Review: The Spinster and the Rake (Never a Wallflower #1) by Eva Devon

  

Print Length:  306 pages

Publisher: Entangled; Amara (February 9, 2021)

From Goodreads.com: The marriage game is afoot in this clever blend of My Fair Lady meets Pride and Prejudice with a twist!

Edward Stanhope, the icy Duke of Thornfield, likes his life in a certain order. Give him a strong drink, a good book, and his dog for company, and he’s content. But when he goes to his library and finds a woman sitting in his chair, petting his dog, what starts as a request for her to leave quickly turns to a fiery battle of wits, leading to a steamy kiss that could ruin them both if they were caught.

So of course, damn it all, that’s when Edward’s aunt walks in, and thereafter announces Miss Georgiana Bly is the future Duchess of Thornfield.

Georgiana was content to be a spinster, spending her days reading and working to keep her family out of debt. But now her days are spent locked away with a growly duke, learning how to be the perfect duchess, and her nights spent fighting the undeniable attraction to a man who was never meant for her.

As their wedding day approaches, the attraction between them burns hot and fierce, but is it enough to melt the duke’s chilly facade?

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

I really wanted to like this story, but there were two fatal flaws (in my opinion). And sadly those flaws were with both the characters AND the story. 

The best that I can say about this story is that it was ..... alright. I wasn't particularly engaged with the majority of it, and in fact did find myself skimming parts of it because it seemed rather repetitive. I also feel like most of the conflicts could have been resolved if these two had just made an attempt to actually get to know one another and been honest with each other from the start. 

This is where my issues with the characters come into play. See, its supposed to be obvious to the reader that Edward is different from other people. It was at times hard to say whether he simply had a case of OCD, or if he was on the spectrum in another way. Because he seemed to be able to switch it on and off at will. You see, we are told he is a rake, but then when we meet him it becomes clear that he's not because you see, he doesn't like being touched by other people. And after helping one young miss out of the mud after a fall, he needs to take himself off to his private study where he can sit in peace for a few moments and gather himself before having to change and attend a ball. Only when he arrives he finds Georgianna sitting in his chair. At first I loved the exchanged between them. It was fiery and I could already see the ways in which these two would butt heads. Except then Edward, mister I don't like to be touched, was hauling her into his arms and kissing her. Huh? 

Of course they are found by his aunt and now forced to wed, but since all of this happened within the first few chapters I was excited to see what came next. You see Georgianna isn't from the nobility. In fact, she knows nothing about the ton. Not the whose who, not the etiquette, nothing; which led me to wonder how she and her family had even gotten an invitation to the party that was being held in the first place. But I digress, Edwards decrees that she must learn it all before they wed so that she doesn't embarrass him. And then she is invited to spend the week at his home with only her younger, also unwed sister as a chaperone. One thing leads to another, he talks about the possibility of man taking flight at dinner, which wins Georgianna over to the point she agrees to marry him. In secret, that very night as a matter of fact in a chapel on his property. Of course this is done mainly because they like kissing so much that they want to do other things if you catch my drift. So they marry, they sleep together, and as soon as the deed is done, Edward leaps from the bed, goes to his little table and immediately starts tallying sums for estate business. See what I mean about him seemingly switching his "quirks" on and off? Of course this upsets Georgianna, they have a row and she leaves back to her house. 

The spend the next week or more apart, meeting again only on their official wedding day (you know the one in front of everyone). They share a carriage ride back to the wedding breakfast where Georgianna once again presses upon him the importance that he "change" for her. She demands affection in their marriage. She demands intimacy in her marriage. Things you know she probably should have told him before they actually wed the first time. Instead of telling her the truth, he says he will try. And then the book jumps. And jumps again. Weeks go by and we see just how well Georgianna has settled into her new role as Duchess. In fact she's so comfortable with it, she joins the men at one of her husband's political dinners and offers her own political views, and rather than be scandalized the men applaud her? 

Eventually Edward decides to tell his wife the truth about how his brain works, after taking her to a horse stable he owns where mistreated horses come to heal. He even likens himself to one of his horses which I thought was a little weird. Honestly, I feel at this point the story could have ended. But nope. The author decided to throw in some unnecessary drama involving Georgianna's father which is resolved a little too easily for my liking. I mean for crying out loud it was a huge scandal and Edward just doesn't care? He needs to bail his father in law out of the mess he made and he says it was his fault for giving the man money? Again, the back and forth of this character just made no sense to me. 

But all's well that ends well, and this one did have a happy ending. There are two more books (at least) in this series, but as of right now I'm not sure if I will be continuing on with them or not.