It Happened One Autumn

by Lisa Kleypas

Book Overview

Headstrong American heiress Lillian Bowman has come to England to find an aristocratic husband. Unfortunately, no man is strong enough to tame the stubborn beauty's fierce will. Except, perhaps, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060562498
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Avon
• Length: 391 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.0" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

Perhaps the best in this particular series. Both leading characters are delightful and the story is well told. The library scene had me reaching for a tissue - to wipe away tears of laughter. This is a book I reread frequently.

It Happened One Autumn

I love Lisa Kleypas's books! This is one of her Wallflower series and I loved it! I enjoyed the whole series. Lisa'a books usually end up on my "keeper" shelf!

*Very* Entertaining Tale of Opposites Attracting!

"It Happened One Autumn" is the second installment in Lisa Kleypas's "Wallflower" series which features as heroines four friends from Victorian England who band together in their search for eligible husbands. The heroine of "It Happened One Autumn" is the brash American heiress Lillian Bowman. Along with her younger sister Daisy and under the watchful eye of her social-climbing mother, Lillian has come to England in the hope of marrying into the British aristocracy. In the first book in the series ("Secrets of a Summer Night") Lillian clashed memorably with Lord Westcliff, a stuffy, autocratic member of the British peerage. In this book, Lillian and Westcliff are front and center in the story and their head-on collision and oil-and-water chemistry is a delight to behold. Lillian is an excellent heroine--high-spirited, willful, bold, outspoken, uncomfortably direct and a bit cynical; she is a wealthy heiress by virtue of her father's business interests, but readily admits the fact that her grandmother was a dock washerwoman. Lillian is the antithesis of the demure, well-bred bride that Westcliff has always intended to choose as his countess. Westcliff, the survivor of a harsh childhood with a brutal, unloving father who groomed him to always do his duty to the earldom, is an unfailing honorable man but a bit of a prig. Westcliff has spent his life invariably doing the correct and proper thing and is appalled to find himself attracted to the American hoyden. The clashes between these two strong-willed people are tremendously entertaining, particularly watching the arrogant Westcliff completely lose his famously cool head when Lillian dares to defy him. The plot of the story moves along very well with Lillian and Westcliff initially attempting to deny then to come to terms with their unexpected (well, to them anyways) attraction to each other and then gradually discovering the deeper facets of each other's personality. Realizing that despite their mutual attraction, Westcliff considers her the precisely wrong woman to take as his wife, Lillian begins a flirtation with the fabulously handsome and rakish Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent. Although Sebastian is obviously being set up as the hero for the next book in the series, he is far more than wallpaper in this story. His character is well-developed and he actually plays a pivotal (although rather illogical and far-fetched if one wants to quibble) role in the denouement. In summary, this is a very entertaining and well-written installment in the "Wallflower" series featuring an unusually vibrant and interesting heroine and a complex, attractive hero. The secondary characters, the Wallflowers and Westcliff's friends and family, are well-developed and the story has a lot of sparkle. The sex scenes are smoking hot but in no way overwhelm the story. Highly recommended.

Finally, A Book That Left Me Satisfied

I know it has been said before about many other authors...but Lisa Kleypas has done it again! I couldn't put it down. I didn't want to put it down. If anyone had tried to make me I would have had to deck them! Wow, I am completely blown away and one hundred percent impressed with the latest in her wallflowers series. How could we not love Lillian Bowman, the daring, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants American heiress? Her intro in Annabelle's story, Secrets of a Summer Night (book # 1), more than assured us that we would be getting an enthralling heroine in which to laugh along with, cheer on and delight in. Her first meeting with Marcus, Lord Westcliff, was priceless in the first installment (Remember the game of rounders played in their knickers?) and Kleypas starts this book with a bang as well, with another game of rounders no less. Yes, Marcus is more than an observer this time, but read for yourself to see how that turns out! It's pulse-pounding! It's steamy! It's - you get the idea. Lillian is an original, completely individual young woman, seeking, as all young ladies of good standing did at the time, a suitable husband with which to settle down. She knows that her vulgar American tendancies will do her no favors in that arena so she is depending on her massive fortune to attract the right sort of man - a titled one of course. The book takes place almost entirely on Marcus's country estate, where, the confused lord is not quite sure why he's invited the irritating miss. Despite the possibility of business with her father, he'd much rather not have anything to do with her. Fortunately for him, Lillian is of the same mindset. Is it possible, though, that something could possibly change Marcus's mind? Could this confounding tom boy-ish young lady possibly have something to offer him? He'd like to think not, but circumstances seem to prove otherwise... I found myself laughing in utter glee before I'd even hit the first chapter, the prologue itself being thoroughly amusing. I couldn't wait for Lillian and Marcus to go head to head. I couldn't wait to see her knock him down a peg or two. Marcus comes off as a complete and utter snob in the beginning, while Lillian is exactly as we saw her in the first book: opinionated, stubborn and a true friend to those she cares about. Marcus, thankfully does get his comeuppance and makes a turn for the better. Thank goodness too, because it would have been such a waste for such a fine speciman of a romance hero to continue with the uppity path he was on in the beginning. Never have I encountered two characters that made me feel so satisfied the whole book through. We get a revisit from Annabelle and Simon Hunt, both incorporated into the story very well and don't take away from Lillian and Marcus's situation at all. It was a complete delight, too, to have so much dialog from Lillian's sister Daisy and their friend Evie (Evie's story is next, entitled Devil in Winter - I wish I was starting it tonight!!). Both

Kleypas gets better with second installment of Wallflower Series

i admit it. i'm a big fan of lisa kleypas' writing style. that said, i don't like all of her books. SECRETS OF A SUMMER NIGHT (first book in the series) was a disappointment. however, the character of lillian bowman shined in that book and i was eager to find out what would happen to the evident intense emotion that existed between her and marcus marsden, earl of westcliff. luckily, i was not disappointed! lillian is an american heiress whose family is looking to get her hitched to a member of british nobility with the hopes of giving them respectibility within the rich set. needless to say, she is not the retiring, coy, well-mannered and quiet british miss prevalent in london society. she is opinionated, athletic, brash, willful, and strong. and she's proud of it. marcus is just as willful, but add to that a level of arrogance afforded him because of his social position, and a belief he is never wrong. he is proud of the fact that he has never allowed his feelings to dictate his actions and sees those who do as weak and perplexing. he thinks lillian is too loud, too opinionated, too head-strong and too uncouth. ultimately, he also finds her to be too irresistable. kleypas is gifted in a number of ways, but what i really like about her writing style is her keen ability to create heroes who are both vulnerable and strong. marcus, the guy who tells his friends that sex with his wife should only be once a week or its glutonous, is suddenly incapable of keeping his hands off of lillian. it was wonderful watching him fight his feelings before totally losing control over them. he knows lillian is wrong for him in all of the ways that count in their society, but he can't seem to help himself. the intensity found in the intimate moments between lillian and marcus is heightened as the reader watches marcus lose the internal war over his feelings for lillian. we see him transform from a cold, aloof, controlled, and pompous aristrocrat to a warm-blooded, passionate, sensual, impulsive and caring man over the course of this book and let me tell you, the change is amazing. lillian also changes over the course of the book. she softens a little as she realizes she's vulnerable to love, but she retains all of her wonderfully outlandish qualities from beginning to end. she doesn't transform into the typical british miss. this is great because marcus grows to appreciate lillian's qualities. the plot itself was little more than marcus and lillian battling against each other as they begin to fall in love. it occurs over the course of a month during a house party on marcus' estate. there is a surprising plot twist towards the end, which proves to be very effective in setting up the hero for the next book in the series. the chemistry between the hero and heroine was wonderful, as they throw barbs towards each other that had me laughing out loud. they were both strong characters with wit, which is always appealing. their love scenes were also very sensual, althou