hammychop's review
4.0
More like a 3.5- I don't know if it was me or the book. I'm leaning towards me as I typically love the heck out of things she writes. I just didn't feel any connection with the characters this time. But as always, she's clever and so good at adding a feminist swing to things.
fringebookreviews's review
2.0
✨Me: I’m fine I’m like so fine.
Narrator: She snapped y’all she’s really unwell like she’s down bad, embarrassingly bad because this is a piece of fiction but she’s acting like the book personally dishonored her cow.✨
I am… grievously distressed. *Cracks knuckles* Let’s go girls. And all people not named Jeremy or Sarah. I’m sorry if your name is either Jeremy or Sarah, but for the duration of this review, I am morally opposed to anything resembling these two characters.
Now, you may ask, was it always like this? No, dear reader, it twasn’t. I enjoyed the beginning of this book and I really loved that Sarah was the Lady of Dubious Quality. I’ve read a few other Eva Leigh books that reference the naughty books and they’re always so fun. THIS book however was so not fun.
It all started to go downhill when they got married. For one, I was very confused they were getting married. It wasn’t a marriage of convenience (not really), so they just literally got married after like 1-2 kisses. (One of those kisses happened when they didn’t even know they were kissing each other.) However, it was still a little after 50% that this marriage occurred and there was still so much book left. These two were great big horn dogs so fucking did commence vigorously and happily. The sex was nice until they were both so wishy washy and disappointing that you realized the two of them didn’t deserve orgasms.
(Side note: It’s a whole thing but the reader understands why she wanted to get married so quickly and he is “righteously” affronted when he learns but this boy accepted the proposal on nothing more than minor attraction too. He can’t claim “ahhh you misled me” when it was clearly a marriage of like not love. I actually don’t believe they loved each other ever in this book. They were just horny. Which is relatable, but this a romance.)
While it was definitely time for them to bang, I just never felt their connection (pre or post coitus). The marriage was weird and by that point Jeremy was getting on my nerves. He also just really stuck it in and made her first time terrible. (He then got wise and used a Lady of Dubious quality book to inform his pleasuring skills—this is important, remember it.) So after the one terrible time, he was pounding her in every which way and fulfilling both of their repressed, horny wet dreams. I got over his initial selfishness in bed because he seemed hot and I’m pretty shallow. He was also a vicar, but a less stuffy one because he was cool with beating his meat and didn’t really wanna be a vicar in the first place. Again, seemingly hot girl shit. Well, the hot girl shit ended and turned into errand boy baby poop real fast.
1. He had major daddy issues. He could recognize that his father was a shit hole, but he still chose to do his bidding because 2. He couldn’t possibly rely on his wife’s dowry to support their family because 3. His big man pride wouldn’t be able to handle it (this is important, remember it) so he 4. Still decided to hunt down the Lady of Dubious Quality intent on ruining her life to save his pride and please his father, no matter the fact that 5. Jeremy dingled his pringle to those “morally corrupt” books and then used them to foster his sexual prowess and 6. Was so happy that Sarah didn’t judge him for reading the books and hoped that 7. Since she didn’t judge him then, she hopefully wouldn’t judge him for ruining the life and reputation of this writer they both read, even when 8. Sarah is like “bro you’re really fucked for searching her out just because your dad said to, like grow some shrubs on your bubs, you prune” but then 9. When Sarah says she will give up writing for him he’s like “bet” and is SO confused as to why she is now more depressed than ever (“How can my glorious, magical penis not make her happy????” He asks.) and he prays for the answer of what’s wrong with her rather than read the room, so it’s a very believable 10. When he is like it’s actually okay “keep writing your cute little books I just want you in my bed again” but doesn’t actually apologize for anything or grovel at all.
He constantly acted the morally superior hypocrite when he learned she was The Lady. He was like WoW YOu’RE sO PriDeFul YoU RIskeD yoUr REputATioN anD MY cUTe litTle lifE thAT My DaDDy GaVE mE juST sO YoU CouLD BE a CuTe LiTTLe WriTeR. He had the AUDACITY to call her prideful!!!! What the fuck!!! He was literally so angry for her lying to him but HE WAS ALSO A SNEAKY LIL SNEK. DID HE FORGET HE WAS ALSO AT THAT SEX DEN WHEN HE WAS ANGRY AT HER FOR NOT MENTIONING IT???? DONT REMEMBER YOU CONFESSING BUDDY BOY. DID HE FORGET HE WAS ALSO HIDING THE FACT THAT HE WAS HIS FATHER’S LACKEY??? Like yeah crazy she didn’t confess when you said you were literally trying to ruin the Lady’s life for nothing more than an allowance. Seriously so fucking sure.
1. No, Sarah doesn’t make this man do shit and 2. She blames herself multiple times and 3. Sacrifices way too much for this piece of excrement, with the main example being 4. SHE BURNED HER FUCKING MANUSCRIPT BECAUSE OF HIM. I still hate Jeremy more but Sarah really did not help herself until the very end and for me it was too little too late. However, I didn’t think her lies were worthy of Jeremy’s self-righteous drivel.
When she finally plucks up the courage to choose writing over him he’s all like “say what you wanna say then like don’t even care what at this point because then once you stop talking we will share a bed like we must share a bed I need you in my bed why would you possibly not want to be in my bed it’s such a nice bed I’m so nice why don’t you want nice things?”
As for the heat, there’s not too much sex in a “sex is bad” way but sex was always a bandaid for their problems and these
Narrator: She snapped y’all she’s really unwell like she’s down bad, embarrassingly bad because this is a piece of fiction but she’s acting like the book personally dishonored her cow.✨
I am… grievously distressed. *Cracks knuckles* Let’s go girls. And all people not named Jeremy or Sarah. I’m sorry if your name is either Jeremy or Sarah, but for the duration of this review, I am morally opposed to anything resembling these two characters.
Now, you may ask, was it always like this? No, dear reader, it twasn’t. I enjoyed the beginning of this book and I really loved that Sarah was the Lady of Dubious Quality. I’ve read a few other Eva Leigh books that reference the naughty books and they’re always so fun. THIS book however was so not fun.
It all started to go downhill when they got married. For one, I was very confused they were getting married. It wasn’t a marriage of convenience (not really), so they just literally got married after like 1-2 kisses. (One of those kisses happened when they didn’t even know they were kissing each other.) However, it was still a little after 50% that this marriage occurred and there was still so much book left. These two were great big horn dogs so fucking did commence vigorously and happily. The sex was nice until they were both so wishy washy and disappointing that you realized the two of them didn’t deserve orgasms.
(Side note: It’s a whole thing but the reader understands why she wanted to get married so quickly and he is “righteously” affronted when he learns but this boy accepted the proposal on nothing more than minor attraction too. He can’t claim “ahhh you misled me” when it was clearly a marriage of like not love. I actually don’t believe they loved each other ever in this book. They were just horny. Which is relatable, but this a romance.)
While it was definitely time for them to bang, I just never felt their connection (pre or post coitus). The marriage was weird and by that point Jeremy was getting on my nerves. He also just really stuck it in and made her first time terrible. (He then got wise and used a Lady of Dubious quality book to inform his pleasuring skills—this is important, remember it.) So after the one terrible time, he was pounding her in every which way and fulfilling both of their repressed, horny wet dreams. I got over his initial selfishness in bed because he seemed hot and I’m pretty shallow. He was also a vicar, but a less stuffy one because he was cool with beating his meat and didn’t really wanna be a vicar in the first place. Again, seemingly hot girl shit. Well, the hot girl shit ended and turned into errand boy baby poop real fast.
1. He had major daddy issues. He could recognize that his father was a shit hole, but he still chose to do his bidding because 2. He couldn’t possibly rely on his wife’s dowry to support their family because 3. His big man pride wouldn’t be able to handle it (this is important, remember it) so he 4. Still decided to hunt down the Lady of Dubious Quality intent on ruining her life to save his pride and please his father, no matter the fact that 5. Jeremy dingled his pringle to those “morally corrupt” books and then used them to foster his sexual prowess and 6. Was so happy that Sarah didn’t judge him for reading the books and hoped that 7. Since she didn’t judge him then, she hopefully wouldn’t judge him for ruining the life and reputation of this writer they both read, even when 8. Sarah is like “bro you’re really fucked for searching her out just because your dad said to, like grow some shrubs on your bubs, you prune” but then 9. When Sarah says she will give up writing for him he’s like “bet” and is SO confused as to why she is now more depressed than ever (“How can my glorious, magical penis not make her happy????” He asks.) and he prays for the answer of what’s wrong with her rather than read the room, so it’s a very believable 10. When he is like it’s actually okay “keep writing your cute little books I just want you in my bed again” but doesn’t actually apologize for anything or grovel at all.
He constantly acted the morally superior hypocrite when he learned she was The Lady. He was like WoW YOu’RE sO PriDeFul YoU RIskeD yoUr REputATioN anD MY cUTe litTle lifE thAT My DaDDy GaVE mE juST sO YoU CouLD BE a CuTe LiTTLe WriTeR. He had the AUDACITY to call her prideful!!!! What the fuck!!! He was literally so angry for her lying to him but HE WAS ALSO A SNEAKY LIL SNEK. DID HE FORGET HE WAS ALSO AT THAT SEX DEN WHEN HE WAS ANGRY AT HER FOR NOT MENTIONING IT???? DONT REMEMBER YOU CONFESSING BUDDY BOY. DID HE FORGET HE WAS ALSO HIDING THE FACT THAT HE WAS HIS FATHER’S LACKEY??? Like yeah crazy she didn’t confess when you said you were literally trying to ruin the Lady’s life for nothing more than an allowance. Seriously so fucking sure.
1. No, Sarah doesn’t make this man do shit and 2. She blames herself multiple times and 3. Sacrifices way too much for this piece of excrement, with the main example being 4. SHE BURNED HER FUCKING MANUSCRIPT BECAUSE OF HIM. I still hate Jeremy more but Sarah really did not help herself until the very end and for me it was too little too late. However, I didn’t think her lies were worthy of Jeremy’s self-righteous drivel.
When she finally plucks up the courage to choose writing over him he’s all like “say what you wanna say then like don’t even care what at this point because then once you stop talking we will share a bed like we must share a bed I need you in my bed why would you possibly not want to be in my bed it’s such a nice bed I’m so nice why don’t you want nice things?”
As for the heat, there’s not too much sex in a “sex is bad” way but sex was always a bandaid for their problems and these
kstep1805's review
2.0
I couldn’t really get into this one, it was simply to unbelievable. Got about halfway and then skimmed to the end.
andrearaereads's review
3.0
JEREMY. You were doing so well and then you said the worst shit of all time to Sarah when you found out she was the Lady of Dubious Quality? I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU
melodicfate's review
4.0
*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Last year, I read and really liked the first book in this series, Forever Your Earl. The whole concept of women writers in the Victorian period intrigued me. Well, if I thought book one had an interesting heroine because she was a newspaperwoman, Temptations of a Wallflower took that to a whole new level. Upon reading the synopsis for it and discovering that the heroine wrote anonymous erotic novels, you bet I wanted to get my hands on this book. Thankfully, I was able to do just that, and I’m so glad for it.
The aforementioned erotica author was Sarah, a duke’s daughter. I was really happy that she had writing her stories to look forward to, because her social life was near to nonexistent. People called her the Watching Wallflower because she never participated in balls and dancing, only observed on the sidelines. They were missing out on such a smart woman, though. Sarah knew how to hide her identity as the Lady of Dubious Quality, and was just generally witty and fun to read about. Even though she wasn’t telling Jeremy everything about herself, I understood her. Sarah had to keep her secret, and the fact that the author made me agree with keeping it just shows how talented she is.
As for Jeremy himself, I admit his being a vicar made me even more intrigued to read this book. Especially once you consider that his heroine wrote erotic novels. I loved him. Very gentle and wanting only to help people, he was kind of a beta male, and we need more of those. Plus, he respected Sarah. It was just so nice to see a hero who thought about others, and didn’t hide it. As a bonus, Jeremy wasn’t a rake or very experienced with women. It was really fun having the whole dynamic switched, because he’d only been with one woman and Sarah, while having never been with a man, wrote erotic novels.
If that didn’t get you excited to read this novel, perhaps a brief description of the plot will. The book followed Jeremy and Sarah as they got to know each other. There was romance of course, but it was a bit complicated. This is because Sarah spent a great majority of this story trying to hide her identity as the Lady of Dubious Quality, and Jeremy was assigned by his father to find out who exactly this Lady was. I felt bad for both of them. For Sarah, writing was vital to her. It gave her an outlet for things, as well as a purpose in life. Jeremy’s plight was sympathetic because he had to do what his father said or lose his allowance. As a vicar, he didn’t make much, and so would do virtually anything to keep his income. It really helped that Jeremy was reluctant to find the author, since he liked her work. Of course, since the reader knows said author is Sarah, I spent a lot of time wondering how things would work out for them.
In conclusion, I really liked this book. The heroine was witty and sharp-minded, and the hero was kind and put others before himself. As I said, I loved that the whole dynamic was reversed, with Sarah knowing more about sexual things than Jeremy did. I mean, e used her books to learn stuff! How awesome is that? Anyway, this book had relatively low angst considering the secrets kept by the characters. It was fun to read, and for a few moments, I wasn’t even certain that Sarah and Jeremy would have their happily-ever-after. Of course, it’s a romance novel, so you know they will, but that’s a sign of a good author. I recommend you check this book out if you’re looking for a different sort of historical romance. I’m certainly eager to go back and read book two of this series, which I skipped. It’ll have a hard time competing with this one though.
Last year, I read and really liked the first book in this series, Forever Your Earl. The whole concept of women writers in the Victorian period intrigued me. Well, if I thought book one had an interesting heroine because she was a newspaperwoman, Temptations of a Wallflower took that to a whole new level. Upon reading the synopsis for it and discovering that the heroine wrote anonymous erotic novels, you bet I wanted to get my hands on this book. Thankfully, I was able to do just that, and I’m so glad for it.
The aforementioned erotica author was Sarah, a duke’s daughter. I was really happy that she had writing her stories to look forward to, because her social life was near to nonexistent. People called her the Watching Wallflower because she never participated in balls and dancing, only observed on the sidelines. They were missing out on such a smart woman, though. Sarah knew how to hide her identity as the Lady of Dubious Quality, and was just generally witty and fun to read about. Even though she wasn’t telling Jeremy everything about herself, I understood her. Sarah had to keep her secret, and the fact that the author made me agree with keeping it just shows how talented she is.
As for Jeremy himself, I admit his being a vicar made me even more intrigued to read this book. Especially once you consider that his heroine wrote erotic novels. I loved him. Very gentle and wanting only to help people, he was kind of a beta male, and we need more of those. Plus, he respected Sarah. It was just so nice to see a hero who thought about others, and didn’t hide it. As a bonus, Jeremy wasn’t a rake or very experienced with women. It was really fun having the whole dynamic switched, because he’d only been with one woman and Sarah, while having never been with a man, wrote erotic novels.
If that didn’t get you excited to read this novel, perhaps a brief description of the plot will. The book followed Jeremy and Sarah as they got to know each other. There was romance of course, but it was a bit complicated. This is because Sarah spent a great majority of this story trying to hide her identity as the Lady of Dubious Quality, and Jeremy was assigned by his father to find out who exactly this Lady was. I felt bad for both of them. For Sarah, writing was vital to her. It gave her an outlet for things, as well as a purpose in life. Jeremy’s plight was sympathetic because he had to do what his father said or lose his allowance. As a vicar, he didn’t make much, and so would do virtually anything to keep his income. It really helped that Jeremy was reluctant to find the author, since he liked her work. Of course, since the reader knows said author is Sarah, I spent a lot of time wondering how things would work out for them.
In conclusion, I really liked this book. The heroine was witty and sharp-minded, and the hero was kind and put others before himself. As I said, I loved that the whole dynamic was reversed, with Sarah knowing more about sexual things than Jeremy did. I mean, e used her books to learn stuff! How awesome is that? Anyway, this book had relatively low angst considering the secrets kept by the characters. It was fun to read, and for a few moments, I wasn’t even certain that Sarah and Jeremy would have their happily-ever-after. Of course, it’s a romance novel, so you know they will, but that’s a sign of a good author. I recommend you check this book out if you’re looking for a different sort of historical romance. I’m certainly eager to go back and read book two of this series, which I skipped. It’ll have a hard time competing with this one though.
wellactjoally's review
4.0
She taught him how to have good sex but he didn’t know it was her because of the pen name.
hannah_b_nana's review against another edition
4.0
I thought I would be a bit more put off by one of the main characters being a vicar, but it was an interesting take on it - the representation of religion was more like community with a side of spirituality, and it was a refreshing change from your Repressed Lords and Reformable Rakes. This series was a lot more about how women balance career and relationships than your typical Recency romance!
ugne_j's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
anarosareads's review against another edition
5.0
a little soft five stars! god, this was like a balm after many meh books lately.
hollish's review
4.0
Really fun read. I absolutely loved Sarah and Jeremy. Their romance was sweet and sexy. Impressively believable love between a secret erotic romance writer and a vicar.
I felt that the ending could have been stronger - bigger. The stand-off with his imposing father was unsatisfying. Dad didn't really have much to say and the real big life changes happened between the ending and the epilogue. I would have preferred to read that.
I felt that the ending could have been stronger - bigger. The stand-off with his imposing father was unsatisfying. Dad didn't really have much to say and the real big life changes happened between the ending and the epilogue. I would have preferred to read that.