Reviews

Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas

janinam's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

I loved this book, too! Not as much as I loved "Devil in Winter", but this was a close second. I loved the hero, Matthew Swift, and would consider having his babies.

Daisy, Lillian's sister, is the only one left to get married. All her Wallflower friends are married off and blissfully happy and Daisy is the only one without a man. However, as much as she would like to find love, she's still got her books to retreat into and so she's content.

Her father, on the other hand, is not. Lillian is married, so Mr. Bowman is determined to get Daisy married off and to the man he's had in mind for her the whole time: Matthew Swift. His protege from America and the guy who has been running Mr. Bowman's soap and scents business back in America for him.

Westcliff and Lillian have a house party which is really just an excuse to introduce Daisy to a few more eligible gentleman in London since Daisy HATES Matthew Swift. (It's raining men, Halleluiah, It's raining men!) She thinks he's an upstart, a brown-noser and a weasel and she wants nothing to do with him.

Oh, but what does she spy with her little eye when making a wish at the wishing well to find love? Why, Mr. Matthew Swift coming upon her of course! They stop. They stare. They are transfixed! Matthew is happy to see the woman he has loved for so long, but it's a torturous kind of happy because he knows she does not love him back and he knows that their love can never be due to some terrible secret from his past...DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!

Throughout the house party Matthew and Daisy are thrown together here and there which results in their first hot hot hot! kiss and Daisy's feelings for Matthew slowly start to change. Matthew is torn between keeping his distance because - dun dun dunnnn! - of his terrible secret, but he is drawn to Daisy like a moth to a flame.

When Matthew makes it clear to Daisy that they can never be, Daisy sets out to make him jealous with another man. And it works - duh! Matthew and Daisy end up shagging in an amusing scene in which Daisy pretty much seduces Matthew into having sex with her. She tells him: You know you have to make love to me or I'll never stop complaining about it.

After that Matthew concedes that he will marry Daisy - he just compromised her after all, plus he can't deny that its what he wants. He just hopes no one finds out about this terrible secret of his.

Oh, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew...this is a romance novel so of COURSE your secret is going to come out!

Some morons from America come to take him back with the claim that he was some other dude before he was Matthew Swift and that he murdered someone! Matthew Swift: Former Brown-noser and Weasel, but now a Poser and a Murderer! Except not so much. Turns out he was framed and fled before he could hang for a crime he did not commit.

This is where I don't care about the story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was framed, yeah, yeah, yeah, he has to go back to America, just get back to the Daisy & Matthew goodness, please!

Matthew faces the music in America and is let go after almost a year of court trials etc., and then Daisy and Matthew are reunited and able to marry.

The end was a little slapped together and I thought we could really do without this terrible secret of Matthew's that wasn't really so terrible after all. THIS was why he resisted Daisy for so long? *Rolling my eyes* I know that romance authors feel like they need to add these seemingly insurmountable odds to add tension, and I know they need to be creative about it to keep things fresh and exciting, but honestly? Did not care what had happened to Matthew before he came into Daisy's life. It just seemed superfluous to me.

However, I loved Matthew and Daisy's story minus all that other junk and I was sad to let the Wallflower series go...but wait! There is another book! A Christmas-time book featuring Lillian and Daisy's brother...




bkvann's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

I knew this book wasn't going to be for me by the end of the first chapter. But, I had become invested in the series so I wanted to see it through. I had high hopes for this book, because in my opinion the books were getting better. Book 1 was meh, book 2 was great, and book 3, I just loved Evie's story. Needless to say I didn't love this book.

So what drove me bonkers? Daisy and Lillian ruined this book for me. From the moment Daisy comes into the picture she acts like a spoiled petulant child. And Lillian...good heavens, she has become a mean, raging bitch. These were not the characters I enjoyed in the first 3 books.

Daisy hates Matthew swift...but why? Because he works for her dad. He is a "reptile" because he is accomplished. Daisy literally says she "Hates" him. Those are strong words with no backing behind them. He had never done anything to Lillian or Daisy to deserve their hate. They just acted like spoiled entitled little brats.

I loved Matthew Swift. He deserved better than Daisy. It was for him, the brief exchanges with Westcliff, Hunt, and St Vincent that I continued to read this book. I read it for the men because they were the redeeming characters in this book. I don't mind enemies to lovers books, but good grief give a valid reason for the hate...not just because he works for your dad. Ridiculous.

I gave this two stars for the men, and Evie...that is all I can do considering I wished that Daisy would have wound up alone and that I don't feel Lillian deserves Westcliff now. I can't give this one a recommendation.

suzanne_m's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Really lovely romance that I enjoyed very much but that suffered just a little because I read it directly after the spectacular Devil in Winter. My only criticism is that I thought Daisy went from "He's the worst!" to "How you doin?" a little quickly for my taste. Would have liked to see a more gradual transition.

Book did have Kelypas Injury!Sex so everyone take a drink.

the_randomness_of_meg's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

megsbeauty's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

4,5 ⭐

Subjectivity, I would give this book 4 stars. Because, my heart is a bit broken with the fact Kleypas went in totally wrong direction with Daisy and a bit of action we have got with her in the previous book (I'm of opinion Kleypas forgot about it)...

But then objectively, I loved Matthew Swift so much that I feel he deserved his part in this series. It's just a pity we haven't met him before so everyone would have loved him as much as I did.

Also, this book definitely offers one of the best descriptions of the greatest support system within family and friends 4 Wallflowers have built in the series.

verorinconin's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Pensé que me iba a gustar más con la relectura como me ha sucedido con los anteriores, pero no, como soy una floja y superfan de la señora Kleypas le voy a dejar las 4 pero igual se merecía las 3'5 XD
Eso sí un disfrute lector, la Kleypas sabe lo que se hace, es una gran escritora no se puede negar.

bgonzal3's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

“I’m not cold, I’m from Boston” RIP Matthew Swift you would’ve loved Noah Kahan

karinapplesauce's review against another edition

Go to review page

A cute conclusion to the Wallflowers series.

geekxgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Oh this book was lovely. I remember loving Annabelle's story in the first book, and then Evie's surpassed that love and took the number one spot. Now I think Daisy's might have just knocked Evie's down to second. Hard to say.

I absolutely loved Daisy's story. It was so wonderful getting to know Daisy better than we already did. There was so much more insight into her character and personality and it really helped me understand her better from the previous books. And Matthew! Ohhh what a sweetheart! I can't even begin to describe how lovely he was. He had such a big heart and his past was a heavy burden to bear for all those years. Daisy refused to let him ignore her and pass her off when she knew he wanted her in return. I loved that Daisy became a bit of the aggressor. She saw more of Matthew than he wanted her to see. The fact that he harbored deep feelings for her all the years he had known her was unbelievably sweet and unexpected. That was such a nice surprise. And when his past was revealed...wow. I was not expecting it to be all that it was. It explained so much about Matthew's character and actions throughout the book. Such a fascinating hero.

My only negative was Lillian. Lillian is tough character to like for me. Even though I enjoyed her book too and most of her appearances in the other girls books, I've also found her hard to tolerate at times while reading this series. In this book particularly. She came off far too controlling and selfish in regards to Daisy and her growing affection toward Matthew. I understand she didn't want to lose her sister, so naturally assuming Matthew would whisk her sister back to America she reacts so passionately and allows her unfair judgment of him to guide her to advise Daisy on her husband of choice. It was really frustrating and to read her tantrum about it while she was with Annabelle and Evie was both amusing and sad. Again, I understand the motivation behind such feelings from Lillian and she did later redeem herself by finally listening to Daisy and giving Matthew a chance. Daisy knew she couldn't talk to her sister about her feelings for Matthew, which was a surprise for Daisy because her and Lillian are so close and have always confided in each other. And by Lillian's contempt for Matthew, Daisy knew she couldn't discuss it with her because she simply wouldn't listen. That was the beauty of Lillian. Despite all her faults she still manages to understand them and is genuinely a good person, which is why I still like her. But in this book in particular there were times when I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop trying to force Daisy to do what SHE wanted her to do because it suited her best and not her sister or her future happiness.

Other than that this book was fantastic. LOVED IT.

fizbanthemagnificent's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

It was an ok read. I wish there was more dialogue between the main characters honestly but what there was was good. I enjoyed all the characters and the secret reveal actually had the appropriate weight behind it which is not always the case in these stories. I will say I was disappointed in the ending because the big emotional breakdown/release of the stoic H, which is one of the best parts of a stoic H, was completely glossed over in a couple of sentences in the epilogue.