Review: The Week the Wallflower Was Wanton (The Wallflower Wins #4) by Eva Devon

   

Print Length:  168 pages

Publisher: Eva Devon (April 28, 2021)

From Goodreads.com: Lucy McTavish dreams of being an artist. But being a wallflower, she’s firmly on the shelf and destined for an arranged marriage with a dour, strict husband in the wilds of Scotland. Determined to keep her dreams or not spend the rest of her life living without a jot of of artistic possibility or excitement, there’s only one thing to do. Choose ruin. After all, no man would marry her then! And once ruined, nothing will stop her from pursuing her dreams of becoming one of the greatest painters England has ever known. Surely, Viscount North, rake of rakes, is the man for the job. But she never expects to have her heart stolen just as much as her breath when he sweeps her into his sinful world.

Viscount North lives life to the full. After all, he knows how quickly it can end. Losing his entire family in a tragic accident as a child, he is determined to never know loss or such agony again. Every day is driven by enjoyment and appreciation for beauty and life. When the pert yet surprising Lucy arrives at one of his parties demanding ruin, he knows he should say no. Unmarried young ladies are not his line. But her passion to pursue her freedom and something about her has him falling under her spell. Once he agrees to her request, he will stop at nothing to make her dreams come true. There’s just one thing. He’s vowed they have only one week to be wanton. But when the time comes... Can he let her go when his traitorous heart longs for her to stay?

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

If you're looking for an easy read to pass the time where absolutely nothing of substance happens, than this is the story for you! 

To be fair, although this is book #4 in the series, it can definitely be read as a stand alone. In fact, given the way it started I would have thought it was the first one as that was the only time (until near the middle/ending) that her friends were even mentioned again. Which I didn't mind at all, as I prefer to spend time getting to know the main characters when I am coming into a series at the end. 

But you see, here is the thing, even though I HATE insta-love (which this story definitely was), I am willing to look the other way IF we get to see them actually learning about each other, and if the chemistry is there so that we can believe in their love. And frankly? I didn't see that happening here. In fact most of their week is spent in bed, and while most of that time is spent intellectually, I still couldn't envision either one of them changing their entire way of thinking just to marry, so when they finally declared themselves to each other? It was more irritating than anything else. The only explanation that was given was that the moment they laid eyes on each other it was like "their souls knew", and even though they had only known each other for one week, "it seemed like an eternity." In fact, they were close to declaring themselves to each other (and already had in their own minds) after knowing one another for less than a full day. Honestly, I wish that the book would have been longer in order to show us them gradually learning to love each other (especially given what North had been through). Show North proving to Lucy that she could be his Viscountess while still being a painter (because honestly him saying he and his staff could do her duties so she didn't have to was downright laughable), while she gets him to realize that he wasn't truly living after the loss of his family despite claiming the opposite to be true. 

I also found the over-the-top reaction of her four brothers to be a bit too much. I understand that they were mad at the circumstances as they knew them, but the way they swooped in, beat a peer with a cudgel and essentially kidnapped their own sister? Surely there was a better way that the author could have handled that? 

As I'm sure you expected, there was indeed a happily ever after for the couple, so there is that. And as I said before, its an easy read that can easily be finished in a day.