Publisher: Avon
Genre: Historical romance
Setting: Victorian England
Published: October 2005
ISBN: 0060562498
Fans: 5 fans
Up for: 2006 RITA for Best Short Historical Romance

It Happened One Autumn is the second book in Lisa Kleypas’s Wallflower series about four girls who band together to find husbands.

Marcus Marsden, the Earl of Westcliff, is known in society as straight-laced and arrogant, and also London’s most eligible aristocrat. He is always composed and never loses his cool demeanor with women, until Miss Lillian Bowman enters his life. A prospective business deal with Lillian’s father prompts a house party that puts Lillian and her family under his roof for a month, the thought of which is enough to make Marcus want to avoid Lillian like the plague. He believes her to be a reckless, brash and ill-bred hellion whom he and a friend previously caught playing a game of rounders in their undergarments.

Lillian Bowman is an American heiress who has an exemplary talent for distinguishing smells. This comes in handy as her father is a manufacturer of scents and soaps. He is in England seeking investors and also trying to snag British titles for his daughters to wed. Lillian is intrigued when, at a perfumery, is offered a magic perfume that is supposed to bring true love. While wearing it, she is dismayed to find out that the scent only works on Marcus. Sparks fly between these two and their attraction is inevitable.

Marcus is a man that has had a painful past, with a tyrannical father and an uncaring mother, but has triumphed to become a good-hearted man. It was wonderful to watch him fight his attraction to the inappropriate Lillian and fail miserably. Lillian is an intelligent and feisty young woman who never expected to fall for the stodgy earl.

Ms. Kleypas not only delivers a story filled to the brim with great chemistry and lots of sexual tension (both of which she is known for), but also lots of humor. The dinner scene, which reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is hilarious! My favorite part is “the brandy bottle with the pear inside” scene. It starts off humorous and eventually leads to a hot love scene. I can’t rave enough about this book. It is now in my top three favorites of hers along with Suddenly You and Dreaming of You. This one is definitely a keeper!

**Lisa Kleypas is a multiple award winning author of over twenty historical romances including her newest, Scandal in Spring, out this month. Her books have appeared on bestseller lists such as the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and WaldenBooks. Please visit her at www.lisakleypas.com .**