Lit Wallflowers Podcast

This week, Toni and Wendy are laughing at the many situations Charlotte and Piers have found themselves in.  During the Regency era, many situations can make you the gossip of the ton.  Simply being in a room with one person of the opposite sex can start an engagement.  Sometimes, intimate noises and inferences can put us in hot water even when the “tupping” was not done by the couple who hid from...

Toni and Wendy are back with sugar-coated Pauline and heart-broken Griffin, Duke of Halford.  We are thrown curveballs during our lifetime.  Then, we make decisions to deal with what we’re dealt with.  Sometimes, a situation gives us the opportunity to create a better life for ourselves and those we love.  Other times, a situation flips our world upside down.  Usually, life changing situations are...

This week, Wendy and Toni talk about our favorite music teacher, Kate, and the brooding corporal, Thorne.  We all have insecurities.  We can be insecure about a physical birthmark or being ashamed of an unsavory past, for example.  All scars leave a physical, mental or emotional mark.  Whatever it may be, we have the choice to use our scar to dictate what we do and don’t deserve in life. Or, we ha...

Wendy and Toni are back with fossil-loving Minerva and fun-loving Colin in “A Week to Be Wicked” by Tessa Dare. It’s always a good idea to use the buddy system.  Yet, beggars can't be choosers.  So, when an important career event is coming up and a woman needs protection, we make a man pose as our betrothed.  Journeys can be difficult, especially when we feel some animosity towards our compan...

Wendy and Toni are back with Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series starting with “A Night for Surrender” and “Once Upon a Winter’s Eve.”  Teased as “Spinster Cove,” Spindle Cove is a picturesque place with each day scheduled for a specific activity with new friends.  Not all women participating in country walk Mondays, sea bathing Tuesdays, gardening Wednesdays, and water coloring Fridays are spinsters...

This week, Wendy and Toni talk about the ferret and the fox changing their initial feelings about each other in “Love in the Afternoon" by Lisa Kleypas.  A first impression can last a lifetime.  Good impressions tend to lead to more opportunities to get to know others, but those can fizzle out if deeper, meaningful connections are not made. Unfortunate impressions can evolve into worse impres...

Toni and Wendy are back with the hedgehog keeping her quills up when the cat is around in “Married By Morning" by Lisa Kleypas. Sometimes, we tease and bate family and friends as a form of affection and love. Other times, we don’t realize teasing and baiting each other is a form of flirting, and we want more of those events from a certain person. To that certain person, the antagonism may sim...

This week, Toni and Wendy talk about the cat chasing after the rabbit in “Tempt Me At Twilight" by Lisa Kleypas.  Some of us are fortunate to come from a caring and loving household which sets the precedence for our future relationships.  Some of us make a family and make a home through marriage.  Some of us are extensions of a family through association, like being the governess.  When we ar...

Toni and Wendy are back with the beautiful, well-bred swan longed by the brute horse in "Seduce Me At Sunrise" by Lisa Kleypas. We all have some sort of health issue to some degree, whether mental, physical, emotional or another type. Our issue may be a part of our past, or may stem from our past. Our issue may be a part of our daily life right now, or something we recently overcame. Som...

This week, Wendy and Toni start a new series with the eccentric Hathaway siblings beginning with a mother hen partnering with wily fox in "Mine Till Midnight" by Lisa Kleypas. Some say opposites attract, some say opposites don't. The "physical endowments" of someone who's unlike our usual cup of tea may be a factor in letting them into our sphere, but what determines...

Toni and Wendy are back to talk about an avid reader and a man with two identities from "Scandal in Spring" by Lisa Kleypas. We are in a period when we have more time to connect with our friends and family. We are able to deepen our relationships through quality time. We are able to fix our relationships through listening and supporting each other. Regardless of the relationship status,...

This week, Toni and Wendy talk about the most underestimated wallflower and the most notorious rake from "Devin in Winter" by Lisa Kleypas. Some say we cannot change the cards we are dealt in life, and some say we can. We can either play our hand or change the game. Neither is right nor wrong depending on our perspective and circumstance. However we choose to live, we can better our posi...

Wendy and Toni are back with "It Happened One Autumn" by Lisa Kleypas. We wake up and create memories every day. Sometimes, our actions have unfortunate consequences and our conscience nudges us to beg for someone's pardon. Sometimes, we are reluctant to say "I'm sorry" or couple asking for forgiveness with excuses. Whether heartfelt or forced, saying "I'm s...

This week, Wendy and Toni are back with "Secrets of a Summer Night" by Lisa Kleypas. When gently-bred women come of age during the Regency era, finding a peer to marry is priority. Making a match is easy when one has grace and beauty. Sometimes, even the most beautiful female members of the ton cannot find a husband because of no dowry. Even with a lack of funds, our heroine is not deter...

Wendy and Toni are ecstatic to start Lisa Kleypas's Wallflower series with "Again the Magic." We never know what the future holds for us. We face an ebb and flow of good times and times for growth. During the growth periods, we are great at putting ourselves down and believe we do not deserve our heart's desire. If we take a step back and look at the situation from a different...

It's a duel this bonus episode between Toni and Wendy with an arsenal of Bridgerton or Smythe-Smith Quartet books as a weapon. They welcome back guest speaker and friend Tyler Young from last season's popular episode "13 Traps as Old as Time" to judge which of the twelve Julia Quinn masterpieces reigns supreme. Will the ladies do their characters and book justice within each on...

Wendy and Toni are back to revisit the concept of survival mode with Julia Quinn's "The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy." We are kindly asked to spend more time in our homes these days. We may have four-legged or winged family members who we adore always, and we may have human family members who we adore most of the time. The ladies gave "13 Survival Tricks for Family Gatherin...

This week, Wendy and Toni are back with Julia Quinn's "The Sum of All Kisses." We are flawed creatures. We make mistakes whether we are energized or sleepy, sober or intoxicated. When we have wronged others, we apologize. Although some incidents may cause lifelong effects, a heartfelt apology, usually, begets a pardon. It may be hard to pardon a wrong, but forgiving someone or onese...

Wendy and Toni are back with Julia Quinn's "A Night Like This." Some nights end with an aristocrat falling in love at first sight with a governess. Other nights may cause us to change our demographics in order to survive. Whatever the circumstances for change, what we may need to do to adapt or survive will produce a different person. We will develop into someone stronger and wiser,...

For all of us music lovers, we have a treat this month with Julia Quinn's Smythe-Smith Quartet series. This week, Wendy and Toni are back and wish every day is "Just Like Heaven." Sometimes, unfortunately, we may be caught in hellish situations. We then need to take a break from our independent loving selves, and accept or enlist help. Hopefully, help sometimes brings chocolate cake...

Happily ever after may not be easy to come by, but it's expected for the last unwed Bridgerton in the final book of the Bridgerton series, "On the Way to the Wedding" by Julia Quinn. Love at first sight after seeing a person's neck and back may be a thing, but hopefully it's a two-sided feeling. Sometimes, love doesn't strike fast and hard, but may cause someone to fl...

This episode, Toni and Wendy review Julia Quinn's "Romancing Mister Bridgerton." During the preceding three books in this series, we are intrigued by the mysterious Lady Whistledown. Their identity is revealed and we learn that observing the ton not only produced a gossip sheet, it produced the life's work of the writer for more than ten years. We spend an average of thirteen y...

Toni and Wendy are back with Julia Quinn's "To Sir Phillip, With Love." Little did Eloise know when she ran off to determine if she and Sir Phillip will suit for marriage that she would also gain his unmanageable twins. But, within a short time, Eloise observes that the twins desperately want attention from their distant yet loving father. Join the ladies as they discuss how to spen...

This week, Wendy and Toni are back with Julia Quinn's "When He Was Wicked." A heart-breaking story of true love found and lost. A heart-warming story of moving on and finding love again. Whether we lose our true love, family or friends, jobs or anything we find of any type of value, we are allowed to find solace in our own way. Join the ladies as they discuss some ways on how to mov...

Wendy and Toni are back with Julia Quinn's "It's In His Kiss." A sense of accomplishment is a great, smile-all-day feeling once a goal has been met. Whether you want to learn a new language, solve a cryptic message, be a better kisser or have any dream you want realized, a plan should be developed to determine progress towards an achievement. Join the ladies as they discuss how...