A Wallflower’s Guide to Viscounts and Vice

De: Manda Collins

Narrado por: Mary Jane Wells

A wallflower and a rake join together to solve a mystery in this charming grumpy/sunshine historical rom-com—the first book in a new series from the bestselling author of A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem!

©2025 Manda Collins (P)2025 Forever

Narrator makes the story even better!

I have listened to almost all of Manda Collins books, and I have enjoyed every single one of them. The books are fun, suspenseful, and romantic.

One of my favorite authors

I love that this books aren’t formulated typical romances. They have interesting characters and fun plots with strong intellectual women. Every book is connected but you don’t feel like you are just reading the same plot over and over. I want more!

Absolutely charming!

The story line had wonderful twists and turns, and the person reading the book had a wonderful ability to change voices with the characters. Very entertaining!

Smart & Fun

Very nice read! This was fun to listen to and very well read. Thank you

Love the characters

I love how the characters are weaved in. I realized I must have missed a couple books but I never felt lost in the story because of it. Just want to go back and listen to those now!

Great addition to M and M universe.

I love the heroine and her general happiness, both with her family/friends and with her new romance. Such a relief to get a break from main characters who endlessly suffer from cruelty for years (too common in romance novels). Lucy just has a nice life and nice mother and nice friends and plenty of money, and then she falls in love with a nice man. It’s the crime and mystery giving us all the drama. Only complaint: I do wish there had been mention of the previous main characters starting families. It’s a bit unrealistic for none of them to have had children. They’ve been married for years (without birth control), and several of them require heirs.

So adorable

Mary Jane Wells made this novel. She is brilliant! The story was perfectly executed, just enough intrigue and romance as to not feel rushed.

Exactly what you want it to be

The story is fairly muddled, but it doesn’t
Really matter. The characters are great fun and the narration is perfect.

Preachy and repetitive

This new series appears to be embracing the things I disliked about the author’s Lady’s Guide series, doubling down on the preachiness and watering down both the romance and the mystery.

The main point of the story was for the characters to tell us how enlightened, respectful, and proper they were. When Wil found out his father bankrupted the estate, for instance, he resolved to marry an heiress. That would have been fine, except then he and his sister and Lucy had an extended discussion on why he wouldn’t raise funds by marrying his sister off. I get it- he’s not like the usual sexist lords. It just went on and on, where every scene was stuffed with telling us how much better the MCs were than everyone else.

Second to the preachiness was the romance, which dominated the first half of the story. I was exasperated at the time Lucy and Wil spent enjoying dances and fawning over each other when they should have been intent on investigating the disappearance of Lucy’s friend. For enlightened people, they were remarkably shallow.

The mystery was a distant third, and only got going in the second half. Even then, there’s no real detective work; the mystery moves forward based upon a series of nonsensical threats and attacks. The author and I are moving in different directions; this is where I stop in the series.

Not the author's best work.

It seemed a little lackluster in comparison to the author's previous stories. But I say that as a huge fan, knowing that I went in with high expectations.

MJW was a great choice for narrator. Her voice acting really immersed me in the story.