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A Wallflower Christmas | 
 enlarge | Author: Lisa Kleypas
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $11.00
You Save: $5.95 (35%)
New (2) from $11.00
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 599
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0312533780
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312533786
Publication Date: October 14, 2008 (In 8 Days)
Availability: Not yet published
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
A fun read- although rather predictable October 5, 2008
Billy Goat Ranch (Hill Country, TX USA)
This is a fun book if you love to read romances. A classic historic English setting, the characters are a bit predictable, but believable. The book is very well written, if a bit short. The characters are very 'real' in feel- like hating to sew, and botching up a Christmas tree skirt (sounds like me). It is even educational- who knew that gowns used to be made with seams in the front and back that could expand if the woman was expecting?
These women stick together through thick and thin....which is nice and leaves me hoping that real life could be a bit more like the novel (where best buddies blow you off if you say the wrong thing in an email). All in all, I think it should prove to be a very fun book for women to read during the Christmas season. Who has time after all to read a long novel with all the parties and goodies to eat (where are those expansion seams in my clothes)?
Completely predictable in a good way October 4, 2008
K. Kraus (Pleasant Prairie, WI USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As long as you go into this book expecting a pleasant, predictable, well-written romance novel, you won't be disappointed. I haven't read an historical romance novel in years, not counting Jane Austen, and I forgot they could be really good. I liked this one enough to order all four of the other Wallflower books.
Rafe Bowman is your typical leading man, rich, not worried about what others think, very experienced with women. He's expected to marry rich, upper-class girl Natalie Blandford, a union that would benefit both their families. Hannah is Natalie's poor cousin who acts as her paid companion, and she meets Rafe first to try to find out a bit about him. Rafe is immediately attracted to Hannah, but she dislikes him because of his informality and borderline crude ways. She thinks he's completely wrong for Natalie. What follows is no surprise. Rafe's charm starts to get through to Hannah and her resistance crumbles. Because he's a "rogue" with a devil-may-care attitude, he has the guts to go against his father's orders that he propose to Natalie. Isn't that the kind of man we all want? One who would renounce his family's fortune to be with us but ultimately still be wealthy?
This book is just the kind of pleasant fluff you crave sometimes and it's done well.
Charming characters, little plot, a high price...yet a fun read. What's a girl to do? October 3, 2008
Skanky Cat (Florence)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The major strength of Lisa Kleypas 'A Wallflower Christmas' is the likeability of the protagonists. Uncivilized American rake Rafe Bowman is at heart a charmer who can't help being drawn not to the wealthy English lady he's supposed to be courting, but to her penniless cousin/companion, Hannah. Both Hannah and Rafe are drawn as essentially good people who have had difficult lives. But it's their biting wit and strong sexual draw that make the sparks fly. The major question, will Rafe and Hannah get together, is of course answered by the genre, and there's really little plot or character development, yet it's a pleasant read.
'A Wallflower Christmas' will, of course, be of interest to those who have read the earlier books in the series, but this novella stands alone. I haven't read the others and enjoyed this one. My major complaint is one of marketing: $16.95 for 213 pages is a bit steep.
Predictable, pleasant pastime October 1, 2008
Stephen Kalman (Hawley, Pa USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This Victorian romance is typical of the genre with its obvious characteristically good and evil players . There is the "rake" who is truly good at heart, the innocent who gets "compromised" , the confused deb who finally figures "it" out and the loyal "friends" who make it all right. It is a fast and easy read with several twists . There are however, no real surprises. In this style, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Buy this novel for a quick , predictable read with its usual happy ending. I enjoyed it!
Tis the Season for Romance October 1, 2008
Rhianna Walker (Northwestern US)
I admit it. I am a hopeless sucker for a holiday story. As an urban fantasy/paranormal romance reader I tend to favor Halloween ones, but having recently decided to dabble into historical romances A Wallflower Christmas seemed like a good place to start. Kleypas' popularity was an obvious draw... and I love a pretty cover!
When the heroines of the Wallflowers series get together to celebrate the holidays romance is afoot. When Rage Bowman, elder brother of Lillian (heroine of It Happened One Autumn (The Wallflowers, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)) and Daisy (heroine of Scandal in Spring (The Wallflowers, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)) , comes to London to court Lady Natalie Blandford, the Wallflowers are set on helping him be a proper gentlemen. Having invited Lady Natalie's companion, her cousin Hannah Appleton, for tea in order to learn more about Natalie it should come as no surprise that his rakish behavior digusts her. There is no way the American scoundrel is suitable for her esteemed cousin. What makes matters much more complicated is his obvious attraction to Hannah and the one he awakens within her. With his father demanding he propose to Lady Natalie by Christmas Eve or he shall be cut from the family; Rafe has to choose between what his father demands--marriage Natalie who is likable but not lovable--and the needs of his own heart--sharing his life and love with Hannah. Meanwhile Hannah herself must face her own suitable but loveless proposal or risk it all on the American rake who has won her heart.
I am sure there are some who will find major flaws in this story. It felt like a book cut down to novella size. If Kleypas had expanded on the side stories of Evie's pregnancy, Lillian's suspicions of her husband's infidelity and more it would have made for an entertaining novel indeed. But this IS a holiday story and because of that I felt that it was more suited to a novella length. As such I do feel it should not have been published in hardcover. On the same token I think die-hard fans of the Wallflowers would perhaps enjoy having the collectible size.
It was a rushed romance and yet it felt just right to me. Sometimes that works in fiction and sometimes it does not. Fans of the Wallflowers will be happy to note that there were some sections devoted to the heroines of the previous stories, they had their own goings-on that were happening around the romance itself. Those looking for sex will get some of that too. I don't usually comment on that aspect when reviewing romances but I liked that Kleypas wrote the scenes tastefully and without being gratuitous about it. Rafe was a rather sensual hero that I actually found charming and Hannah, while almost annoying in her devotion to Natalie, was a suitable heroine to match him. It was, in the end, a short but enjoyable read, just the sort of reading one might look for on a snowy Christmas Eve. And did I mention it's pretty and tasteful enough to leave out on your end-table during the holiday season? Add a cup of hot cocoa, put on some snuggly slippers and have yourself a merry little Christmas!
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