When Willa finds herself hounded by her late husband’s debt collectors, she must enter a marriage of convenience with her childhood best friend, Leo, or face destitution!
Leo’s relieved to escape the matchmaking mamas, though his new bride seems determined to rebel against society—riding in breeches through Hyde Park, wearing red in her mourning period and generally shocking everyone! As memories of her unhappy marriage continue to trouble her, Leo knows Willa needs to feel wanted again…and to discover the delights of the marriage bed!
From Harlequin Your romantic escape to the past.
Widows of West End
Book 1: One Night with the Duchess Book 2: Romancing His Convenient Viscountess
Willa, the female MC, is supposed to be wild and scandalous, but apart from one or two brief scenes we barely see this, so every time the male MC calls her "wildling" or makes some comment about her being scandalous, I was left scratching my head and thinking, "Really?" Willa is much more nervous and subdued than I'd expected from the blurb on the back, so her character was kind of disappointing.
My main gripe with this book is that although it is a sweet love story, there's very little substance and almost no conflict. Every time I thought a larger conflict was going to be introduced, it was resolved by the end of the chapter, and often even by the next paragraph. Further, the book touches on Willa's PTSD from her first marriage, but only in a very simplistic, surface level way. I understand that Harlequins are short and often don't have the space to explore issues like this with much depth, but I've read other Harlequins that managed to do it much better than this one did.
If you like gentle, low-stakes historical romances, this one is for you. Personally, this book fell kind of flat for me, and while I remember being excited about this series, I had mostly the same reaction to this book as I did to the first one. I doubt I will be finishing out the trilogy. This author has potential, but there's not much depth to the story or the characters.
Lovely historical romance! Leo is wonderful and patient with Willa knowing her first marriage was an unhappy one. Can't wait to read more books by this talented author.