This month we’ll be discussing Lisa Kleypas’ Scandal in Spring. Scandal in Spring is part of the Wallflowers series. The series follows four very different young girls as they make their way from wallflower to married woman.
The group of girls consists of Annabelle Peyton, Lillian Bowman, Evangeline Jenner and Daisy Bowman. Four young women that became friends while sitting together at the different balls of the season. They united in an effort to get them all a happily ever after.
Scandal in Spring is Daisy Bowman’s story.
Here’s the summary of her story:
“I want you to do everything you’ve ever imagined doing with me . . .” With those scandalous words, Daisy Bowman, the sole “Wallflower” yet to be married, seals her fate with the last man she ever expected to tempt her.
After spending three London seasons searching for a husband, Daisy Bowman’s father has told her in no uncertain terms that she must find a husband. Now. And if Daisy can’t snare an appropriate suitor, she will marry the man he chooses—the ruthless and aloof Matthew Swift.
Daisy is horrified. A Bowman never admits defeat, and she decides to do whatever it takes to marry someone . . . anyone . . . other than Matthew. But she doesn’t count on Matthew’s unexpected charm . . . or the blazing sensuality that soon flares beyond both their control. And Daisy discovers that the man she has always hated just might turn out to be the man of her dreams.
But right at the moment of sweet surrender, a scandalous secret is uncovered . . . one that could destroy both Matthew and a love more passionate and irresistible than Daisy’s wildest fantasies.
When I first read this story years ago, I really connected with Daisy’s character and my heart hurt for her. I adored this book. It’s my favorite story of the bunch and there’s much to discuss.
This month we’ll be discussing the friendships in this book, the importance that family play in our lives and the secrets we find out about in this book.
First up, your thoughts on this book. Did you like it? Love it? Hate it to pieces? What did you like and didn’t like about this book?
For me, I really enjoyed getting to know Daisy and watching her and Matthew fall in love. The way that Matthew loved Daisy was so romantic and it made me cry because he saw her in ways that nobody else did and he loved her for who she was and who she didn’t think she was. He thought she was so perfect the way that she was and was so mad at her father for not seeing the jewel that was right before his eyes.
And I loved that Daisy was a bookish heroine. I thought Kleypas did a wonderful job of bringing Daisy from the other books out into the center of attention. She really made this book entertaining and delightful, all at the same time.
Thoughts?
Scandal in Spring is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format. (The print version is currently on sale at Amazon for $5.39 and the Kindle format for $4.49!)
I think Scandal In Spring misses some of the magic of the rest of the wallflowers series, but I still like it. I think the story unravels a bit towards the end, when Matthew’s secret is exposed. It gets a little bit tedious. But there’s still a lot to love about it.
My favorite scene is probably “the most blood thirsty game of lawn bowling ever witnessed at Stony Cross.” I really do love Matthew, his devotion to Daisy is so sweet, and Marcus makes some great appearances as well. There are many moments of subtle humor, too. I was laughing out loud with Simon when Matthew refused to cow down to Marcus’s wishes to stop courting Daisy. And it’s always a pleasure checking in on the other couples.
I came late to reading Lisa Kleypas’ books, so I read most of them out of order. So when I got to this book, I liked Daisy and Matthew together. It was only much later that I discovered quite a few readers wanted Daisy to wind up with Cam Rohan. I hope I have this correctly, since it’s been awhile since I read this book.
You know, of all of the heroes in this series, Matthew Swift was my favorite. And it has a lot to do with the way that he loved Daisy. That loving from afar bit totally gets me every time.
And when he said, “You,” he whispered in Daisy’s hair, “are the best thing he’s ever done. Someday he’ll realize that.”
*swoon*
I guess the magic is there for different people. I saw a lot of myself in Daisy so I connected with her more than I did with any of the other girls and this story had all of my favorite things to take me to my happy place.
Though I do agree with Zeynep that the lawn bowling is always a treat to read about in these books.
I really like seeing recurring characters come back, as long as they’re not too mushy about being in love, I don’t mind. Seeing all of the Wallflowers again (it’s been such a long time since I’ve re-read this book) was such fun.
Rowena, that’s exactly that–he has loved her from so long, it just breaks my heart.
It’s sweet but not less intense for all that, does it make sense? Their love is not less real to me that Marcus and Lilly, for example, just because their characters are less volatile and…well, loud.
Ween, remember in Devil in Winter when Daisy sneaks through the secret passage way and ends up kissing Cam? We all speculated that he would be her hero. We talked about it quite a bit. I remember you were all kinds of salty when you read the blurb and it wasn’t him.
Kim,
People wanted Daisy to end up with Cam Rohan? I hadn’t heard that but I don’t think that would have been a good fit at all, especially since Cam married into one of my favorite Kleypas families. =)
I thought Matthew was a great fit for Daisy, especially because he loved her unconditionally and Daisy was used to the conditional kind of love from the men in her life.
AL,
Yes, that makes perfect sense! Lots of people came to like Lilly in her book but me? I just hated her less in her book. And Marcus was fine but not my favorite. I loved Simon and then Matthew so much more. Hell, I even liked Sebastian more than Marcus and that’s saying something.
What? Why don’t I remember that. And I packed up those books so I can’t even re-read it.
Ah yes, that one kiss…
You know, I liked–a lot–that Daisy didn’t end up with Cam, or that there wasn’t even any sort of relationship between them at any point.
I’m not sure exactly why, but that one scene felt extraneous and forced–I couldn’t see Daisy with Cam as he was presented in that scene (which, by the way, doesn’t much match Cam as he is in the Hathaway books, but that’s neither here nor there).
There was no real reason for that scene, within the story in Devil in Winter, other than as a quasi set up for Daisy and Cam, and it felt, to me, as too obvious (on top of forced–see above)
Huh. Either way, I’m not at all mad with who Daisy did end up with. Cam either, for that matter.
Don’t be mad, but I just learned of your new Book Club endeavor today. Oops. Just goes to show you how pathetic my blog hopping has been these days. Anyway, I’m keeping my eye out for future book picks.. I love a good book club chat!
Any chance you know what book you’ll be reading for May?
Hi all,
A new here! I have not read the scandal in spring yet…just finished Devil in Winter… Lisa Kleypas won my respect with how she turned st.Vincent character here. But yes till i read the blurb for Scandal in Spring i was rooting for Cam and Daisy… Though now i will hold my toughts and dig into the book..
There are a lot of St. Vincent fans here on this blog. You should definitely read Scandal in Spring, it’s a good one.
Also, welcome to our blog! =)