Devil in Winter (Wallflowers, #3) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

Dec 22, 2010 Pamela rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

I'd heard a lot about this book and wanted to read it. I ended up getting the audiobook (much more expensive!) and listening to it while commuting to and from the office. It was a thoroughly enjoyable story, with a rake in need of reform and a strong-willed but innocent heroine.

Evie is heiress to a fortune. Her father owns a gaming club and is dying of consumption, but Evie's mother's family (her mother is dead) won't let her see him. They have designs on her soon-to-be-inherited fortune and wan I'd heard a lot about this book and wanted to read it. I ended up getting the audiobook (much more expensive!) and listening to it while commuting to and from the office. It was a thoroughly enjoyable story, with a rake in need of reform and a strong-willed but innocent heroine.

Evie is heiress to a fortune. Her father owns a gaming club and is dying of consumption, but Evie's mother's family (her mother is dead) won't let her see him. They have designs on her soon-to-be-inherited fortune and want to marry her off to her cousin. Verbally and physically abused, she finds the strength to stand up for herself, turning to one of the most notorious rakes in England — Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent.

Sebastian has spent his life drinking and seducing women. Cynical and lacking any interest in women beyond the sexual, he is also desperately lacking in funds. When wallflower Evie approaches him and asks him to join with her in a marriage of convenience — being married gives him her fortune, but frees her from her mother's relatives — it takes very little time for him to agree.

What follows is the day-to-day transition of two people from polite strangers to true husband and wife. Though I don't think romance readers will be shocked by any of the twists or turns, the story is well told and held my attention from beginning to end. I found St. Vincent had some hilarious one-liners that had me laughing out loud in the car.

I think I might have enjoyed the book more if I'd read it rather than listening to it. I thought the narrator did a fantastic job, but there's something about listening to a woman do men's voices that distracts me (and visa versa). Also, the American accents were humorous in that the vowels were right but the intonation was still very British English — too sing-songy for American English. American English is much flatter and more nasal. I found myself thinking about these things rather than focusing on the emotion of the story sometimes. That is no fault of the author's, of course. It's just the nature of audiobooks.

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Aug 26, 2010 Mollie *scoutrmom* rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2010, read-in-2012, romance

This is a very good tale which begins with an innocent, mistreated heiress asking a jaded womanizing fortune hunter for rescue. Why is she in such a hurry? She is a stuttering wallflower who wants to join her father in his dying days, and whose mother's family won't let her do so; they are about to force her into marriage with her horrid cousin. Why is he in such a hurry? His father is throwing away the last of the family fortunes with both hands, the bill collectors are closing in, and he's jus This is a very good tale which begins with an innocent, mistreated heiress asking a jaded womanizing fortune hunter for rescue. Why is she in such a hurry? She is a stuttering wallflower who wants to join her father in his dying days, and whose mother's family won't let her do so; they are about to force her into marriage with her horrid cousin. Why is he in such a hurry? His father is throwing away the last of the family fortunes with both hands, the bill collectors are closing in, and he's just failed in abducting an heiress, losing his best friend in the process (see It Happened One Autumn). The bargain she strikes with him includes no sex once the marriage has been consummated to make it legal.

Things don't look promising for a happily-ever-after.

The groom's promise to provide protection from his bride's greedy relatives provides some of the early action. Their rushed trip to Gretna Green reveals that he's not what he appeared to be on the surface in the previous book. Her stutter nearly vanishes now that she is free of emotional abuse.

Author Lisa Kleypas draws two complex personalities with insecurities, reveals each of their strengths to the other and to the reader, then provides them with a fascinating plot that pushes their characters into emotional growth and has a truly evil villain for whom one ends up feeling sorry. The secondary characters are also experiencing some of the emotional growth, which I think happens too seldom in literature of any kind, much less romance. The fact that Kleypas can accomplish this with warmth, with humor, and without a fast-paced action/adventure atmosphere is simply a testament to her skill.

One of my favorite bits of humor was the wedding scene where the blacksmith is itemizing every bit of the overcharging for his services, "'Tis fifty pounds for the ring...Thirty pounds for the rites, one pound for the use of my shop, one guinea for the marriage certificate, ... one crown apiece for the witnesses ... another crown for the flowers...I'll gi' ye the song at no charge...." A few minutes later, carrying the bride over the threshold, the groom says, "That will be half a crown."

Evie doesn't so much grow through the events in the plot as she does blossom. It is wonderful to see how someone who has been a victim can become a strong individual we can respect when their circumstances improve. Not just a survivor, but triumphant. I like the scene when she has to deal with a doctor on her own, and in spite of her fears bringing back the stutter, she gets her way.

Another of my favorite scenes is when our hero Viscount St. Vincent takes far too long to best some of his employees. His manager, half-gypsy, half-Irish, streetwise Cam Rohan, arranges for him, with his gentlemanly upbringing, to have lessons in fighting dirty. Evie gets to watch. At the end of the scene, St. V. has learned some moves but declines to use others because they offend his notions of fair play.

I'm excited that I'll get to read more about Cam two books from now. There were other scenes I would love to laud, but I don't want to have any spoilers in this review.

What amazes me was not that the protagonists fall in love with each other, after all this is a romance, but that the reader is brought to respect these formerly incomplete personalities and feel they have become worthy of being loved. I wish I had discovered this author years ago.

The only reason that this book didn't get my top rating was because of a discrepancy early on in the descriptions of the heroine. We are told that her family has been denying her adequate nutrition in order to force her compliance, yet the author shows that the hero thinks of her as lush and buxom on their wedding night, "voluptuous and firm, with ample thighs". That was sufficiently jarring that it kept nagging at me as I read the rest of the book, looking for more descriptions of her, and only seeing that the hero is concerned enough about her to monitor how she is eating whether she is in his presence or not. Oh, well, no author is perfect.

I enjoyed this book so much that I read it straight through, nearly in one sitting, resentful of interruptions. I'm going to return this to the library and find a secondhand copy for my keeper shelf, so I can read this and the rest of the series through again every few years. I give this a solid 4.75 stars out of five. ...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Andrea Jackson rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-romance, favorite-authors, favorites, y2015re-read-in-2015, mc-mad-bad-dangerous-heroes

I enjoyed this. I love the bad boy hero and Sebastian is a really bad boy.The cause of his attitude seemed a little flimsy, but I thought the author did a great job of making him bad without being vicious. Even though he'd done something criminial in the last book of the series. He redeemed himself sufficiently by the end though. Evie is one of my favorite of the Wallflower heroines.

I recommend the whole series. I put all the books on my favorites list due to being part of a great series. Indivi ...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Jessica Wimberly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: heros-i-love, lisa-kleypas, wallflower, hh-stutters

A devil's bargain Easily the shyest Wallflower, Evangeline Jenner stands to become the wealthiest, once her inheritance comes due. Because she must first escape the clutches of her unscrupulous relatives, Evie has approached the rake Viscount St. Vincent with a most outrageous proposition: marriage !

Sebastian's reputation is so dangerous that thirty seconds alone with him will ruin any maiden's good name. Still, this bewitching chit appeared, unchaperoned , on his doorstep to offer her hand. Ce

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Nov 14, 2011 Ellen W-S rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2011, series, over-4-0-gr-rating, historical-romance, winter-challenge

I truly loved the moxy of Evie to ask Sebastian to marry her as a solution to her problems. I absolutely loved the ceremony in gretna green in Scotland; loved the heated brick that warmed Evie's feet and thawed the readers heart towards Sebastian after he was such a fool in the previous book. I loved that Evie's debilitating stammer almost disappears with Sebastian. I loved that Sebastian felt too sullied by years of debauchery and laziness and Evie felt he would lose interest in her before long ...more

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May 28, 2010 Stacey rated it it was amazing

*spoiler review*

I was afraid I wasn't gonna be able to get into this book since Sebastian was the villian in the end of the last book so I kinda started off not liking his character but that quickly changed!! This series has not let me down yet! Great read! ...more

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Aug 27, 2010 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: absolute-favorites-of-all-time, devour-everything-by-this-author

Wow. Just, wow. How on earth have I lived without having read this before? Lisa Kleypas, you have earned a place as one of my favorite authors of all time. The Wallflowers just keep getting better and better and better and...well, you get the point.

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