Review: The Wallflower's Absolutely Scandalous Seduction (The Notorious Briarwoods #1) by Eva Devon

                                                          

Print Length: 178 pages

Publisher: Eva Denton (April 25, 2024)

From Goodreads.com: Lady Hermia Briarwood loves being a wallflower.

Invisible to the ton, Hermia has made a habit of studying the mad antics of society, and few antics are madder than her own eccentric family's. Love them as she does, she wishes they all enjoyed a bit of quiet. Alas, they do not. Now, in her opinion, being a wallflower is far better than dancing with foolish fellows! Frankly, she can't wait until her required seasons are done, whereupon she can retire to the country and spend her life in blissful solitude. After an accidental encounter with the Earl of Drexel, he offers her everything she's ever dreamed of. A life alone.

But how can she possibly keep her sensible heart in check when he unleashes his charm and wounded soul upon her?


The Earl of Drexel must find a wife.

His family is the very devil. How could he bring anyone else into it? When he discovers Lady Hermia blending into the silk-covered walls at a ball, he cannot deny that she would make him the perfect wife as her only desire is to be left to her own devices. She will expect nothing of him. It's ideal. Quickly, he offers a marriage of convenience. All they have to do is make it to the wedding, then they both will be free! However, he never expects just how much he'll long to seduce his wallflower. Or how she will quite unexpectedly capture his heart. But he has sworn to never make the terrible mistake of naively believing in love.

Not when that love might break Hermia’s heart and destroy what is left of his soul.

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My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

I feel like this book might have been better had it been longer, as it would have given the author more time to really delve into this story and these characters without it happening literally within the span of a few days. It also would have given us more time to get to know the rest of Hermia’s family (although I am sure that will come later as I assume future novels in this series will revolve around them settling down). However, they are just so over the top that you can’t help but find them interesting, if not utterly preposterous for the time period (I mean seriously, being a Duke or a Dowager Duchess will only go so far). But it was obvious that they had a close bond with each other, and I liked the way the brothers were willing to both stand up for their sister as well as allow her to have the space to live her own life.

I also enjoyed most of the interactions between Crispin and Hermia, especially when they first meet as she basically demands that he get out of her way because she cannot see the dancers. There was some occasional witty banter between the pair that made it easy to believe in their friendship, their romance however was another story entirely.

Day One – The pair meet. They share two dances (scandalous especially considering they hadn’t been formally introduced), and Crispin decides that he likes her (particularly because he knows his mother won’t approve of her family, but that’s not the only reason). Apparently, she’s the only woman he’s met that hasn’t bored him to tears so he knows she’s going to be the woman he will marry.

Day Two – He accepts an invitation to join Hermia and her family in their box at the theater. It is here, after the play and during a moment alone for the two that he broaches the subject of marriage with her. He promises her that other than visiting with her to acquire the “heir and the spare” he will leave her entirely to her own devices in a cottage that she will own and will more than enough money to be comfortable. She agrees.

Day Three – A somewhat funny interlude happens at Hermia’s home. Some realizations are made about his mother’s past that I can’t get into without spoiling too much.

Day Four – They attend a ball. This is to allow society to become used to the idea of her as Crispin’s betrothed and so Crispin’s mother can “assess” her to see what sort of Countess she will make (which to me seems like a moot point since she has no control over her son’s choice of bride). Of course, the two are caught in a compromising position meaning they have to get married as soon as possible instead of waiting the two weeks they originally had planned. So thanks to her brother for already having a special license, and her mother for knowing how to get things done, the two are married overnight. A little rushed in my opinion, but whatever.

It is after the wedding that things really begin to fall apart for these two. You see, the cottage and Hermia are both more than Crispin expected. And he realizes that he has fallen in love with his wife, and that being with her makes him happy. Two things he swore would never happen for him based on the trauma he suffered as a child watching his parents always at each other’s throats. So, he leaves her at the cottage and returns to London. They spend about two weeks apart before her family intervenes and he shows up at a ball where they quickly make up so that they can truly start their happily-ever-after.

Now while I was definitely not a fan of how quickly these two fell in love with each other to begin with, I think I hated how he treated her after they were married more. Yes, his parents hated each other. Yes, he was denied the love and affection that he should have had growing up, but he knew all of this before he married. He should have grown up and talked things out with his wife, especially when she laid her heart bare to him and told him that she was in love with him on the day he left her. They could have worked things out between them without airing their dirty laundry out to her family. And while I appreciated the fact that her family considered Crispin one of their own, I feel as though both they (and especially Hermia) let him off entirely way too easily. He broke her heart, and left her only days after they married and all her family (mother included) did was say oh you poor thing, we understand? I would have at least like to have seen her brother blacken his eye. And Crispin definitely needed to more groveling at his wife’s feet than merely show up, ask her to dance and confess that he had made a mistake.

However, I enjoyed her family’s antics just enough that I will check out at least one more book in this series before I decide how much farther I am going to go with it. I also recommend this one to those who enjoy fast-past historical romance novellas.