Wicked and the Wallflower

Wicked and the Wallflower (2018) Sarah MacLean

Set in London in 1837.

Felicity Faircloth is on the shelf. She’s been abandoned by those she thought were her friends, and despite a minor scandal, her family is pushing her towards marriage. Devil spent the first ten years of his life in an orphanage, then from the age of 12 onward, on his own on the streets of London trying to protect his brother and sister. Now that they’ve made their mark and their money, all is going well–until their third brother comes to town, looking for a bride.

Even though all three swore as children: no heirs.

So Devil plans his revenge–and decides to use Felicity to enact it.

As with all Sarah MacLean books, my favorite part was the dialog.

“How do you get your hair shaved so close to the scalp?”

He hesitated before he answered. “A woman I trust.”

Her brows rose at the unexpected answer. “Does she know you are here?”

“She does not.”

“Well, as she takes a blade to your head regularly, you’d best be going before you upset her.”

“And if you cannot do it? Do I collect a favor from you?”

He was silent, and then, “Are you certain you wish a favor from the Devil?”

“It seems that would be a far more useful favor than one from someone who is perfectly good all the time,” she pointed out.

There’s also a passage towards the end of the book that cracks me up, where Felicity walks in on her brother.

Ah siblings.

The book did have a couple weaknesses for me. One was of course the amount of boinking. The second was that it was never quite clear to me HOW Felicity learned to pick locks. They why was made clear. But the ability to pick supposedly unpickable locks seems like something that you’d have a hard time picking up entirely on your own.

I did love that Felicity didn’t need rescued. I also loved both Grace and Nik, and I really want to know more about Nik, because a tall blonde woman who dresses as a man is pretty fascinating. Although I’m pretty sure it was much less uncommon in the dangerous parts of the city than elsewhere.

So, it’s a fun story, even if I could have done with more lock picking and less boinking.

Publisher: Avon
Rating: 7/10

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