Always the Wallflower by Emily E K Murdoch
Always the wallflower and never the bride – imprisoned by fear to watch life at the sidelines…
Lady Letitia Cavendish is a Cavendish, but only a cousin of the current Duke so even her name isn’t enough for potential suitors to court her. She’s a wallflower, terrified of putting herself forward, and so life continues on without her.
But at two and twenty, things are getting desperate.
The most confident rake in town, Edward Wynn, is a handsome devil – and being the Viscount of Stulsemere doesn’t hurt. When, despite his best efforts, he’s partnered with the most boring lady at Almack’s, he resigns himself to twenty minutes of silence.
And is astonished. Lady Letitia is nothing like what he expected, and after she storms off and leaves him standing, Edward has to know more.
He’s determined to understand her. She’s torn between remaining invisible and finally making a good match. Personalities collide and compromise seems out of reach as the unexpected happens.
What will society say as the biggest rake courts the wallflower of the season? Can Letitia ever take a step towards a happily ever after?
- File Name:always-the-wallflower-by-emily-e-k-murdoch.epub
- Original Title:Always the Wallflower (Never the Bride Book 5)
- Creator:Emily E K Murdoch
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B08CS28HSN
- Publisher:Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
- Date:2020-08-05T16:00:00+00:00
- Subject:Fiction,Historical,romance
- File Size:225.074 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright Page
- 3. Publisher’s Note
- 4. Additional Dragonblade books by Author Emily E K Murdoch
- 5. Table of Contents
- 6. Chapter One
- 7. Chapter Two
- 8. Chapter Three
- 9. Chapter Four
- 10. Chapter Five
- 11. Chapter Six
- 12. Chapter Seven
- 13. Chapter Eight
- 14. Chapter Nine
- 15. Chapter Ten
- 16. Chapter Eleven
- 17. Chapter Twelve
- 18. Chapter Thirteen
- 19. Chapter Fourteen
- 20. Chapter Fifteen
- 21. Chapter Sixteen
- 22. Chapter Seventeen
- 23. Chapter Eighteen
- 24. Epilogue
- 25. About Emily E K Murdoch
Both the h and the H were horrible. The h was the most miserable, pathetic excuse for a heroine I have seen, and the H's character was awful. He was a selfish and arrogant ass and treated her terribly. Overall bad story.
Always the Wallflower, Book 5 of the Always the Bride series, was about the very shy wallflower Lady Letitia Cavendish, cousin of His Grace Montague Cavendish, the current Duke of Devonshire, and Lord Edward Wynn, the Viscount of Stulsemere, a known rake. Side note: One gross error on the part of the author was the way she had Harriet, the Heroine from the previous book, being addressed as "Lady Harriet, Duchess of Devonshire. A Duchess would never, ever, ever be addressed as "Lady" anything! She would be addressed as "Her Grace" or "Your Grace". The author should know this, as she specifically used that very correction in the previous book when another character tried to address her as "Lady Harriet", and she kept calling her "Lady Harriet" throughout the book. There was also the possible misaddressing of Edward. The author had him addressed as "the Viscount of Stulsemere", but at another point during the wedding reception, Letitia had looked up and noticed a gentleman on the other side of the room as being "Edward, Viscount Wynn". Letitia had always been shy around men...so shy she always got tongue-tied and stumbled over her words, if she was even able to get any words out, to begin with. At only 22 years of age, she had long been known as a wallflower, though she couldn't recall when that had first been mentioned. Letitia longed to find a husband and have children, but she just couldn't interact with a man well enough to find a man interested enough. Edward, a man who was considered to be the most confident rake in town, didn't have a problem ruining young ladies. In fact, he took pride in doing so. For him, being a rake meant taking "all the pleasures of women without any of the responsibility". In fact, he believed himself to be "God's gift to women". Edward's first impression of Letitia was that she was a servant at the Duke of Devonshire's wedding. His second opinion of her was that she was "plain, plain even for Almack’s". His third impression was "Oh, God...One of those. Too embarrassed to say anything, too shy to contribute to the conversation—the wallflowers of society". Not a very nice way of thinking about another person, to be sure. When they danced together, he was quite pissed off at her lack of interest in him because he felt slighted that any young lady would not want to be seen with him, let alone dance with him. He was so arrogant, believing all women loved him, loved being seen with him. Yet, as they danced he realized she wasn't as plain as he first thought. However, he made a mistake and insulted her, and with a final glare at him, she dared to walk off the dance floor and leave him in the middle of the dance. He was astounded, and intrigued, that she had left him, for no one had ever walked away from him before. Several things about Edward pissed me off. The first thing was his arrogant, self-centered attitude. He was just so full of himself it was difficult to read. The second was his outlook of women...especially innocent women he had no problem ruining. The third was how he told Letitia he was going to court her but then later told her he was never planning on marrying her...just bedding her and "moving on". When Letitia answered Edward's question of what she had heard about him, she responded that she had heard he seduced innocent women, ruined them, and then refused to marry them. When she asked him if that was his intention with her as well, his response was he would never do that to her. And yet, that was, indeed, his intention. While he claimed his heart belonged to "Letty", he had no problems flirting with any and all ladies...and even bedding them. Attending a ball held by the Duke of Axwick, Edward wanted to prove he could still use his charms to win any female present. Focused on the richest debutante, he made his move, using his "charms' and all the known lingo he could muster to gain her attention. Hearing the scandalized gasps of everyone around him, Edward looked over the girl's shoulder...and there stood Letitia...the one person he did not want hearing him woo another woman. all hell broke loose. Although this was not the first time I had read this particular book, I had not written a review about it before. I have to admit, the second reading was no better than the first. It angered me that anyone would write a book about such a hateful man as the main male character. I detested Edward for how he callously treated women...especially Letitia. While he claimed she "had utterly possessed his heart since he had first been introduced to her", he used her for his own gain and never had any intention of marrying her. He used words and actions to trick her into sleeping with him, surrendering her virtue while thinking he had spoken words of love and a future together. This book had way too much angst and drama, caused mainly by Edward and his arrogant ways. There was very little humor, some moments of passion, but mostly there was heartache, betrayal, and sadness. The storyline was a simple one that one would find in the old Harlequin books where the main male character forced the main female character to do his bidding. That was pretty much what happened here, except Edward charmed his way with Letty instead of browbeating her. Letitia's character was a milksop. She allowed her shyness to force her to become a wallflower. There was no other reason for that to happen. It wasn't that she didn't have the looks or wealth to gain a man's attention. She deliberately underdressed and hugged the walls to keep anyone from paying her any attention. But when someone actually noticed her, she allowed him to walk all over her. Letty's character had no backbone...even at the end of the story. She should have told Edward off when he approached her to apologize for his actions and words and given Edward the cut direct...but she didn't. She gave in much too quickly. Only for the briefest of moments did she let loose and tell Edward a few home truths, but it wasn't more than mere moments and she yielded to his words of contrition. Though she told him he was "a gentleman of words" and that wordplay was his "bread and butter", she still allowed his words to sway her. Sadly, this was the worst book so far in the series. It barely earned a one-star rating but came nowhere near to being added to the Keeper for the Shelves collection. It was definitely not worth the time reading once, let alone twice. It was absolutely not well-thought-out, nor was it well-written. If I could give it less than one star...well no, I won't even give it the one star. I just don't have the heart to waste a star on this book.
I so agree with you. This must be the kost distasteful book, I've read. For writing about a society that prides itself on its manners, the people here are abominable bad mannered. No one here Is kind or considerate towards anyone. And how on earth I'd Letitia walking all over town without a chaperone or a maid? What happened to the "Cavendish" pride? I didn't like how she promptly agrees (mentally) with Wynn that his sister is not the most pleasant person - and they are supposed to be best friends! The addressing of peerage is all wrong g consistently but my greatest grouse is the use of the American English spelling GRAY instead of the British spelling of GREY. If you are going to be making money writing Historicals set in England, atleast use the right spelling. BTW - it's first time I've come across a higher Viscount ??🙄