Oh heyyyyy everyone! It’s another romance review, because the world is going to pieces and romance makes me happy. (As a sidebar, I have been living in Puerto Rico for the last year or so, and if you aren’t following what’s going on down here right now, you should really check it out. I’m not going to say more about it here, but if you’d like to know more, a lot of great reporters are following it and reporting back to the rest of the world. My personal fave is David Begnaud, who is just the best.) So yeah. I’ve been reading a lot of romance. And I’m not sorry about it! Queen Sarah MacLean is at it again, and I’m so happy.
In Wicked and the Wallflower, we get reacquainted with Felicity Faircloth, who had a small, supporting role in The Day of the Duchess [review here!], and who is sassy and whip smart. I remember liking her in her small role in the final book of the Scandal and Scoundrel series, and here she gets her own dang book. Yay! But anyway, Felicity is basically considered an old maid. She’s approaching thirty and her mother and brother are desperate to marry her off to someone rich… because her family desperately needs the money, although it takes them far to long to share that information with Felicity. All of her friends have left her, and in a fit of dispair (or something?), she tells them that she’s won over the Duke of Marwick… which was a lie. A lie that is going to ruin her for good.
Except for the man lying in wait in the dark, who promises her he’ll help her wed the Duke of Marwick. But what he doesn’t tell her is that Marwick is his half brother, one of three bastard sons born to the former Duke of Marwick. And that Marwick stole the title from their sister, whom he wants to win back more than he can say. And that that can never happen.
Because the man in the dark is Devil, one of the Bareknuckle Bastards of Covent Garden. And no one messes with the devil… except Felicity Faircloth, who would maybe rather have him than the title and money she’s been chasing all these years.
3 Things I Loved
- Felicity. She’s smart and sassy and sick of everyone’s rules for her. That’s all I had to learn about her and I was completely sold.
- Devil. OKAY HEAR ME OUT. Give me a grumpy, surly hero, and I’ll be a happy romance reader. That’s literally it. Devil is also quick-witted though, and I like that in a hero.
- Whit. LOL, Devil’s brother the whole time was like “bro, come on. You don’t need that lady.” And then Devil would make and excuse and Whit would grunt. It cracked me up. I’m very happy that the second book in the series is Whit’s.
Dislikes/Problematic Content
Just the usual – too white and too heteronormative. I really love Sarah MacLean’s writing, and I’m just hoping one day that she’ll write an f/f romance. That’s my dream. I’ll keep waiting for it, I think. I will admit, I was pretty blinded by loving this one and can’t think of anything else. So if you caught something I missed, please let me know!
Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:
- Red = DNF, I hated everything
- Orange = Ugh, no thank you
- Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
- Green = This was good!
- Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
- Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
Oh man, was this good. And a little spoiler – I got an ARC of Brazen and the Beast, the next book in the series, and that’s on the docket to be reviewed on Monday! So get ready for that! As for this book – SO GOOD. I’m going to give Wicked and the Wallflower a BLUE rating. Romancelandia forever.
Happy reading!
Snark & Squee 
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