The Perks of Loving a Wallflower

(3.5, rounding up.) Brief note on the cover: this doesn't look like Tommy and Philippa as described in the book - Tommy is NB (with she/her pronouns), wears more pants than dresses, and has short hair, and Philippa is described as curvy and heavier, and shorter than Tommy. Normally I'd be annoyed at this, but I'm going to cut some slack for this being a pandemic release, plus this is actually an adorable cover with a sweet backstory: https://twitter.com/LaurenAbramo/status/1452983027664052240 Anyway. Never really got the McGuffin here but you don't really need to in order to follow the plot, which is full of heists and disguises and dramatic reveals and is a lot of fun overall. Somehow I missed that this is the second in a series, so I'm going to go back and read [b:The Duke Heist 53916141 The Duke Heist (The Wild Wynchesters, #1) Erica Ridley https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591923531l/53916141.SY75.jpg 75327400] now that I know, because I do enjoy the Wynchesters as characters and the family banter. I wish there'd been a little more exploration of Tommy's NB identity, but what there was seemed well done to me. I wasn't really sure about the tone of some of the stuff with Philippa's parents - it seemed like it was supposed to be funny in a lot of places, but locking your daughter in her room until she agrees to marry someone you choose for her isn't great, actually?. A few minor nits, but I enjoyed this one a lot overall!

Delightful semi-historical romp with non-binary main character, queer love story and liberal sprinkling of feminist messaging amongst tidbits of mystery and derring do. More genderfuckery in romantic leads, pretty please! 

Hard of hearing rep

⚠️ queer character might be demisexual rep, but due to what might be period typical mindsets, she speaks in less than flattering terms about herself prior to experiencing desire with romantic lead; these terms reflect negative/ignorant sentiments about asexuality  - be warned!