Review of charming, brand new Regency romance The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley

 Mild spoilers in this review.

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley is utterly charming, and a must-read for anyone who loves well-written Regency romances. (If you read a lot of my reviews, I'm pleased to report that this book just came out.  It's not one of my thrift store finds.  In fact, I pre-ordered and paid full price for it.  Support authors, y'all.) 

The first main character of the book is Philippa, whose situation is the standard Regency trope of wallflower whose unloving parents want her to marry a lord (pretty much any lord) to further her father's political career.  Philippa wants to be a dutiful daughter but finds men generally uninteresting and the objects of her parents' ambition specifically loathsome.

The second main character is Tommy, who in today's vocabulary might call themself genderfluid or nonbinary.  When first explaining to Philippa, Tommy says, "Sometimes I'm more like a man, and sometimes I'm  more like a woman, but mostly I feel like . . . both  And neither."  As the book progresses, Tommy becomes frustrated with wordy explanations and says they're just Tommy.  

Tommy comes from an Umbrella Academy-like family of motley orphans adopted together. They don't exactly have superpowers but it's pretty close, with each sibling having trained in a skill set -- disguises, climbing walls, integrating scads of information, etc. -- to an uncanny level.  Unlike in The Umbrella Academy they're nice, and nice to each other, and there's no incest.  

I was worried when I began reading The Perks of Loving a Wallflower that this was going to be a dreadful book in which Tommy first appears to Philippa as a man with an assumed identity and puts off revealing who they really are out of fear of not being accepted, with annoying hijinks to hide the deceit, a reveal from which the relationship is saved only by a kidnapping or life-threatening illness, and general unpleasantness ensuing.  

I am pleased to say that none of that happened.  Tommy revealed their true identity at the first opportunity.  Philippa was fine with it.  The conflict of the story is whether Philippa will be an obedient daughter to parents who don't deserve her loyalty, or be true to herself.  

This book is at times so funny that I burst out laughing.  It is always sweet.  If I have one criticism, it's that the MacGuffin made little sense -- but that's the nature of MacGuffins.  

If it's not clear, I  highly recommend this book. 

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