A Wallflower to Love
Series: Love’s Addiction #1
Author: Marie Higgins
Published December 15th 2022 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
When a woman is desperate, she’ll do almost anything to escape her prison.

Alexandria Templeton’s sheltered world has been terribly shaken. Her brother-in-law insists she find a husband as soon as possible. Being a wallflower, the mere idea of talking to available men makes her sick. But then when she is kidnapped and mistaken for her older sister, the Duchess of Linden, Alexandria is forced to act as one of the characters in the books she loves to read. Life is easier to manage if she can put herself in a fictional character’s perspective. Soon, she realizes her kidnapper—who has become her hero—needs her help, and her murderous cousin—who is the villain in this scenario—needs to be stopped.

Julian Stratford has a plan. He will steal the duchess and make her confess that her husband tried to kill him for a title. Once that is accomplished, Julian can take back his rightful place as the duke. Everything goes smoothly until he steals the wrong sister. Now it’s time for a new strategy.

Disaster endangers his well-thought-out plan but also threatens to destroy his heart.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Learning that his cousin Martin has claimed his title of Duke of Linden, Julian Stratford believes that the deaths of his father and brother, and his attempted murder, lies solely at Martin's feet. Returning to the family home, hidden in the woods, Julian plans on kidnapping the new 'duchess', and interrogating her to learn Martin's faults. But when he captures the wrong Templeton sister, and starts to fall for her, it seems that there are greater villains around, and both her and Alexandra may not come out of this alive.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Alexandra Templeton was a wallflower, who struggled to talk with eligible gentleman, but gave it her all when she had to go up against her brother in law who was planning on marrying her off as soon as possible. While her sister, the new duchess of Linden, was ill, Lexie was free to explore the grounds of the estate, which unfortunately led to her being abducted by Julian - or Grey as he introduced himself - who believed she was the duchess.

Lexie and Julian had a strange relationship - though he abducted her, he was caring, and saw her strength. He did lie to her about his true identity, which caused issues when it was revealed, but their love for each other was honest. I was a bit surprised by how many villains there were in the book, and just how many times the hero and heroine were at risk of dying. It started to get a little farcical, so I think maybe if it had been pared back it would've been better. Still, it was an enjoyable book, and I'm looking forward to what happens to Lexie's cousin, Maxey, in book 2.

Dates Read:
August 15, 2023

Rating
3 Stars