To Kiss A Wallflower: Timeless Regency Collection by Jen Geigle Johnson, Heather B. Moore, and Anneka R. Walker

 

(Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

To Kiss a Wallflower is the nineteenth book in the Timeless Regency Collection, a bestselling anthology series from Mirror Press. The book features three novellas from acclaimed historical romance authors whose stories reveal that eventually, all wallflowers will have their chance at love . . . This is where it begins.

“The Wallflower’s Dance,” by Jen Geigle Johnson

Lottie Hughes likes people, as long as they aren't too close. Does it bother her that no one asks her to dance? Yes, but she's not sure how to drum up dance partners when she has almost no dowry, no title, and freezes up when anyone tries to talk to her. When she suddenly inherits a huge amount and is the new center of attention all over London, her secret dreams might come true but also her worst nightmares. Suddenly everyone wants to talk to her. Men ask her to dance. And she is inundated with interested suitors. She fights to stay close to the few friends she knows are true. One man saw her before her life changed forever. But does she want to accept his help when he, too, might be insincere?

“Letters to a Wallflower,” by Heather B. Moore

Ellen might be beautiful and considered a diamond of the first water by Society, but she is so very tired of the pressure to marry a titled gentleman so that her beauty won’t go to waste. When her cousin Dinah dares Ellen to attend a ball with no frills and to stand with the wallflowers, Ellen takes on the dare. What’s in the wager for her? The prize cuttings of her aunt’s extraordinary roses. But what Ellen isn’t expecting is Lord Ravenshire to engage her in the most interesting conversation. When she confesses to him of her opposition in marrying for a title, he confesses his distaste of the London scene. They strike a bargain together, one which will either push them apart or lead to a future sweeter than either of them could have imagined.

“To Marry a Wallflower,” by Anneka R. Walker

Charlotte Winters is destined to spinsterhood until she turns down an unwanted proposal and everything changes. With gossip rampant, her father attempts to salvage her reputation by betrothing her to another. Soon she is sent off to her aunt’s to meet Lord Templeton, her intended. Anxiety-ridden, Charlotte begs her aunt to let her observe Lord Templeton from afar before their introduction. She never planned to pretend to be her fictional cousin to learn more about him, or to fall in love with Lord Templeton’s friend in the process. Lord Templeton dreads returning to the empty halls of Newcliff Manor. When his father’s old friend, Mr. Winters reaches out for assistance, Lord Templeton finds himself returning home engaged to a woman he has never met. Desperate to learn more about Miss Winters, he befriends her cousin. He wouldn’t have spoken to her, or lied about his identity, if he’d known the quiet woman would sneak into his heart.

my thoughts:

Love, love, love! What a delightful treat! The Timeless Regency Collection has published a wonderful collection of novellas, three to be precise, in this amazing new book: To Kiss A Wallflower. Each story is written by a bestselling author of the historical romance genre and they are: Jen Geigle Johnson, Heather B. Moore, and Anneka R. Walker. How exciting does that sound, right? Believe me, I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of To Kiss A Wallflower. I couldn't wait to dive right in. So, I grabbed a cuppa, my favorite blanket, and started reading, reading, reading. I didn't put the book down, until I finished all three stories - and they were fantastic!

A book about wallflowers that finally get their chance at love - how could I resist?! The three stories are: The Wallflower's Dance by Jen Geigle Johnson; Letters to a Wallflower by Heather B. Moore; and, To Marry a Wallflower by Anneka R. Walker. And they are fabulous! There are secrets, dares, and mistaken identities. And, the romance will make you swoon. Of course, gossip abounds, hidden agendas are revealed, and family duty rears its ugly head. All in all, To Kiss A Wallflower is fun and engaging book that has superb writing, unique twists and turns, sweet and roguish characters that you will fall in love with, and a wallflower theme that you can relate to. Such a great book!!

I would happily recommend To Kiss A Wallflower to anyone and everyone looking for their next great read - you will LOVE this book to bits! Check it out ASAP!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a coy of this book!

The Diving Pool: Three Novellas by Yoko Ogawa

about book:

From Akutagawa Award-Winning author Yoko Ogawa comes a haunting trio of novellas about love, fertility, obsession, and how even the most innocent gestures may contain a hairline crack of cruel intent.

A lonely teenage girl falls in love with her foster brother as she watches him leap from a high diving board into a pool - a peculiar infatuation that sends unexpected ripples through her life.

A young woman records the daily moods of her pregnant sister in a diary, taking meticulous note of a pregnancy that may or may not be a hallucination - but whose hallucination is it, hers or her sister's?

A woman nostalgically visits her old college dormitory on the outskirts of Tokyo, a boarding house run by a mysterious triple amputee with one leg.

Hauntingly spare, beautiful, and twisted, The Diving Pool is a disquieting and at times darkly humorous collection of novellas about normal people who suddenly discover their own dark possibilities.

my thoughts:

OMFG! Once again, Yoko Ogawa has made me fall in love with her writing.  I'm serious, its true.  I heart Ogawa's writing.  It is just so fracking fantastic that I can't help but find myself completely spellbound by her beautifully elegant words.  She just knows how to write in such a delicate way about the most creepy, ugly, and disturbing things - it just blows my mind.  I swear, her writing always leaves me in awe - and The Diving Pool was no exception.

Ogawa has written three novellas that are intriguing, unsettling, and incredibly haunting. I found myself obsessed with the first story titled, The Diving Pool.  Its about a teenaged girl named Aya who is is love with her pseudo-brother Jun.  They live in an orphanage that is run by Aya's parents.  As we learn more about Aya and her infatuation with Jun, we also begin to see a different side to Aya.  She has a cruel streak that is fierce and her victim is a toddler named Rie.  Aya places Rie in an urn and listens to her cry; she feeds her a rotting pastry; and she sends Rie to hospital - its unsettling to read about, but you can't help but keep turning pages.  I found it to be a truly fascinating read about the battle within Aya as she struggles to get a handle on these malevolent feelings that somehow seem to be a reaction of sorts to her romantic feelings for Jun.  Its just an amazing story.  As for the other two novellas - Wow!  In the Pregnancy Diary, we have two sisters, one is pregnant and the other is fanatical about recording a diary of her sister's pregnancy.  At first we just read about how any smell of food makes the sister sick and so she isn't eating.  But then grapefruit jam makes an entrance and the next thing you know she can't stop eating grapefruit jam.  She is eating it by the ton it seems.  The thing is that grapefruit jam is possibly toxic...hmmm...and yet, more and more of it get made.  I'll just leave it at that.  In the final novella, Dormitory, we have a woman who is getting ready to move to Sweden with her husband - she's just waiting for him to tell her its time.  Her days are spent ignoring his email lists and sewing patchwork for a quilt.  One day she gets a call from a cousin she hasn't seen in ages and the next thing you know, she is helping him move into the old boardinghouse she lived in during college.  She begins to visit her cousin at his new place, but he's never home and so she winds up hanging out with the landlord.  However, it starts to get a bit scary when her cousin NEVER seems to be home and then the landlord is confiding about the real reason his boardinghouse is empty.  This story makes you jump to extremes rather quickly and I loved it.

I know I didn't give a lot away for each story, but how could I - they were short!  Plus, these are the types of stories you need to read for yourself in order to appreciate.  They are eye-opening, thought-provoking, eerie, brilliant, and the epitome of a what a short story should be.  You will love them!!

Hurrah! I finally read something for JLC7!!  This month was short story month and Ogawa's book The Diving Pool was the perfect choice for the challenge.  And now, I'm off to finish reading Jeannette Walls' The Silver Star - it is AMAZING!!!