***3 Stars***

I’ve attempted this review a few times, but it always seems that when its a book I simply “Like” finding the words is always hard, probably because the book while enjoyable, didn’t go beyond that, so, I’m gonna keep it short and sweet.

I loved the premise and did find the extreme’s the women appeared to go to and the uproar it caused amusing. I liked Sylvia and Clayton. I like how Sylvia took charge of her life and while there were moments where I think she went a bit OTT, I still loved her sense of self. Clayton, while staid in certain ways, was a good man...he had to be considering his mother and sisters and truly did want the best for everyone in his life. Their journey to their HEA was cute and while I didn’t get any overwhelming feelings for or against them being together, I did like them together in the end.

A lot goes on in this book and it is a spin off of another series, something I didn’t know prior to diving in, but it didn’t make a big difference to my enjoyment of the book, though it did have me wanting to pick up Lila’s book to read about her. As for the supporting cast of characters...all are quite unique and at times headache inducing but I really liked Lila, Sylvia’s sister, and Eris and Anwenn, Clayton’s sisters and Valen and am really wanting to keep up with all of them, so I think I’ll keep an eye out for the next book in the series as well as look at a few that are already out and see how it goes.

This novel as an interesting premise, a society of women meeting to discuss important issues and avoid marriages that would take away their freedom. Widowed Lady Sylvia Elton is the heroine and leader of the group. Her marriage was less than ideal, with her husband deciding to abandon her for another woman right before he died. But when the story takes off, she is living with her husband's former lover and another scandalous woman. They all run the society together.

I liked the idea of independent women banding together to support each other and other women, but that support was not always present in their actions. At times, I was a bit bored reading and had to force myself to focus.

I did like the hero, Clayton , who has loved the heroine for years and seems to genuinely wish her happy and care about his large family (all sisters!). It is fun watching him change his views through contact with the society, and I love his relationships with his sisters.

This is the first book in a new series, but I kept feeling like I missed important events that happened before the start of the novel. This made the threats in this book weird because they clearly stemmed from events I did not read. So, if you are caught up on all of Caldwell's work, you will be in a better position to enjoy this.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher and Net Galley in return for a fair review.

This is a second chance love story with the sweetest hero. I absolutely adored Clayton. He is such a genuinely sweet and kind person who cares about his family, his mother and his sisters. He believes that he is cursed like his family and doesn’t want to marry. I was not a huge fan of Sylvia. I was looking forward to her story for a while and somehow her character was a bit disappointing for me. I loved that she was so instrumental in creating the Mismatch society but some of her principles about marriage and men didn’t work for me. I am really curious about the other members of the Mismatch society and cannot wait to read their stories. I also loved reading about Clayton’s amazing sisters and wish we get to read their stories soon. This is book one from this series but I would highly recommend reading Lila’s story from the lost lords of London series first. I felt like it was instrumental in moving this story and otherwise you might feel like you are missing something.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review*

It is always a great pleasure to read a Christi Caldwell book. You can count on an intriguing storyline and wonderful characters. Clayton Kearsley, Viscount St. John, is such an awesome hero. He is a really good person, with great care and compassion. He has loved Lady Sylvia since she was a young debutante, but always believed that he was under a curse and would die young. He didn’t believe that he was good enough for her, and he wouldn’t want to hurt her, so he introduces her to his best friend, and then watches the two of them marry. Sadly, his friend is a liar and a cheat, and treats her horribly. Years later, she is a widow, and very jaded against marriage and men in general. She starts a society for likeminded women, which reunites Clayton and Sylvia, when his own sisters and Mother become members of her group. The rekindling of their friendship and growing attraction, was a joy to take part in. Clayton’s six younger sisters were fun and quirky. All in all, a most enjoyable read.

This book highlights the precarious situations women in Regency England face. They must marry and even if widowed it is considered improper if she is young not to return to her family. This book details the experience of a woman who wants to live her life on her terms and finds herself drawing together a group of like-minded women. I found this book to be repetitive. Both Sylvia and Clayton keep going round in circles with their arguments as to why they can't be together and overall this book didn't stand out from the crowd. It's an okay read but not one that is memorable.I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review, my opinions remain my own. Thank you Net Galley!

I have slowly been getting into historical romance since the beginning of 2021 and so I requested this novel to further my search for authors and stories that would be for me. I am so glad I requested this one, I loved it.

The writing at first was a touch confusing, but I got used to it fairly quickly and it was no longer a problem later on. I also found myself wishing it had been written in the first person.

Clayton was a character I enjoyed following, as I appreciated his values. And his chemistry with Sylvia was off the charts, I absolutely love how their relationship was written. The intimate scenes were steamy, and well written. I loved reading it.

As for Sylvia, I absolutely adored the direction her story took. The society she makes is such an inspiring story and it made me really cherish her character, and love when the story would pan back to her again.

In short, I absolutely loved this novel and would highly recommend it for someone looking to get into historical romance or romance in general. I loved how empowered the women were and it made the transition from modern romance to a regency romance much smoother. In all, it was entertaining, sexy and a great overall read.

Highly recommend,

Sylvia, a widow, has set her mind to saving young ladies from the fate that she endured during her marriage. She, along with two of her friends, start the Mismatch Society. While one of their purposes is to make women aware of their options, they do other good works. But society only sees one part of their organization. When Clayton comes back into her life, they come up with a way to use him to their advantage.

When Clayton is tasked with talking to the leader of the Mismatch Society, he didn't realize that it was the woman that he loved and had walked away from. When he is asked to join the society, he at first turns them down. But he soon changes his mind when he realizes that he can fulfill the wish of the lady's husband by looking after her. What he doesn't count on is learning that he still have feelings for her.

While Sylvia is determined that she will never marry again, will being around Clayton again change her mind?

I really enjoyed Sylvia and Clayton's story! I always adore second chance romances and Caldwell didn't disappoint. It was fun to watch Clayton during the meetings as he finally started to understand what a woman's lot in life was and to see he transformation. Sylvia had her own transformation as she came to realize that a marriage with Clayton would be one that allowed her to be the person she was and that it wouldn't suppress her as her first marriage did. This was a great start to a new series and I can't wait to read more!

Christi Caldwell has been a favourite of mine for years and I cannot believe I’m rating this a 2, but this book was a miss and was almost a DNF for me.

This is the first book in the new series though some of the characters and subplots were introduced in previous books. While this book is written as a stand-alone, a lot of the plot would be better understood if you have previously read “In the dark with the Duke“.

A few things were going on in the story but essentially, widowed Sylvia Elton starts a “Mismatch Society” intending to change the marriage mart. Her late husband was lying and unfaithful to her throughout her marriage and she found out too late. So she decides that if she can, she will try and help young women and teach them that they deserve better than lying lords and broken hearts.
Clayton Kearsley needs to marry to protect his sisters but the marriage mart is changing and someone has started a club for this. Intending to dismantle the club, he goes to the society only to find out that it's Sylvia who heads it. Clayton and Sylvia were close friends before her marriage to her lying husband who was introduced to her by Clayton himself. But he kept away because of his guilt and the fact that he was secretly in love with her from the start.

The first few chapters were interesting but it started to drag a while later and I couldn’t connect with anyone from this story and most characters were easily forgettable. The plot had a solid foundation to focus on strong interesting characters and relationships, but it turned out to be all a missed opportunity.

While I do understand the direction the “Mismatch Society” was meant to take, it sort of fell flat for me. Instead of her lectures that marriage is a mistake, I would have rather liked to see Sylvia teach how women can live independently. A lot of times, Sylvia seemed immature and stubborn to lead a group of young impressionable women. There were a lot of repeated monologues which made the whole reading experience drag.

While I was disappointed with the first book in the series, I am not writing off this series completely and hope the next book will have her old charm.

I love widowed Lady Sylvia Elton she’s decided to finally take control of her life, but what she doesn’t expect is for her home to become a ladies society. A society to enlighten woman, so much so they are canceling engagement’s to the finance’s and talking their brothers into marriage instead. That’s where Clayton Kearsley, the Viscount St. John, can’t allow these wantons to dismantle when he discovers his sisters have turned things around on him. I love this enter action between Clayton who has secretly love Sylvia, but he stood back so his best friend could bring her happiness. A captivating story as Sylvia decides to help Clayton find his own wife and rediscovers her love for him. I voluntarily read and reviewed this excellent book.

Someone Wanton His Way Comes by Christi Caldwell
Wantons of Waverton #1

I read the first chapter and thought…Really?
I read on and thought…unbelievable and wouldn’t have happened in that era at allll
I skimmed further and …further…and then thought…SPOOF?
I read the end and back in the middle and…
Was disappointed.

That said: Every other book I have read by this author was perfection and made me want to read more and that is just the reason I requested this book. I think this book, as a spoof, might work but should be labeled as such. I can’t see Sylvia being in a house with the women she chose to live with, being allowed to raise her son in that setting, having that much impact on the women she set her society up with…so much just didn’t seem plausible or possible. I didn’t relate to the characters or the story and was sad about that, too. Since I have read and loved other books by this author I will try another book by Ms Caldwell in the future, but perhaps not one in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC – This is my honest review.

1-2 Stars

I liked the characters in this book, especially all of the family members of Clayton. For some reason I began to feel like the story got bogged down in the middle. Some of the ideals that the main characters had seemed a bit unrealistic especially considering that they couldn’t keep 5heir hands off each other whenever they were alone.

Women taking a stand!

A young woman is trying to keep her life together after discovering her dead husband Norman Prescott, the Earl of Norfolk, was on the verge of leaving her.
The dead man’s closest friend from Eton days, Clayton Kearsley, Viscount St. John, realises he hasn’t honored his friend Norfolk’s request to look after his wife Sylvia, along with her son, despite his anger with Norfolk.
Meanwhile Lady Sylvia Caufield, the Countess of Norfolk, has taken up residence with two other women, Lady Annalee and Valerie Bragger. The two women living with Sylvia have come there by an interesting route. They are considered outrageous. Along with other women they form an association, the Mismatch Society, to take a stand against women being bartered in marriage. Amongst them are some of Clayton’s sisters and his mother. Of course this becomes scandalous. So much so that Sylvia’s in laws see this as a way to getting access to their grandchild (and there’s a mystery around this).
To me the pièce de résistance is Clayton's relationship with his mother and sisters, especially his youngest sister, Eris. She’s just fabulous. Some of the scenes between them are just too precious for words.
As a bonus we have the women of Clayton’s family wanting him to marry before a family curse leaves them stranded, Sylvia trying to protect herself and her son, various women doing the Regency equivalent of the Me Too Movement, and Clayton in love with Sylvia.
Women from the Lost Lords of London form part of the group. Lila is Sylvia’s sister met in ‘In the Dark with the Duke,’ along her friend Lady Annalee. This series opens up a whole new suite of plots.
A Regency romantic comedy, with an underlying serious dilemma, a second chance trope inclusion, and women taking a stand.
Great beginning!

A Montlake ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Clayton Kearsley, Viscount St. John lives with six sisters from ages four to twenty-four and his mother It takes a special man with patience to live in this household. Manipulation isn't uncommon. When Clayton finds himself committed to finding a wife, he knows he's been had. When three of his sisters join the Mismatch Society he's curious. The lady in charge is the widow of one of his use to be best friends. He's carried a torch since she came out years ago. He's afraid of falling in love with a wife to be. She's afraid of marrying again. When it comes to sharing the same space, they can't keep their hands off each other. Secrets on both sides have a way of destroying happiness. This couple definitely needs to be together. Humor keeps an uplifting beat to the story. I love this book!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

***4.5 stars***

I really enjoyed this book, I thought it was different from many other Regency Romance novels, it was engaging and had two leading protagonists that I thought were perfect for one another.

Sylvia is widowed and the disappointment her marriage before widowhood brought her has lead her - with a circle of friends - to set up the Mismatch Society. This society seeks to find ways of improving women's rights, freedoms and place in society, which at this time was very much restricted.

Clayton has always loved Sylvia, and witnessed his best friend make her his wife. Now that his sisters are part of the Mismatch Society, Clayton and Sylvia are very much back in each others worlds. This pairing had a wonderful chemistry together, that really had me gripped, I thought they were a great couple that actually felt right for each other throughout the book.

The author has created a lovely world that is historical and feels modern. Characters that are entertaining, warm and believable. The secondary characters added perfectly to the story, and I hope to read more about those characters in future.

This is a complete stand-alone story. I highly recommend for readers who enjoy historical romance fiction.

A widow with a young son, Sylvia becomes the leader of a society of women determined never to marry. Clayton, best friend to her late philandering husband, is determined to protect her reputation. But when her father-in-law the marquess threatens to take away her son, can anything be done to help her?

Caldwell's most recent works have been on the darker side. By contrast, this novel is light and funny, with a delightful cast. Clayton is sweet and a little awkward, a big teddy bear devoted to his six irrepressible sisters. Sylvia is outgoing and charismatic, but also patient and kind. The two bring out the best in each other. It's so fun to watch them gradually realize, "oh hey, we're in love, we should probably get married or something." Such a good book!

Even though I received a NetGalley ARC, I listened to the audiobook, which is fabulous. This is my honest and voluntary review.

She's had to endure and he can't ask for what he wants.

From the start, we know that Clayton is an honorable man, who knew his best friend married Sylvia but was leaving her for his mistress.

Now widowed with a son, Sylvia is set on disrupting the marriage mart (she was burned big time by her own marriage, as he husband cheated on her and was leaving her for another girl).
Clayton is set to foil her, but can he ever articulate his admiration for Sylvia?

I enjoyed both Sylvia and Clayton and thought they were cleverly matched.

Recommend.

I loved Sylvia with her strong will, not one to be pushed around while trying to be as proper as she could be. Then there was Clayton, who always tried to think before he spoke. Sylvia had had a rough marriage and poor Clayton was secretly in love with her while pushing her towards his (at the time) best friend. They both had secrets they needed to share and finally did near the end, which just drew them closer together. Claytons sisters and mother were a hoot, I can't wait for more of their shenanigans. My problem was with Annalee. She's constantly drinking and drunk, yet is invited to society functions and hasn't been blacklisted? I just had no good or happy thoughts for her. Valerie was a dear and I hope we see more of her! Claytons friends are sure to have interesting stories coming, as well. The society the ladies created was strange for me. Supposed to be for keeping women from making bad marriages, yet it sounded in the story like a hate-fest of the men and marriage in total, not just a help group. Finally, I'm glad we finally had closure with Lady Prendergast (maybe), that woman is evil! Thank you for the advanced copy of the book, it was a pleasure to read it!

After a terrible experience married to a husband who loved another, widowed Lady Sylvia Elton is determined to claim her independence and keep other young ladies from making the same mistakes. Her late husband’s reputation remains pristine in his absence while Sylvia suffers the damage wrought by his infidelity. When Sylvia establishes her own household with two other ladies, her bid for freedom leads to the accidental inception of the Mismatch Society. As their membership grows, the male half of the peerage finds their betrothals broken and marital prospects dashed, wreaking havoc and heartbreak on the structure of Society. Sylvia has many men at her door demanding answers and collecting female family members, but she’s shocked when one of them turns out to be her old friend, Viscount St. John.

Clayton Kearsley, Viscount St. John, needs to marry to ensure his mother and six younger sisters are secure when he’s gone, so he needs to stop the damage being wrought on the marriage mart. He’s surprised to find the leader of this subversion is his childhood best friend’s widow, a lovely woman he has cared for since the moment he met her. Believing himself unworthy of her and cursed to die young, Clayton introduced her to his best friend, a well-meant action he now deeply regrets, and which causes him to feel responsible for the hurt she has endured.

Now, brought back into her orbit, Clayton is determined to reason with Sylvia and tamp down his ever-present attraction to her. But if he could drum up the nerve to be honest with her about his feelings and convince her to let down her guard, they could both find happiness they only dreamed of.

I have been so looking forward to Sylvia’s story after how she was hurt by her clueless first husband, and I loved that Clayton had loved her and pined for her all along. That said, as Clayton himself notes, there is a sadness that comes with that when thinking of all the time they wasted. Otherwise, this book was incredibly heavy on its denigration of men and rather light on the romance. I liked that Clayton was such a good sport and a genuinely good man, and I never felt like his character was emasculated, though I do wish he’d stood up for himself a bit more. The way Clayton was treated by his mother and sisters was just wrong and callous on their parts. He was stressed about their futures, finances, and welfare and they couldn’t have cared less about his happiness as long as they got their freedom.

I wanted more balance here. There was entirely too much reiteration on Sylvia’s part of her intention to never marry again and all the reasons she was against it. Similarly, Clayton’s own inner monologues on all the reasons he could never be with Sylvia were overdone and both of these themes got extremely repetitive. In her outbursts at society meetings, Sylvia merely reminded me of a child showing off in front of friends with all her vehement railing against marriage than as a mature and critically thinking woman. The concept of the Society was a good one with several solid points, but they had just as many that were nonsensical and their insistence that men should marry to secure their families rather than women marrying made no sense. If women were to cease marrying altogether, just who were these men to be left with?? The woman didn’t want to be judged or stereotyped by men even as they hypocritically judged and stereotyped men and their treatment of ladies who were married or wished to marry was definitely not inclusive. These were just a couple fatal flaws in the argument that made me annoyed with the society as a whole, but I’ve never been one to have many female friends so maybe that’s part of my issue. I don’t disagree with all the points made by the Society, but many of their arguments were just impractical and nonsensical and had me rolling my eyes at them and their lack of foresight.

It was also frustrating to me that Sylvia constantly affirms how good of a man Clayton is and defends him to the other ladies, yet she still doubts him when it comes to his interactions with her. I thought Clayton was truly a good and honorable man and he deserved better from all the females around him, especially Sylvia. I think many of these scenes, especially the banter between Clayton’s truly odd sisters, were meant to be humorous but they were just a bit annoying to me and slowed the flow of the story. Given how serious and slightly dark this author’s books tend to be, the lightness and comedy of this one was unexpected and rather lost on me. The contradictions in the women’s arguments made this story seem rather convoluted to me and I think Sylvia’s character was let down a bit here and her behavior didn’t match up with the Sylvia I liked as a supporting character in previous books.

Overall, this was a solid second chance story between Sylvia and Clayton, but I wanted more romance, and especially to see Sylvia giving more and being warmer toward Clayton. The ending and resolution of the villain also felt rushed after the tedium of the first half of the book and could’ve been detailed a bit more. Also, though this is the first book in a new series, it does contain spoilers for the previous series, The Lost Lords of London, and I’d recommend reading that series first. All in all, this was a sound story with a satisfying ending, but I would’ve loved to see more development from Sylvia earlier on in the story, more appreciation for Clayton, and less of a farce with the ladies.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love Christi Caldwell's books and this one was no different! In Someone Wanton His Way Comes, our main heroine is out to save others from horrible fate - marriage. Sylvia experienced the worst situation imaginable, a husband who only married her out of duty and now as a widow, she and two other interesting ladies, start a society to help other young ladies avoid the trap.

I loved Sylvia and when I learned more about her backstory with Clayton, I was even more interested in how this whole thing would play out.

As far as Clayton's re-introduction to Sylvia, it was perfectly done and I loved how his sisters fit into the whole thing. It was clear Clayton had feelings for Sylvia and while I understood his outlook, I was happy to see he didn't let his curse deter him from taking a chance.

Overall, this was another great story from Caldwell and I will continue to look for more of her books to read!

This is the first in the brilliant Christi Caldwell’s new series The Wantons of Waverton, three ladies with a past form first friendship and then a society to help women have a voice in a time when they were rarely allowed opinions or control of their lives. The leader of the Mismatch Society is our heroine, Sylvia widow to Norman, Earl of Norfolk. We first met her in the Spitfire her brother Henry March, Earl of Waterson’s story and more recently in her sister Lila’s book In the Dark with the Duke. Sylvia does not want to give her heart again after her husbands betrayal and murder, she wants to be allowed to raise her son without the interference of her family and treacherous in-laws. Clayton, Viscount St. John, became friends with Sylvia years ago and always carried a torch for her but believing his family is cursed and he will die young, introduced her to his best friend Norman, convinced they would have true love and happiness. Following Norman’s death, guilt prevented him from renewing their friendship then the Mismatch Society ends a friends betrothal, Clayton sets off to confront the leader unaware it is Sylvia. Although there is some serious content there is a lot of humor and laughter, mainly from Claytons fabulous sisters and Sylvias housemates. Our heroine and hero eventually confront their feelings and admit they love each other deeply and get a well deserved HEA. As always Christ’s characters have depth and a realness to them, her stories blend drama and humor superbly they are a joy to read. Although Sylvia has appeared in previous books it should not prevent a first time reader enjoying this story you will however be hooked on Christi’s work afterwards. I cannot recommend this book enough, no one comes close to her in the regency genre, her stories get better and better.