Once Upon A Wallflower by Wendy Lyn Watson Published by Entangled Publishing on August 12, 2013
Genres: Historical, Romance
Pages: 250
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
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A Perennial Wallflower…
When Mira Fitzhenry’s guardian arranges her engagement to one of the most scandalous, yet devastatingly handsome lords to ever grace the peerage, all of society is abuzz. After all, the man has left a trio of dead young women in his wake, including his first fiancée.
A Gothic Villain…
Expecting to scare the chit away within five minutes of meeting him, scarred and brooding Nicholas, the Viscount Ashfield, is intrigued by the unfashionably lovely Mira, but his family’s dark secret means he must fight his attractions. No matter what his heart wants.
As the wedding approaches, Nicholas and Mira grow ever closer, yet so does the very real danger. Will the truth bring Nicholas and Mira together or tear their love apart?
I received Once Upon A Wallflower for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This book is a little confusing, but it is supposed to be. Let me explain. To gain an inheritance from their father, both Fitzhenry brothers named their daughters Mirabella. That way if the inheritance was left in name to one, they both would inherit. With me so far? It is because these two are both named Mirabella that the surviving Fitzhenry brother is able to fulfill his gambling debt by offering his niece’s hand in marriage instead of his much prettier daughter. So, Mira is off to marry a man she’s never met. A man who has been accused of murdering his last fiancé and two other women.
Nicholas, Viscount Ashfield, is scarred and expecting to scare his fiancé away within five minutes. He is a very solitary sort, but Mira is an unexpected delight he welcomes into his life. The two keep saying to themselves one or the other will call the whole marriage off, but as the days go by and they try to figure out the mystery of the slain women, they fall in love.
Watson has a great gift for storytelling and weaves a brilliant mystery in the love story of Mira and Nicholas. I loved that I was guessing who the villain was throughout the story. I was sure five different people were the murderer at different points, but in the end only one was finally revealed.
While this story was released in 2013 and I don’t see any follow up written by this author, I truly hope she will give her readers another wonderful historical romance mystery in the future.
About Wendy Lyn Watson
Wendy writes mysteries with a touch of humor and romance. Or are they comedies with dead bodies and a little kissing? Or romances with … who cares? They’ll make you happy, and does anything else matter?
Wendy also enjoys 80s music, Asian horror films, quilting, and vegetarian cooking. While she was born in Ohio and has called half a dozen states home, she currently lives in a college town in North Texas along with her husband and their three cats (Squeak-a-Doodle, Tiberius, and Blaze). She’s basically stumbling through life, but that’s how the best stories are written.
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