What a Wallflower Wants

"No one ever came to save Prudence in her hours of need."THE STORY: Prudence Merryweather Peyton aka Prude Prudence aka London's Least Likely to Be Caught in a Compromising Position knows that she will never marry. During her first season, Prue was raped. Now in her fourth season and the only unmarried woman amongst her friends, Prue has decided on a marriage of convenience. On the way to her elopement, the coach carrying her and her fiance is stopped by a highwayman. When her fiance abandons her to her fate, Prue finds herself walking to find a town. There she meets John Roarke, Viscount Castleton. John is a very protective man who is concerned about Prue. When the two are trapped by a storm in an inn, they begin a tentative relationship. Prue has deep fears because of her rape but John has great caring and sympathy for her and Prue begins to blossom. The two end up falling in love, but when they return to London, Prue finds out that John has secrets of his own that might destroy them both.OPINION: The first half of this novel was amazing. I thought that Rodale did a good job of depicting Prue's response to the rape. I also loved John and his loving and caring treatment of Prue. I did have a very difficult time believing that she so quickly ended up having sex with John after four years of not dealing with her rape. When John's secret was revealed, I really did not like this book. I disliked it so much that I almost abandoned the book. I thought his betrayal of Prue by lying to her was unforgivable. In the end, while I understood the parallel that Rodale was trying to make with Prue presenting a false front to others and John doing the same thing, I did not feel that that worked in this case. John completely betrayed Prue knowing how vulnerable she was. He could have told her the truth or if not that, he could have refrained from sleeping with her until he told her the truth. I ultimately put that aside to enjoy the rest of the story, but I never stopped being annoyed by John's behavior and it reduced my appreciation of the book.WORTH MENTIONING: This book has a serious storyline about rape and its aftermath. Readers should know this going in.FINAL DECISION: This is a book that I respect but couldn't ultimately like enough to want to read again. I was so annoyed by John's deception that even as I appreciated much about the book, I was taken out of the romantic storyline and ended up unhappy. I still give the book 4 stars because it is a good and important story well done, but the character of John is so important to the story that I have desire to revisit.CONNECTED BOOKS: WHAT A WALLFLOWER WANTS is the third historical novel in the Bad Boys & Wallflowers series which consists of three historical novels and three contemporary novellas about the fictional "writer" of the historical series.STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

I really tried to love this book. I just found it to be hard to get through.It is a very dark book, and given the subject material that is totally understandable and acceptable. You cannot have sunshine and rainbows all the time, I get that. And bad things happen to good people, I get that too. But this book was just depressing to me.Then there is the whole flashback thing. I am not a fan of flashbacks. Sometimes it is necessary and in this book it was needed. But the insertion of these flashbacks just ruined the flow of the story for me. And if that wasn't enough to there are totally random flash forwards that are totally out of the blue. The first one I read, I was like WTH was that. I actually thought the book might have a formatting issue. It was that random and out of context.Prudence is a tortured soul. And I tried to empathize with her. Never having had been the horror she had, I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. But for the firs half of the book she is rigid and then when she has an encounter with her tormentor and what happens after that was totally unbelievable to me. But, I still tried to give her a pass.The final nail in the coffin for me was her reaction when the truth about John finally came out. She was such a snob! After everything this man did for her and that was her reaction?!? I actually hated her at that moment. She did not deserve John!I loved John and he is the only reason this book is getting three stars instead of one. He had secrets and he did lie about who he was (but so did she!) but he wasn't a bad man and he didn't really hurt anyone with his deception. So for Prudence to treat him the way she did, pissed me off. She does redeem herself, but her initial reaction just turned me off.So between the darkness, flashbacks, flash forwards and her reaction. I just didn't care for this book.

I waited anxiously for this book to come out. I enjoyed the first two immensely and wanted to see how things worked out for Prudence. While I did enjoy it, and I enjoyed wrapping up the series, I have to say this is my least favorite of the trilogy. It was not because of the more depressing subject matter, in fact, I actually thought that made for a stronger storyline. I just don't like Prudence. And I feel bad for saying that since she has suffered through so much, but I just didn't connect with her character the way I connected with Emma and Olivia in the first two stories.That being said, I enjoyed John's character so much. The way he knew how to pay attention and give Prudence the affection she needed without overwhelming her was endearing. This might be the reason I don't like Prudence. John was so amazing with her, and was so patient. He didn't judge her as a result the sexual assault, as many other men might have. Instead he accepted her for who she was, but then when his secret came out, she did not show the same acceptance for him, at first. Of course, I was happy to see Prudence get her happy ending, so overall I would recommend the book to anyone who has read Rodale's other work. It's definitely worth the read.

So, this book is good, and the story line is a sensitive one at the beginning, but it's not great and it's certainly not as good as the previous two. I found John a slightly odd character. Yeah, it's a bit confusing as first when you read it, ( I won't give it away) but once you work it out, I thought he lacked a bit of substance. I thought the relationship between Prue and John moved surprisingly quickly given what she's been through. If you've read the other two books, I'd say download it to complete the trilogy. If you haven't then read the others first.

Not as good as first two.Also errors such as Dudley having a conversation with his sister and then same sister being shocked when she saw his battered face later on. No telephones so how could they converse previously without her seeing him? Sloppy.Book jumps about a bit. Lots of ending the chapter with a segment in italics about future happenings to H. Irritating.However the book does deal well with the matter of rape and the villain gets his comeuppance and the H&h get their HEA.

My granny like the storyline in this book. don't what else to say as I didn't read it myself

This book was another great read in this series. Couldn’t put it down. Great finish to the stories of the 3 wallflowers. Highly recommended.DD

Could not put this book down a really good read .