Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Importance of Being Wanton by Christi Caldwell Series: Wantons of Waverton #2
Published by Montlake Romance on June 29, 2021
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 332
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
Emma Gately and the Earl of Scarsdale were betrothed as children―less a vow of future happiness than an obligation. Seventeen years later, the independent miss severs the contract with the now notorious libertine in an unprecedented act of independence. And Emma cofounds the Mismatch Society, where like-minded ladies are free of the constraints and inevitable broken hearts that men bring. But Emma’s rejection sparks in her intended a new consideration of the spirited woman he took for granted―and a determination to win her back.
Despite his wicked reputation, misguided and suddenly lovestruck, Charles Hayden is on a mission to gain Emma’s respect, and he has just the idea―one that the daringly unconventional Emma is sure to appreciate. But as Charles takes bold steps and sets tongues wagging, he makes himself an accidental opponent of his former betrothed. Soon, a rivalry is born that has the whole ton abuzz.
Emma never anticipated that with every fiery test of wills, passion would surge. Passion that’s impossible to ignore. In going toe-to-toe with Charles, she risks her heart and pride by falling in love with the one man she vowed to scorn.
The Importance of Being Wanton is the second book in the Wantons of Waverton series and like most books in a historical romance series can be read without reading other books in the series. It follows two people who were betrothed to each other when they were children. There is a bit of an age gap so Charles, who was not happy to be promised as a teen, was considered an adult long before Emma and in that time he was a bit of a Rogue.
Emma is part of a society of people who all have to common thread of being set to marry someone they don’t want to marry. It has given her the confidence to break off the engagement she has been saddled with since she was but six, to a man that seems to know absolutely nothing about her and has avoided her his entire life. You know that old adage, you don’t know what you’ve got until it is gone? Well Charles is forced to see her as the woman she has become in that moment and then sets off trying to figure out how to get her to marry him. What better way than to make his own club to rival her little society?
It took me a little bit of time to really get into this story. I think I took issue with Charles being a bit promiscuous in his rebellious youth, even though he was technically engaged. Emma was someone I grew to like but initially she didn’t grab me. Plus there is all of the time that they are competing against each other that felt like it dragged a bit. But once Charles and Emma started sneaking time together, I totally started to enjoy the story a lot and Emma really grew on me. The end was worth some of the build up as two extremely stubborn people figure out how to be together and that their parents might have been right all those years ago when they set up the betrothal in the first place.
About Christi Caldwell
USA TODAY Bestselling author CHRISTI CALDWELL blames Judith McNaught’s “Whitney, My Love!” for luring her into the world of historical romance. While sitting in her graduate school apartment at the University of Connecticut, Christi decided to set aside her notes and pick up her laptop to try her hand at romance. She believes the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections, and she rather enjoys torturing them before crafting them a well deserved happily ever after!
Christi makes her home in southern Connecticut where she spends her time writing her own enchanting historical romances, chasing around her feisty seven-year-old son and caring for her twin princesses in training!
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I don’t think that I have read this author yet. This sounds really good. I am not sure if I would have a problem with Charles’s promiscuity or not.
Yeah, stuff like that is hit and miss. There were reasons for it but I felt a little bad for Emma.