Title: A Wallflower Christmas
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Publishing Date: October 2008
Genre: Historical
Rating: C
Sensuality: Warm
Rafe Bowman is the son of a very wealthy American man, who as aspirations of seeing his son wed to a woman of the British Aristocracy. He stipulates that in order for Rafe to inherit, he needs to marry Natalie Blandford. At first Rafe doesn’t really care who he marries, so he might as well please his father. But while visiting his sister in England, he meets Natalie’s companion Hannah and finds himself unexpectedly attracted to her. Now he is torn between choosing between true love or his inheritance.
For me this book is too short weighing in at only 200 pages. It is also a hardback, therefore doubling the price of the book. As far as Rafe and Hannah’s romance is concerned, it was just okay. There wasn’t anything spectacular about it. It wasn’t bad per say, just ordinary. I liked Hannah a lot. She was a great character, and I wouldn’t have minded getting to know her better. Rafe, on the other hand came across a little heavy handed with Hannah. He seemed a little too pushy in the short span of time that he knew Hannah.
Rafe is the brother of Lillian and Daisy Bowman who readers met in It Happened One Autumn and Scandal in Spring. Fans of the Wallflower series will have fun revisiting with the characters from that series. Lillian, Daisy, Evie and Annabelle, along with their respective husbands all make an appearance in this book. That aspect of the book was the best part.
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16 comments:
This is a hardback? And only 200pp? Wow. Thanks for the review. I have sort of been wanting this. I think I am enticed by the lovely colors, and all the wallflower fuss. But maybe I should consider a different Wallflower offering!!
Hey Carolyn! Yes, it is hardback and I think it costs 16.95 (at full price). I am sure if you hit a sale you can get it cheaper. I checked it out from my library :)
You should read the books in order. You don't have too, but all the girls appear in all the books so I think you will like it better that way. The first book in the series is Secrets of a Summer Night. I recommend starting with that one. Hope that helps!
I'm with CJ 200pp and hc? Wow. I haven't read any of the Wallflowers - I really need to get on that! :) Good review.
I think A Wallflower Christmas should have been in anthology but because the publisher knew Lisa's fans would buy it, they made it a stand alone.
I loved the first time Rafe and Hannah kissed. So steamy!
This was honestly, one of the sweetest romance novels I read this year. I loved it.
Hi Jill D! I've been staring at this book since it came out at work. I'm thinking I'm going to wait to get it until it until it comes out in paperback though.
I know this may be surprising coming from me - but this one doesn't really appeal to me. First off, this may sound Scrooge like, but I've never been into Christmas type stories. Second, just from the title, it sounds like a lot of time is spent with all the characters and I would much rather have them in the background. I can't ever remember being meh about a Lisa Kleypas book before.
Tracy, The wallflower series is a good one. You definitely should read them. It seems I need to do a Wallflower series post!
Katie, Hmmm, an anthology... I don't know if that would have worked. For me personnally, I liked the extra time spent with the Wallflowers and those parts might have been cut out for an anthology.
Ana, I remember a comment a while back when you stated something about Rafe's toy soldier and I have to admit I am in total agreement with you on that scene in particular. It was very sweet and touching. But the book was far to short for my tastes.
Samantha, I don't know how you could wait that long. See if your library has a copy you can get your hands on :)
Kristie, I have to admit that I am not really one for Christmas stories either. But I will say that for me the appeal of this book was revisiting with the wallflowers. I most especially loved the scenes between Lillian and Marcus. I don't want to give anything away, but Lillian has some doubts that are normal in any relationship and I found it refreshing. Sometimes when reading about past characters everything comes across as one big epilogue and that is not the case with this book. There was new material that I found refreshing.
Nice review Jill. I was debating whether to buy this book or not and so, I skimmed through it when I had time at the bookstore... Meh... didn't sound that good, so I didn't buy it... and I'm glad. I liked Annabelle and Evie's books in the series, but the Bowan, I could do without them.
Hey, was Fallen good? I'm thinking of buying it, but I'm not sure yet.
Hey Nath, I think that you would enjoy Fallen. It is very good. I will post my review soon.
Yay! We get to see Annabelle and Simon again? They pretty much dropped off the radar, and they were actually my favorite of the Wallflowers...
I enjoyed this for what it was... a little piece of fluff for Christmas. A way to peek back into the lives of the Wallflowers.
But I, too, am glad that I checked it out of the library, cause I never would have paif for the HC! I'm not even sure I would have paid for the MM.
Thanks Jill!
Thanks for the review. Like you I'm getting this from the library ~ just can't justify paying hc prices for such a short book.
I've been eyeing Fallen in the bookstore, I pick up, put it back down, lol ~ can't wait to read your review!
Kate, Annabelle and Simon were my favorite too. You get to see them again, but not quite as much as some other characters.
Lori, I pretty much read it for the existing wallflowers too. It was too short for me to get into new characters, expecially with them sharing time with the other wallflowers.
Leslie, I am posting the review for Fallen tonight!
Very interesting.
I have this one in my TBR, but I have not read it yet because an excerpt that the author posted somewhere turned me off (it was a scene with Eve and Sebastian, and I don't like them. Devil was my lest favourite hero out of all of them)
I love Christmas stories, so I will probably read this one before the new year. I'm in no hurry to do it, though.
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