Caught by Surprise by Jen Turano

Miss Temperance Flowerdew is on her way to work when a stranger suddenly grabs her off the street and sends her on a Chicago-bound train before she can figure out what happened.

When Mr. Gilbert Cavendish is called upon to rescue a missing woman, he follows the trail to Chicago only to discover that the woman is his good friend Temperance. Before they can discover who was behind the abduction, they're seen alone together by a New York society matron, putting their reputations at risk.

Gilbert is willing to propose marriage--except Temperance will have none of it. She's finally stepped out of the shadow of her relations and won't give up her independence. But when it becomes clear the misunderstanding in Chicago has escalated into a threat on her life and followed her to New York, accepting Gilbert's help in solving the mystery may lead to more than she ever could have dreamed.

Caught by Surprise is the third novel and final novel in Jen Turano's Apart from the Crowd series, aka the Wallflower girls as I like to think of them. All of the novels in this series can be read separately, but you certainly will have the most understanding about the backgrounds of the supporting characters in this novel if you read them in order. Caught by Surprise was an entertaining read, with secret villains, incompetent criminals, lip-reading spinsters, and lots of almost-lists. The plot moved at an appropriate pace and held unexpected twists and turns that took me a little while to figure out. 

I enjoyed the dialogue between characters, particularly between Mercy and her brother at the beginning, as well as the verbal sparring between Temperance and Gilbert throughout the novel. It was fun to see how characters from the previous novels were interspersed as well, which allowed the reader to see how their lives had progressed from the other books. I also liked watching both Gilbert and Temperance work to discover both their similarities and differences and learn to embrace change the habits they had adopted in the decade or so before. One thing I would have liked to see more of was a better weaving of having faith and trust in God into the story. I think the characters' faith could have been expressed more clearly, especially as they began to return to their trust in God throughout the story. Overall, however, I thought this novel was a light and enjoyable summer read, and it was amusing to get to know the characters over the course of the three novels. 

I received this novel from Jen Turano and Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.