his abuse as a child have completely vanished just because he allowed Phoebe to shave him? Where is the character growth and self realization? West doesn't even get to take down the villain because Sebastian, once again, steals the spotlight! And don't even get me started on the ridiculously out of character "villain" who only shows up because the story needs a climax. Give me a break. I can't believe Kleypas wrote this weak of a book. The premise of this book and its overall execution just felt like Kleypas took the easy way out with this couple by connecting them via farming. And instead of completing West's character arc with a flourish, Kleypas makes Sebastian the hero of the story. Utterly nonsensical and ridiculous. I'm so deeply disappointed.

Musings:
Since I was bored out of my mind reading this book, a couple of things came to mind. With West's tendency to joke around and his history of debauchery and alcohol abuse, he came across as a cheap knockoff of Leo Hathaway. This also made me think about how Helen is basically a less vibrant version of Win Hathaway. And after reading the synopsis for Chasing Cassandra, I'm beginning to fear that Severin and Cassandra will be cheap knockoffs of Harry and Poppy. I'm forced to conclude that Kleypas is lacking in imagination and simply recycling her characters. Maybe she needs to create a brand new world instead of building an empire of next generation wallflowers. I really hope the final book of this series proves me wrong.

P.S. I can't believe this is even worse than Devil in Spring! Wow!

P.P.S. If you want to read a good romance novel that does farming right and has a stellar redemption arc for the rakish and alcoholic hero, check out The Devil is a Marquess by Elisa Braden.

I ADORE West. He's the best.

I wondered why no one ever pointed out that men with rakish pasts can overcome it, given that her father was just such a man. Duh.

Anyway, very good, liked it a lot, yada yada...

4.5 stars

Kleypas’ writing gets better and better. This was great and West made me fan myself a couple of times.

My favorite out of the series so far!! I loved how Phoebe pursued West. Loved West’s interaction with Phoebes children.

I love Lisa Kleypas’s writing and her historical are always such a treat to read. She’s my favourite historical author (actually just favourite in general as well). She just somehow makes it all work, from gamblers to lady doctors. This is a book I had been eagerly waiting for. West was introduced in the first book of the Ravenel series while Phoebe introduced in Devil in Spring (The Ravenels #3) is the daughter of one of all time favourite couple Evie and Sebastian from Devil in Winter (Wallflowers) and from the moment we got a little sneak peek last year about Phoebe disliking West, I know this one would be a fun one to read.

Lady Clare, Phoebe has been through quite a bit. She’s a pretty head strong lady (as expected with her being Evie and Sebastian’s daughter) and she knew from a young age of who she wanted and that was her late husband Henry. Now a widow with two kids, she’s a great mom but the mourning period has ended and she’s struggling with being around people again.

West Ravenel once a drunkard and scoundrel, now he helps manages his brother's estate and does an amazing job at that. He really had changed over the course of the series. We get to see him become a hero, someone who’s worth something in his own right even though it takes him a long time to realise that.

“I don’t deserve her,” he mumbled, without intending to. 
“Of course you don’t. Neither do I deserve my wife. It’s an unfair fact of life that the worst men end up with the best women.” ~West and Sebastian. 

I was already invested in these characters from before, and you know some of their history so seeing them get their happy ending was immensely satisfying.

They made such a great pair, though the started off the wrong foot. I was a bit worried at the start because Phoebe was being a bit too judgmental and I was slightly panicking of not liking her as I usually love Lisa’s Heroines. Fear not, It was all sorted pretty early on and I loved her too. Though of course it was understandable, West had been the enemy of her husband during their years at boarding school and really hurt him which in turn hurt Phoebe. You get see that transition of her going from this man really hurt someone I love, I would rather not be in his presence to seeing him as he is now, forgiving him and falling in love with him.

How surprising life was. Once she would never have considered this man for herself. And now it would be impossible to consider anyone else. ~Pheobe, Lady Clare. 

You also get their own individual journeys in a sense, they become stronger people especially Phoebe, who felt lost and unsure of herself (understandably) because of her husband’s passing whom she loved at the start of this book.

West is, well a wonderful hero and I loved the fact that Phoebe didn’t give up on him because he really didn’t really feel he deserved to be with Phoebe, who was a good woman and had children that he didn’t want to taint their futures with his past mistakes.



They just end up really falling for each other, knowing it might end well for them. I really loved both of them (I just keep repeating that but its true!!!!). West just doesn’t see himself like other people in his family do or how Phoebe or even Sebastian sees him. I loved seeing him with Pheobe’s children and making the lot of them smile and have fun.

I loved their connection with the book, Stephen Armstrong: Treasure Hunter. The scenes with the cat, Galoshes and Pheobe’s sons. And of course West scene’s with Sebastian. Special mention to all the scenes of them during the time West was at the Clare estate!

I’m nitpicking here because this such a great book but lack of epilogue made me sad, I wanted to see a little preview of their future together, it just felt like an abrupt ending.

I loved getting the little sneak peeks to the other wallflowers children and their lives in the future. We also get a bit of Evie and Sebastian and ugh I still love them so much!!! I ended up rereading their book because sigh they are just amazing. Now I’m reallyyyyyy looking forward to Cassandra’s book but I also don’t want this series to end!!! :(

This book pretty much has it all, an amazing heroine, a swoon worthy hero, humour and sweetness and a dash of angst to make it a treat for any historical fans out there!



*quotes from ARC version.

I was gonna work on this collage to make it better but alas....
Review on Blog
ARC was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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I simply loved this book. I read it in one sitting. Phoebe is a young widow with two young sons. Her husband was always sickly so this is not an unexpected situation she finds herself. They were friends from childhood and always planned to marry. West in a recovered bad boy. He was cruel to Phoebe's husband as a youngster in boarding school. When she meets him at her brother's wedding she wants to hate the man for her husbands sake. When she finds herself drawn to this daringly handsome man she feels torn. The more time they spend together the greater their attraction grows. I loved how he interacted with her children. That was when I fist started to really love his character. Phoebe is a strong female who wants to actively take part in the farm that is her son's future. In that time period women were not treated as intelligent, but she makes her demands known. I could not help but want these two to fall in love. Great read!