With a perfect blend of magic, mystery, passion, and elegance, The Earl's Timely Wallflower by Aurrora St. James is a must-read for historical romance fans!

I enjoyed being swept back in time and getting to know Miss Lily Bennett and the honorable Gabriel Hawthorne, Earl of Rothden, in this moderately paced, low-angst time travel romance with well-defined characters and lush descriptions of 1800 England.

Lily is thrust 200 years into the past after tampering with an old clock she finds in an antique office desk. Disoriented, she steps in front of a carriage and is almost run down, causing a head injury. Fatefully the occupant of the carriage is Violet Hawthorne, Gabriel's younger sister, a headstrong and compassionate young lady willing to help Lily despite her scandalous attire and odd mannerisms. Violet rescues Lily and brings her home to Hawthorne Hall.

Upon meeting Lily, Gabriel is taken aback by the emotions she stirs within him. Though she is not the woman he envisioned by his side, she is exactly the woman he needs. Gabriel is everything I admire in a romantic male protagonist. He is gallant, protective, loyal, seductive, and completely smitten with the heroine.

I also adored Lily. She is very relatable, especially concerning her self-esteem issues. I appreciated her overall character arc. It was great to see this wallflower blossom into a self-assured woman finding the courage to follow her heart; the confidence to dream and re-write the future.

It's worth mentioning that Lily and Gabriel have a sizable support system of friends that help bring their story to life. As this is book one in the Taken by Destiny series, I hope to see these wonderful characters again!

The Earl's Timely Wallflower by Aurrora St. James is the perfect example of what a romance novel should be! A charming story, full of heart and happiness. Highly recommend!!

Dual POV

Thank you, NetGalley and Dragonblade Publishing, for providing an advanced copy of this book due for release on March 28, 2023; all thoughts and opinions are my own. *Unless otherwise requested, reviews appearing publicly include Safety Spoilers / Content Warnings.

“I would give up everything. For you.”
3.5

SPOILER FREE REVIEW: I will riot if we don’t get book 2

I started this regency romance and was a bit confused when I realized it was set in the present time. The story involves unexplained time traveling but once were thrown in 1813 the story starts. This is the kind of book that will make you ponder on the idea of time travel and what you would do if you were stuck in the same situation. The slow burn romance and tension between the main character, Lily and Gabriel, was top tier. It had me BLUSHING and GIGGLING like a schoolgirl. The side characters also have lots of personality and don’t come off as one dimensional. The story left a lot to work off. Could’ve benefited from being longer. I’m left with a lot of questions that I hope we get answers to in book two!

FULL DISCLAIMER: I received this a free ARC through netgally (thank you!!)

Fantastic time travel/regency romance impossible to put down, interesting characters, suspense, mystery, romance, passion and a wonderful ending.

This is a sweet time-travel romance story. You have to be willing to just go with it though, if you are going to spend time deciding how much of this story makes sense than you won't really enjoy it. You have to first believe that Lily was lucky enough to find herself in the care of probably some of the very few people who would be so chill about someone claiming to be from the future - and that they could continue to be that calm when they realize she really was. For that immediate acceptance alone I could have loved Violet, Gabriel, and Christian, but luckily they had a lot of other reasons to love them. For a moment I thought maybe Christian was going to tell Lily that he had built her boss's desk - it seemed that was where things were going by his reaction to her telling him about it. It's also pretty obvious that he was the one who made the clock but I didn't mind that not being clear until the end. I loved the friendship between Violet and Lily and how much Lily's own situation with her siblings (who I will get to in a moment) mirrored what was going on between Violet and Gabriel. Even if she could never fix things in her own family at least she could keep these two from making the same mistakes. Now for Lily's siblings, I'm not sure if we will meet them in later books or not, but I do not like them at all. Especially Bellamy. I get that she felt her sister was overbearing, but to just cut her out like that after all the sacrifices Lily had to make after their parents died - nope, bring myself to like her. And when Lily said Bellamy hadn't talked to her for months and then when she did it was to ask for money, that just sealed things up for me. I'm sure if she is going to be featured in a future book the author will work to make her worth rooting for, I'm just saying it is going to take a lot for me to get on board. That is why I was so glad when Lily decided to stay where she was and embrace her found family rather than giving them up for the very slight chance of maybe reconciling with her siblings. This was the first book I've read from this author and I am very much looking forward to see what she comes up with next!

This is the first time I've read a book written by Aurrora St. James and it does not disappoint. You step back in time with Lilly two hundred years were she runs into Violet. Violet brings Lily home with her we're Lily meets Violet's older brother Gabriel Hawthorne, Earl of Rothden. As things start to heat up between the two in walks Gabriel's ex-mistress who has come to reclaim her man! The Earl's Timely Wallflower characters come off the pages and pull you into this wonderful story, with steamy passion and with a plot that leaves you looking forward to the next in the series.

So as a rule I don’t do time travel books. But something about this really appealed to me so here goes…

I really enjoyed this one. It was the right book at the right time for me. Since I’d just resorted to re-reading old favourites yet again.

It’s a sweet entertaining romance. Lovely characters and a nice little story.
It’s purely a romance (not a bad thing at all) but I found myself over thinking things.

I’m assuming/hoping Christian and the intriguing Zeph will get their own books.

I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by the publisher and NetGalley.