Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

Release Date: February 28th, 2006

Publisher: Avon Books



Source: Library!

A DEVIL'S BARGAIN

Easily the shyest Wallflower, Evangeline Jenner stands to become the wealthiest, once her inheritance comes due. Because she must first escape the clutches of her unscrupulous relatives, Evie has approached the rake Viscount St. Vincent with a most outrageous proposition: marriage!

Sebastian's reputation is so dangerous that thirty seconds alone with him will ruin any maiden's good name. Still, this bewitching chit appeared, unchaperoned, on his doorstep to offer her hand. Certainly an aristocrat with a fine eye for beauty could do far worse.

But Evie's proposal comes with a condition: no lovemaking after their wedding night. She will never become just another of the dashing libertine's callously discarded broken hearts --- which means Sebastian will simply have to work harder at his seductions ... or perhaps surrender his own heart for the very first time in the name of true love.

Review: I decided to give this book a try since I have it on good authority that it's amazing. And my sources were not wrong---this books IS amazing and why the hell haven't I read this book (or anything else by Lisa K) sooner?!

Evangeline Jenner--or Evie to those that know her best--is shy and has a stammer but behind her timid nature she has quite the backbone. Enough that instead of dealing with her horrible relatives for the rest of her life, she decides to take a gamble on St. Vincent, seeing no better options than to marry a man with an outrageous reputation. And naturally, St. Vincent says yes since Evie's a get-out-jail card and quite pretty to boot. They both have nothing to lose. Or so they thought.

Wow, wow, OH HELLO, wow was the string of words my brain spat out as I read this book. For society's standards, it doesn't seem possible that Evie and Sebastian could work but they do (and deliciously so). Even from their first meeting the reader can tell that they're going to be a fun couple--and they're not even married yet! While I found Evie to be an engaging, terrific character in this book I have to admit that St. Vincent was the more dynamic of the two. He's no angel, and he admits it freely. But while he says he's not nice  you can tell that he is through all these small gestures that he does for Evie. The interactions between these two, their gradual getting to know each other and (I don't say attraction because it's already there from the beginning) the situations they come across mold their relationship into what it is by the end of the story; it's just so damn perfect ♥

Oh and I should mention this if you didn't know already but there are sex scenes in this book. I could explain how I felt about them but instead I'll let these GIFs be examples. I usually reacted either like this:

source

Or like this:

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Make of that what you will.

Final Verdict: This book is FLIPPIN' FANTASTIC and I will become a book bully for it I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE people to read it if they haven't already. This book is perfect for romance junkies and it certainly delivers on that front (Evie and Sebastian's relationship= mutual respect and trust for your partner! THANK YOU). But what I really admire about this story was that it's about two people coming into their own and learning to let their guard down, grow up and work for what you want. In Evie and Sebastian's case, they earned their happiness and as a reader it was SO rewarding to see this process. I can't wait to read more of Lisa K's books, and to get to the rest of the Wallflowers series (which can be read out of order).

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