Devil in Winter: The Wallflowers, Book 3

I hadn't read any of the books in the series or any Lisa Kleypas book before but I had seen people in the romance community absolutely loving it and when i saw it on sale i immediately grabbed it. I settled in for a good read and imagine my surprise at finding out the protagonist drugged, kidnapped and threatened to rape a woman to force her into marriage in the last book, stopped only by her husband-to-be punching him in the face. Why anyone would ever think a character like that deserves a redemption arc let alone their own book is beyond me. Similar to A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean its an instant turnoff for me if the hero seriously considers raping a woman to force her into marriage. But he wasn't serious about it. He didn't mean it. He's even sorry about it. Not because its one of the worst things you could do to a woman. No of course not, that would be ridiculous. Because it cost him his best friend. Also he apologized. To the woman's husband/his best friend and now they're buddies again. So everything is fine and dandy, right? No, jesus christ, no! What the heck? I like a reformed rake as much as the next girl but i definitely draw the line at rape threats. And its not even all in his past. At one point he even tells Evie that he should just force her and that she should not be allowed to refuse him. Making rape threats is not what should be excused by 'in the heat of the moment he said things he didn't mean/later regretted'. Decent human beings never make rape threats no matter their emotional state. I also feel like i have to mention that passage where he exclaims that he would never strike a woman! God forbid! Kidnapping, drugging and rape threats are a-okay though. Can't imagine why any woman would think him capable of striking her... Also multiple passages where he forbids her to go out to her fathers gambling den and stay there for the night instead of coming home to him because *gasp* there is gonna be rapists there. Don't see the difference to his house though. These passages made me throw up a little in my mouth every time. Apart from this whole thing, the heroine being totally ok with marrying, bedding and loving the guy who kidnapped, drugged and threatened to rape one of her best friends (no i am not over that yet) theres some other stuff i did not like. Evies character feels totally inconsistent. Is she shy and afraid or is she selfassured and confident. I don't know and she didn't seem to know either. As for St. Vincent, he's absolutely the rake and asshole he was meant to be. However he just kept behaving like a complete and utter asshole with talking down to evie, giving her orders because of course he knows best whats good for her, forbidding her to call a lifelong friend by his first name etc. This was all in all one of the worst romance novels if not the worst I ever read.

"My love is upon you," he whispered…and she knew then that she had won. don’t mind me i’ll just get this tattooed on my forehead real quick, because i already know this going to live rent free in my mind Edit: bumping this up to 5 ⭐️, because it did indeed leave a gaping hole the size of one Lord St. Vincent in my heart. does this book have problems? yes, but so do i