I love the Wynchester family and their adventures. This story is about Tommy Wynchester. She is in love but it is with a bluestocking woman. The romance is an interesting dance of desire versus the parents that want a marriage with a titled man. Meanwhile the Wynchester family have escapades to execute. I thought it was a good story. And the ending was heart warming.

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an ARC of this in exchange for my honest review! I heard about this and couldn’t wait to read it, not only is it from a historical romance author I’ve been enjoying, but a queer historical romance? Need it.

I loved Tommy in the first Winchester’s book, because her dressing up was so fun! I especially loved that we had such diversity in sexuality and gender expression, with such an accepting and loving found family around them. Philippa read demisexual to me, though that word is never used, she describes her sexuality as (subject to change in the final edition) “All my life I believed I could not feel physical attraction because I had never felt that way about a man…the closer we became, the more…fluttery I felt inside…I needed to feel connected…[to] unlock my desire” and I thought that was really lovely. Tommy’s desire to find someone to love her as herself and not one of her characters was so emotional. I can’t wait for Graham’s story!

The Wild Wynchesters are at it again (and thank God for that!) This time we have a story of a man (well really men) getting credit for women's genius and hard work and need to be exposed--enter the Wynchesters. Meanwhile Tommy is still stuipdly in love with Miss York (stupidly being the key point, as Tommy can't even say hello to her if she is not in one of her many disguises). When I began the book, I was wondering how on Earth Erica Ridley was going to make Mrs. York, the title grasping and not a very good mother, accept her daughter getting together with our Tommy, considering they are both born female. I won't spoil it for you, but obviously readers will get a happily ever after by the end. If you are looking to add a book with a queer character to your historical romance collection, this would be a great choice. Our lead tries on many identities and explains it to Phillipa in what would be considered in our time to be "gender fluid". I won't ruin either adventure for you, but it is the Wynchesters, so you know it will all work out in the end--it is the ride that is the fun part!

Tommy is a master of disguise who has spent over a year trying to muster up the courage to talk to her crush, the lovely bluestocking Philippa, as herself rather than one of her many personas. Philippa has spent the year trying to avoid her parents' plots to marry her off to a titled gentleman. When Philippa's ladies' reading circle joins forces with Tommy and her adopted siblings to prevent an unscrupulous man from profiting off the cryptography work of one of the reading circle's members, an attraction between the two slowly blossoms. This delightful queer romance featuring nonbinary, sapphic, and (reading between the lines) demisexual representation is perfect for readers of Olivia Waite, Cat Sebastian, and the Bridgerton series.

The Wynchesters are quickly ensconcing themselves as one of my favorite fictional families, and I am eagerly awaiting more tales of romance and derring do.

I’m enjoying this series, the characters are all completely different from those in traditional Regency romances and the capers they get involved are intriguing. It’s refreshing to see a romance with two women and a group of intelligent blue stockings. Tommy is so complex and unusual that you can’t help but fall in love with all the characters she plays, while wanting to be loved for herself. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series!

It's always harder to review something when you absolutely loved it beyond reason. This was absolutely amazing from start to finish. I read this book without reading the novel or novellas before and while they aren't necessary to understand this one, I will now be going back to read them.

This is the first book by Erica Ridley I have read and even just after one book I can see that she is my favorite historical romance author. This book was DELIGHTFUL. It was charming, it was sweet, it was unexpectedly hilarious.

Philippa has trouble going after what she wants if she thinks it's going to negatively impact her status or the status of those close to her, to the point where she keeps herself from finding her own happiness. I enjoyed watching her grow throughout the story. I thought that her character arc was incredibly well-done and was rooting for her and Tommy the entire time.

Now Tommy, I have so many things to say about her. I love that there is a nonbinary sapphic (likely nonbinary lesbian, but the word is only used when Philippa is speculating about her, and is not used by Tommy herself) character in this novel. I don't see that very often and I'm incredibly grateful for the representation. Tommy is a master of disguise who really just wants to be able to be herself, the disguises are fun, but at the end of the day she just wants to be Tommy. Her little quips, especially when she's in a certain disguise, add such great humor to this novel. I love the way this character was handled.

The FAMILY. They are one of the sweetest, most hilarious, most loving group of siblings I have ever read about. The way that they care for each other and work together to help others is incredibly heartwarming. I am hoping that every single sibling is going to get their own book, that is the way this series seems to be set up, I want to learn more about every single one of them.

Overall this was an amazing book, I read it in like a day and a half, it was a fast read and so fun and just made me so happy.

my tiktok about this book: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMR2Q1TkV/

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

I did not read the first book in this series, but I will definitely be doing that now! This group of Wynchesters was cracking me up. I think by not reading the first book I've missed some background into what they do, but what I gathered is that they seem to help out people and solve cases. Tommy is so fun, and I love her disguises. Tommy's job here is to pose as a baron to take down a liar plus there's some additional mystery to uncover as well. Tommy is to help Philippa, a bluestocking whose parents are pushing her into marriage, with this task, and romance ensues!

Their romance was so beautiful. Tommy was already head over heels for Philippa, but Philippa definitely needed more time to explore how she felt about everything. I like that she had the space to do so, but Tommy did not want to compromise being herself to be with Philippa.

I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely read more from this author in the future.

This was super cute and fun, and I appreciated that I wasn't sure how Tommy and Philippa were going to find a way to be together, which made it more suspenseful. I'll definitely be going back to read book 1 and will be continuing the series if Ridley writes more!

The eccentric Wynchesters are at it again. This time it is Thomasina’s (Tommy’s) turn to fall in love. She finally gets her chance with Philippa when she gets to help her unmask a liar and a fraud. Philippa has to take a chance on love to be finally happy. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Forever for my honest review.

Book received for free through NetGalley

Like all of Erica’s books before this is an amazing book and incredible book. So glad I came across it and had the pleasure of reading. Thanks for the opportunity

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley
Rating: 3 / 5

Summary: Tommy, or Thomasina Wynchester, can be anyone she imagines, a master of disguise she is. She'll do whatever it takes to help her family solve whatever case they're working on currently. Only problem? Their new client is the highlady she is smitten with. When her siblings dare her to go up to Phillipa and finally talk to her, she disguises herself as Baron Vanderburgh. The illusionary heir of the previous Baron Vanderburgh. Phillipa isn't interested in men, she's being forced to marry in order to raise her family's reputation. So she is pleasantly surprised when she discovers that Baron Wynchester is indeed a female. So a plan is devised between them. However, Phillipa never anticipated falling for a women. As things progress, and the stakes rise, can Phillipa and Tommy make it out of this without one of them getting hurt?

Review: I enjoyed reading this book a lot. It was fun and the characters were easy to get attached to. The romance was nice to follow and it left me feeling warm and snuggly. I was not expecting this book to be spicy but i do not mind it. Those scenes were very well written. The reason why I didn't give this book a 4 or a 5 is because it isn't a book that i really loved. I enjoyed it, but it did have some issues that i didn't enjoy quite much.

I didn't enjoy that there seemed to be two plots happening at the same time and one of them wasn't well develop. The romance part was wonderfully developed and i enjoyed how well it progressed. However the other plot point of this books felt like it was put in so that this book didn't seem like just a romance book. I think had it been just a romance book instead of adding the when cipher it, i would have enjoyed it more. But that's just my opinion and I'm sure others will enjoy this book more.

The other thing i didn't enjoy is that this book was quite lengthy and read slow in some parts. So it was a lot of convincing myself to continue it and being happy i did once i got past those slow parts. Again, this may just be me. I was never quite a fan of slow paced books. So that this one got a 3 / 5 stars is a compliment from me.

Okay aside from these two things though, i did like the book. I liked the characters, especially our protagonist Tommy. She was wonderful and i would gladly read more about her. Phillipa, the love interest, was also great and i would have loved reading from her perspective. The romance between Phillipa and Tommy felt very well written and i could honestly believe that they were in love by the end of the book.

All in all, a nice book.

This series is a blast, and I would love to join this family. I thought Ridley did a beautiful, careful job telling the story of a character who might identify as gender fluid today, in a time without that language. It was a fun, rompy Leverage style blockheads to lovers with a wonderful warm undercurrent of family communication. I can't wait to see what Ridley did next!