Sometimes love is an accident.
This time, it’s a strategy.
Miss Minerva Lane is a quiet, bespectacled wallflower, and she wants to keep it that way. After all, the last time she was the center of attention, it ended badly—so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. Wallflowers may not be the prettiest of blooms, but at least they don’t get trampled. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention.
But that is precisely what she gets.
Because Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, is not fooled. When Minnie figures out what he’s up to, he realizes there is more to her than her spectacles and her quiet ways. And he’s determined to lay her every secret bare before she can discover his. But this time, one shy miss may prove to be more than his match…
This is a Victorian era book featuring heady subject matter, set in Leicester and featuring MCs with both something to hide. Set against a backdrop of industrialization related conflict, Milan gives us two smart, crusading MCs.
Minnie, as she is called in the book, is initially debating marriage to a man she finds barely tolerable. So much so that the meet cute happens when she dives behind a sofa to hide from him and looks up to find the Duke hiding in a recessed corner.
Robert is instantly drawn to the small and peculiar Minnie, who dismisses him with wry observation. Robert has no delusions of his own grandeur and is fascinated by a person who doesn’t toad eat him.
The book is set up to be a “war” of secrets, where Minnie is fighting for self-preservation and in a way, so is the Duke. I think I got their attraction for each other but the chemistry was as repressed as the Victorian era this book was set in. Milan gives plenty of backstory to give her characters compelling reasons for doing and being and saying the things they do. I think my main frustration was that I saw scenes that were maybe irrelevant to the romance and, on the other hand, felt like I was missing other important interactions.
The dialogue is great, the subject matter interesting and meaningful, but I was missing…fun. A lot of the book is pretty bleak. The ending was a nice wrap up but took a while for the final pay off and was subsequently confusing as a reader.
There were intimate scenes after the marriage and some self-pleasuring episodes before, but most were tasteful, fairly realistic, and not the burning the house down variety. Which makes sense given the characters. But if you like to read hist-rom for the sex scenes, this book is going to feel underwhelming.
The romance also felt…rushed? Undersold? I think I needed more Minnie at the end of the day, or more Robert, or more something for me to have truly felt the butterflies or heart wrenches.
At the end of the day, there was just a little too much going on in the book for me to become immersed. And if you are going to do a book about social justice…well, I guess it would be nice to have your scenes built around more than handbills.
I think some readers will like the story of two serious wallflowers falling in love. I didn’t hate it, but its not destined for the re-read pile.
3.5 out of 6 Two wallflower social justice fighters go to war with each other to protect their secrets
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Brief mentions of adultery, prostitution, gambling | |
| Intimacy | |
| Several scenes. More of the vanilla variety | |
| Violence | |
| Off page assault and sexual assault | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Best for readers looking for mature content | |
