The Wicked Wallflower

The year is 1824. Lady Emma Avery, a “buxom bluestocking” voted London’s Least Likely to Misbehave, is in her fourth season without a proposal. Blake Auden, Duke of Ashbrooke, is a notorious rake. They are both surprised when their engagement is announced, as they have never met. Blake quickly persuades Emma to join him at his Aunt Agatha’s Fortune Games, an annual contest to name her heir. If they win, Blake will gain the respectability he needs, and Emma will gain a marriage-attracting fortune. Rodale (Seducing the Single Lady) has created two strong characters with a realistic and not anachronistic outlook on life. While some deception is necessary to maintain their fiction, they never cross the line into betrayal. The book works best when Emma and Blake’s relationship is allowed to support the plot: there are some hints at abandoned subplots, and a false attempt to create external tension, but these weaker moments pass quickly. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Nov.)