Book Review: SECRETS OF A SUMMER NIGHT by Lisa Kleypas

I'm playing catch up here, working on some old reviews so that the reviews for the Series Challenge don't seem so out of place.

Author	Lisa Kleypas
Title	Secrets of a Summer Night
Publisher	Avon
Date of Publication	26. Oktober 2004
Page Count	375
ISBN	978-0-06-009129-3
Series	Wallflowers #1

The young English women Annabelle, Evangeline and American sisters Lillian and Daisy spent most of their current season as wallflowers - for different reasons. All four of them are looking for the right man to marry, so one evening they decide to work together and help each other find a husband. The first of the women they want to find a husband for is Annabelle. She is the oldest of the four and needs a wealthy husband in order to save her family from being ruined. The women try to use her beauty and intelligence to win her an aristocrat, but the rich and powerful commoner Simon Hunt is relentlessly pursuing her and doesn't accept a no from Annabelle.

I actually started reading the Wallflower series with the second book, It Happened One Autumn. I liked how the story was set up and thus didn't bother checking for the actual order of the series. However, I went back to read the first book and then the other 3 in the series.

Annabelle has a strong personality, but due to her family's financial situation, she couldn't find a husband during her seasons so far. As she once again sits in a chair at the side of everything, she and three other young women who suffer under the same circumstances in this society start up a conversation and eventually come up with a plan to land each of them a suitable husband. This set-up leads to a very amusing series of historical romances.

The four women couldn't be different, but after the first few chapters I already wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. I wanted to know how they will meet their future husbands, what obstacles they will encounter and who their husbands will be. Basically everything that makes a novel a romance.

With their hilarious conversations, the great characters and minor characters that you will meet again in other books by Kleypas, I felt right at home. I love being able to return to people (characters) to find out what will happen with them in the future.

All in all, I can only gush about Kleypas' novels so far. If you enjoy romance, and returning to characters you've already met, you should try her series. But then, I'm probably the last to have discovered her...