Devil in Winter written by Lisa Kleypas
Publisher Avon
Publication Date: February 28th 2006
Genres: Historical Romance
Series: Wallflowers #3
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
ISBN: 006056251X
Rating: 
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Four young ladies enter London society and band together to each find a husband. Has the third "Wallflower" now met her match?
A Devil's Bargain
Easily the shyest Wallflower, Evangeline Jenner stands to become the wealthiest, once her inheritance comes due. Because she must first escape the clutches of her unscrupulous relatives, Evie has approached the rake Viscount St. Vincent with a most outrageous proposition: marriage!
Sebastian's reputation is so dangerous that thirty seconds alone with him will ruin any maiden's good name. Still, this bewitching chit appeared, unchaperoned, on his doorstep to offer her hand. Certainly an aristocrat with a fine eye for beauty could do far worse.
But Evie's proposal comes with a condition: no lovemaking after their wedding night. She will never become just another of the dashing libertine's callously discarded broken hearts—which means Sebastian will simply have to work harder at his seductions... or perhaps surrender his own heart for the very first time in the name of true love.
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Don’t want to read the whole review? Click to jump to the Skinny Review.
If you are a romance reader and you have been living under a rock, you wouldn’t know that Lisa Kleypas is writing another Wallflowers book! Okay, it’s not technically a Wallflowers book, but the newest hero in the new Ravenels series is none other than Evie and Sebastian’s son, Gabriel in Devil in Spring! Woot!
Now, you may be wondering why I am talking about the Ravenels series when this is supposed to be a Devil in Winter review. Well, the reason being is that I reread Devil in Winter when I heard about this awesome, awesome news! As you know, Devil in Winter is a romance reader favorite, Sebastian St. Vincent is one of the beloved heroes. And if you know me, I RATED THIS BOOK 3 HEARTS AND I HATED ST. VINCENT SO MUCH! Ehemm…. Sorry, St. Vincent fans, but that’s the truth.
If you hated him so much, why reread?
I decided to reread because I wanted to find out if my thoughts have changed. Surprisingly, my rating bumped up 1 heart, but I STILL DIDN’T CARE FOR SEBASTIAN. He did redeem himself ultimately but he is not one of my favorite Wallflower heroes (ahem Simon Hunt, ahem Marcus Marsden). However, he did redeem himself the second time around but I just didn’t care for him.
So what is this story about, anyway?
If you have read the previous book in the series, It Happened One Autumn, you would know that Sebastian did a dastardly thing View Spoiler » And I thought he wasn’t going to redeem himself.
But what better way to redeem himself than to pair him up with one of the meekest of the Wallflowers, Evangeline Jenner, daughter of a casino owner and a highborn lady.
Meek?
Well, or so you think! No one actually pays attention to her because of her stutter! BUT I realized that it does take a special lady to win Sebastian’s heart and Evangeline did that and more! I feel like if she wasn’t his pair, St. Vincent would still remain a villainous aristo!
The story starts with a scene in which Evie comes up with a proposition and manages to convince St. Vincent to elope with her to Gretna Green. She is, after all, an heiress, when her father passes. And what better way than to marry someone who doesn’t care for her, right?
This is where it gets juicy. Sebastian starts to see Evie in a new light and slowly starts falling for her. *sigh*
And I thought you still hated him.
I do. Well, I don’t really hate him as I hated him before. But let’s just say that he did redeem himself. And I can’t see anyone but Evie tame him!
So, he DID redeem himself!
He absolutely did! And the good thing about it is that both he and Evie complemented each other really, really well.
Plus, I do love a good romance between the classes. And Lisa Kleypas really did a good job in redeeming St. Vincent.
But still, not enough for you to love him, right?
RIGHT! I mean, Simon Hunt (Secrets of a Summer Night) and Marcus Marsden (It Happened One Autumn), are still my favorites!
Why did you give this reread an additional star?
Simply because I adored Evie. I think she was a very strong heroine here and really perfect for St. Vincent. I think the reason I hated St. Vincent initially was because of what happened in the previous book. I mean, he really was a jerk to everyone – and Lilian.
I’m also a bit older this time and am pretty much very forgiving of antiheroes. Plus, I also love antiheroes.
Recommendations
I definitely recommend that you read the Wallflowers series. I swear you will fall in love with all the Wallflowers and their heroes, EVEN St. Vincent.
Books Like Devil in Winter
Laura Lee Guhrke’s Girl Bachelors series specifically: And Then He Kissed Her, Secret Desires of a Gentleman (one of my absolute favorites!), Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (Derick Craven swoooooon*), Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas (Rhys! Swooooon*).
I mean, yes! I can recommend ALL the LK books. BECAUSE!
| Rating Report | |
|---|---|
| Plot | |
| Characters |  |
| Romance | |
| Rereadability | |
| Overall: | 4 |
What do you think about antiheroes? Love them or hate them?
Have you reread books and given them a higher rating after the reread? I want to know!
About Lisa Kleypas
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas graduated from Wellesley College with a political science degree. She is a RITA award-winning author of both historical romance and contemporary women’s fiction. Her novels are published in fourteen different languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in Washington State with her husband Gregory and their two children.
I’ve only ever read her Friday Harbor books, which is a shame, I suppose. I should really expand my horizons. And a heroine with a stutter sounds absolutely wonderful! That’s something I can get behind. I’ll be reading this soon, and I’ll do my best not to judge St. Vincent too harshly. 🙂
Ahhh I haven’t read her Friday Harbor or her contemporaries at all, so there is that! You also need to read the previous book, It Happened One Autumn because that is where you see St. Vincent’s evilness… 🙂
Aww, I’m glad you still enjoyed the book despite not loving Sebastian haha. I can see why he may not be that loveable 😉 Definitely looking forward to Devil in Spring! And I was just thinking of rereading Dreaming of You!
Cyn @ Bookmunchies recently posted…Review: The Summer Bride by Anne Gracie
OMG Dreaming of You!! One of my faves.. ehemm 🙂
I am probably one of the few who don’t love Sebastian… overall, I still enjoyed the book 🙂
I’ve not read any of Kleypas’s “older” novels! I’ve read Cold-Hearted Rake and Brown-Eyed Girl (loved the former, hated the latter). A friend of mine keeps pushing this Wallflowers series on me, especially Sebastian’s book, so I know I’ll get to the series at some point. Devil in Spring is going to be a huge hit, I’m sure!
Great post, Zeee!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Alyssa Susanna (The Eater of Books!) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday (#185): The Dark Day Pact by Alison Goodman
I haven’t read ANY of Lisa’s contemporary books since that’s really not my fave genre, but her historicals ARE AMAZING! ALYSSA YOU NEED TO READ THEM!!
Her Wallflowers are her popular ones, but the Bow Street Runners and Capital Theater series ARE SUPER AWESOME!!! Try reading them and let me know what you think of them 🙂
I need to get caught up on her books. Haven’t been reading historical lately because I’ve been in a mood for YA/NA. Reading Kristen Callihan’s series now so I may get back into working some historicals in. Love her and Guhrke’s books along with some others. Some the of the series though have so many books in them. It is a love/hate relationship. If you wait a while between books in a series sometimes you forget the family tree and history.
True, but the great thing about historical is the can be read as a standalone and can be read in any order… You WILL see visiting characters from other books, but it generally doesn’t spoil anything for you.
I agree about those series with a lot of books, like 10 or more, but for the most part, HR series are only 3-4 books. 🙂 Hope you give them a try!