title: Secrets of a Summer Night (The Wallflowers, Book 1)
author:  Lisa Kleypas 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> Deftly evoking not only the romantic tension between hero and heroine but also the conflicts and challenges of the Victorian era, this superb romance from Kleypas launches her new series centered on the Wallflowers, four young ladies who are sick of being snubbed and overlooked by London's bachelors and who have banded together to find themselves husbands. Beautiful Annabelle Peyton represents Old World aristocracy; she's genteel but impoverished and desperately trying to maintain the appearance of wealth. Commoner Simon Hunt, on the other hand, is a brash, ambitious entrepreneur who has made a fortune investing in industry and railroads and is only marginally accepted by society. As Annabelle attempts to trap a moneyed aristocrat into marriagewith the help of her vivacious fellow Wallflowers, of courseSimon boldly pursues her, first with the desire to make her his mistress and then with far more noble intentions. The scenes involving Annabelle and the three other Wallflowerstwo impudent American girls and a shy, stuttering English heiressare almost as enjoyable as the ones in which Annabelle and Simon try to outmaneuver each other. The protagonists inevitably wind up at the altar, but their story doesn't end there. Kleypas delves deeper, touching on Annabelle's changing mindset (specifically, her growing admiration of Simon's working-class roots and her acceptance of everything he stands for) and Simon's insecurity over taking her away from polite society. By turns amusing, sensual and sober, but always compelling, this is a first-rate offering from a truly talented storyteller. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Also by Lisa KleYpas
  
  __
  
  _Seduce Me at Sunrise_
  
  _Blue-Eyed Devil_
  
  _Mine Till Midnight_
  
  _Sugar Daddy_
  
    
    
  
  WALLFLOWER SERIES
  
  _A Wallflower Christmas_
  
  _Scandal in Spring_
  
  _Devil in Winter_
  
  _It Happened One Autumn_
  
  _Secrets of a Summer Night_
  
  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events
  portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are
  used fictitiously.
  
    
  
  >  **SMOOTH TALKING STRANGER**. Copyright © 2009 by Lisa Kleypas. All rights
  > reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address
  > St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
  
    
  
  [_www.stmartins.com_](http://www.stmartins.com/)
  
    
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  > Kleypas, Lisa.
  
  > Smooth talking stranger / Lisa Kleypas. — 1st ed.
  
  > p. cm.
  
  ISBN-13: 978-0-312-35166-3
  
  ISBN-10: 0-312-35166-6
  
  1\. Millionaires—Texas—Fiction. 2. Abandoned chil