Review: The Rake and Lady Julia (Wilfull Wallflowers #3) by Claudia Stone

 

Print Length: 172 pages

Publisher: Claudia Stone (August 26, 2020)

From Goodreads.com:  Lady Julia Cavendish has always been a most sensible and practical young woman. So when her parents declare that she must marry, or spend the rest of her days acting as a companion to her dreadful Aunt Mildred, she agrees.

Love, she believes, is not real, and an advantageous marriage is far preferable to the life of a servant.

But then she meets Lord Montague...
The only son of the house her family has been quarrelling with for centuries, he is the last person a sensible and practical girl would think to fall in love. But try as she might, Julia cannot resist the rake's charm and smiles, and finds herself falling head over heels into something she believed was impossible.

Robert William Montague, current holder of the title Marquess of Thornbrook and heir to the Ducal Seat of Staffordshire, has fallen in love. Again.
But this time, he has not given his heart to an unsuitable actress, or an outrageous opera singer. No, this time, he has given it to a lady, and he has given it away for the last time.
True, the lady in question seems reluctant to accept his heart, and even more determined to talk her way out of falling in love with him, but Robert is determined.
Their two lost souls will find a home together if Robert can just convince Lady Julia to see the light.

As Julia struggles to trust a rake with such a tarnished past, Robert must prove himself to be a changed man. But when the families' enmity boils over into violence once again, it will take a miracle to join these two star-crossed lovers...

...or at the very least, a little help from Julia's fellow wallflowers.

The Rake and Lady Julia is the third instalment in the Wilful Wallflowers Series. A charming adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, it brings this fun-filled series to a sweet and satisfying conclusion. 

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This was definitely the best of the three novels. 

Lord Montague was everything I look for in a romance hero;  funny, romantic, trust-worthy, and with a bad-boy reputation to boot. We had gotten to see him a lot in the prior novels as he gave his two friends sage advice on securing their own love matches, so it was nice to see him finally get his own. Especially considering he took Julia's request seriously and all of the trials he went through to try and make it happen for her. 

Lady Julia, however.... okay don't get me wrong. I liked her character. I enjoyed watching her banter with Rob as well as her friends. I just wish she wouldn't constantly jump to conclusions and/or accuse Rob of being a liar without knowing all of the details. I could understand to an extent why she did it the first time, but after that? Especially on the occasion where she witnessed her cousin physically assaulting Rob, and Rob doing nothing to defend himself? Why would she then so willingly believe that he was a part of what took place after? It seemed like she didn't really know him at all which made her claim to be in love with him almost laughable. 

Together, these two were an interesting duo. Being the only children of two feuding families, I had expected to see more confrontation between his father and hers, or at least one side attempting to make things tough on the couple. All things considered, their romance seemed a little too easy and accepted considering the feud had been going on "so long that no one remembered how it started". 

As I said above, I enjoyed this novel more than the previous two. I can't quite put my finger on what it was about this one, but I do believe those who enjoy sweet and clean romances will enjoy this one. 

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                                                             The Rake and Lady Julia is available from Amazon.com

                                                      (for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)