The Wallflower Wager delivered many things I love with humor, pathos, and sexy times. It involves a woman who loves everything and everyone and a Very Bad Man who is helpless against her powers. It also involves animal rescue. While there are some structural flaws and the pace of the character revelations bothered me, I ate it up.
Lady Penelope (Penny) Campion rescues animals that no one else loves. She is, at the start of the book, caring for a dog with no back legs who uses a cart for mobility, a litter of kittens, a river otter, a steer, a goat, three hens, and a hedgehog. She has no plans to marry and is pretty OK with this until her Aunt Caroline tells her that Penny’s brother, Bradford, has demanded that Penny return from her home in London (she lives alone if you can count living with an elderly servant and a lot of pets as “alone”) to his house in the country. Penny has horrible memories of growing up in the country house and Aunt Caroline suggests that perhaps Bradford will let her stay in London if she can find homes for all the pets and make a social splash.
At this time Penny discovers that the empty house next to hers is no longer empty. It is occupied by Gabriel Duke, AKA The Duke of Ruin, who is refurbishing it with the aim of selling it for a profit. Gabriel is a Very Bad Man who has gone from an impoverished childhood to riches by legal yet nefarious means. Gabriel thinks he can’t be loved. Penny loves everyone. They ally for plot reasons to find homes for the pets and keep Penny in London, and of course sexy times commence, as does much rescue pet-related hilarity.
Bitches, I am cranky these days, and my cranky self would like to remind you that when it comes to healing a man with the Power of Love, don’t try this at home. In real life, Gabriel would not become a softy almost instantaneously (although, points to the story, he does regress at almost the last minute, only to grovel appropriately for a happy ending). In real life, it would be a codependent nightmare. However, this is a romance, and as a romance, it is a very delightful novel.
Structurally, the book suffers from being a little too tidy. Both Gabriel and Penny have past traumas. Both are hinted at until they are spelled out for each other and for the reader, neatly, one at a time. Gabriel gets a chapter and so does Penny. The reader will quickly guess at Penny’s trauma. For those who might be triggered, I’ll tell you:
She was molested for years by a family friend.
The hints are broadly telegraphed, and then when each chapter appears, it’s set up so distinctly that feels a bit Very Special Episode-ish. On the other hand, Gabriel’s reaction to Penny’s revelation is perfect. He sets aside his own feelings and makes sure she has tea and food and a bed and her doggie to snuggle. Later on, his hang-ups about their relationship are perfectly in character with his own trauma.
The romance is typified by the fact that Gabriel and Penny are allies who become strange friends. Penny thrives under Gabriel’s respect and admiration for her. Gabriel blossoms under Penny’s unwavering affection. Penny is loving but strong-willed, and Gabriel thinks of himself as ruthless but is actually a big marshmallow, so they get along just fine. The fact that they have great chemistry doesn’t hurt.
Otherwise, this book has abundant charms in many mammalian forms. We are here for the animals, and they are magnificent. We are here for the dialogue, and it is perfection. We are here (or rather, I am, since this is a catnip thing for me) the hero’s realization that he deserves love, and the heroine’s receival of long-overdue recognition as the amazing person she is. The relationship between Penny and Gabriel is delightful, as are Penny’s relationship with her friends, and Gabriel’s with the husbands of Penny’s friends, and the relationship between Gabriel’s architect and his housekeeper.
This is a lovely book about two unseen people who see each other. It’s also a good book about the evils of home repair and the horror of realizing that your rescue parrot was rescued from a brothel and learned interesting words there. It’s fun, it has pathos, there are clothes both hilariously awful and droolingly lovely, it contains found family, and it has plentiful humor. A keeper, for sure.
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Is there a baby epilogue or other pregnancy subplot? Struggling through infertility here & I just cannot right now.
@Claire: this showed up on my kindle this morning. A quick flip to the end: epilogue is focused on animals but does mention baby.
For Claire
*SPOILER WARNING!!!*
Penny’s friend Alex (heroine of the previous novel) is pregnant for basically the whole book. She’s a side character, but she’s hella pregnant and it is consistently mentioned.
There is a goat pregnancy and delivery scene.
In the epilogue, they have two kids that never appear on screen: one old enough to play in the park with the child of the heroine from the first novel and one sleeping baby.
That’s everything I can think of. Hope that helps and I’m sorry for your struggles.
I almost stayed home to read this today… but today is payday, & since my boss is on vacation & my accounting clerk is on maternity leave, payroll processing is all on me. Not even a new Tessa Dare is worth facing angry coworkers deprived of their paychecks!
I won’t be getting to this series until (probably?) late September, but I feel like I NEED this book in my life right now.
Why do I feel like I’ve read this before when I can’t possibly have given the release date? I love Tessa Dare so I’m all in.
So much love to @Claire. Infertility treatment was a relentless, soul-crushing couple of years for me. xoxo
I INHALED this book. Loved the heroine, loved the hero, loved the tight knitted community of friends, who adored and cared for the heroine, and – naturally – I loved Delilah, the parrot with an unparalleled sense for dramatic moments.
The whole book was a delight – even the very last sentence had me laughing out loud.
I’m here to hug Claire. *HUGS*
This sounds so delightful. As I read I was like “please tell me they end up in a house filled with animals!”
I got back from vacation yesterday and I don’t go back to work until tomorrow. This book arriving on my Kindle was a delightful surprise (I knew I’d ordered it but forgot the publication date). Penelope would appreciate that I read it on my couch in the company of two cats, who were delighted to have me home to snuggle with.
Absolutely hilarious. My new second favourite romance book, overtaking Dare’s more emotive, but far less funny A Week to be Wicked.
Thanks for the hugs and info, y’all!! It takes a village to get through this. HUGS FOR EVERYONE.
Claire, I just want to say that I was where you are now a few years ago, and remember just how insulting all those pregnancy epilogues (or romances where the heroine gets pregnant from a one-night-stand, or when using protection) felt. It hurts so much in a time that is already so incredibly emotionally fraught and difficult.
I’m crossing my fingers and toes that your fertility struggles will soon end and you will have a pregnancy epilogue of your very own.
@Claire, I also did Infertility Hell and I’m so sorry you’re going through that. It’s uniquely awful. I ended up reading a fair amount of queer romance because the surprise! baby thing is so much less likely.
I read five pages last night and put it down. I read ten more tonight and will read no more. I am so sick and tired of the billionaire gutter rat hero with a bad reputation and the aristocratic eccentric heroine I could scream. Recency window dressing on a modern tale. No thanks!
I very much enjoyed this book and I love Tessa Dare’s characters. Hard agree on the pacing issues though. And frankly, this trope of delicate/blonde/nobility/quiet-and-unseen seen by Very Bad Man Who Was Once Guttersnipe is done better in Kleypas’ Devil In Spring. Still, this book made my brain happy mush with very fun dialogue and a goat birth scene.
*sorry, correction, Kleypas’ Marrying Winterborne (got my winters mixed up)
Doggies with wheelie carts are my kryptonite. I might have to just pay the $6.99 for this.
Bought this yesterday, ran right through it, laughed out loud which I hardly ever do, then read the first book in this series (which I had already purchased just hadn’t read yet) and went to bed at midnight. The only reason I didn’t buy book two and stay up all night was that I can’t make Kindle purchases through my iPad Kindle app. If not for Apple’s pettiness I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep last night.
@EJ If you buy it via kindle, you should recognize that there are two edtions – of which one is substantially cheaper.
@Magenta – How can that be? Prices are set by the publisher and this book was just released yesterday. I don’t think they would have a full price edition and a discount edition at the same time.
@Hope I preordered it and payed 2,99 Euro (that‘s about 3,33 $). This edition is still available at the kindle shop, as well as another, apparently newer one with a different, which costs 5,99 Euro (6,68 $). In Europe, that is. I really don‘t know, if and how that works in the US, but you might just try and check it up.
*different cover*, I wanted to say
@Magenta – I peeked in at AmazonUK and I see what you are talking about. There is only the one version at AmazonUS. Interesting.
I have exactly one week before the start of school. I’m breezing through The Kiss Quotient (finally) and think I need this book as the last of my Fun Summer Reads….
Hope – you can use the Safari web browser on your iPad to navigate to Amazon,com, log in and purchase downloadable e-books and audible books. You’re right the app won’t do it, but the website will. Instant gratification can still be yours.
As the book, I enjoyed the humor and the animals, but I am tired of “I’m unworthy of love” heroes. How many men do we know who think so little of themselves. Usually it’s quite the opposite. But nonetheless, I enjoyed it.
Now we wait for Nikola’s story, yes?
@RAC – Yes, you are right, but the wifi in my house disappears in my bedroom so I would have to get up and my bed is COZY. 🙂
As for your second statement, I agree completely. I find arrogant dudes getting humbled much more entertaining.
I also read way too long into the night to finish this book! I thought it was very good, and as an animal lover I adored all the animal characters. As @Ariella mentioned-the scene where the goat was giving birth? Worth the price of the book. I was rolling with laughter!
I’m almost done. I love the animals, but I’m not feeling the romance in this one. They’re both nice people, but kind of meh. I’m confused about the hero’s motivations and I was DEVASTATED when
**SPOILER**
The otter, who is as tame as an otter is going to get, runs away to the wild where he isn’t going to be able to fend for himself, having grown up in captivity. I don’t agree with keeping wild animals as pets, but once they are a pet, you can’t just let them go like that. I wish the author had taken this more seriously.
**SPOILER OVER**
This book was a serious transport to my happy place up until the heroines trauma reveal which definitely felt like an after school special. I felt like I needed a content warning and frankly was worried about people who might get triggered. Since I read an arc I did warn a few sensitive friends. Maybe if I hadn’t inhaled the book in one very late night I wouldn’t have been so caught of guard. Everything else was absolutely charming and the goat scene was hilarious. Curious how I’ll feel if I reread.
I liked the story, I am a sucker for bad boy, good girl romance. And I identify with Penny, not her struggle, but her as a person. But I feel the ending was rushed. I have read 8 novels by Ms. Dare, so far. While I have enjoyed all, I feel this one is rushed. From chapter 20 onwards , everything felt like it had to be tied up. I know this is a HR book, but it could have had more fun and more animals . Although I like Gabe and Penny as two different people, I feel their romance could have matured even more .. And their argument feels so forced. Like, there had to be something the leads had to fight about something and this was put up to add more drama..
I liked Emma and Ash’s story, it felt more natural and so did Chase and Alex, but this one felt rushed towards the end. The villian is let off, just like that. Nobody should suffer in silence , the way Penny did.
I was waiting for a fourth book on Nicola. Was surprised that she didn’t get anything. And she even got engaged, about which we heard nothing of prominence.
Overall I would give 3.85/5 , but I will keep some points off the perfect score.
Yours sincerely,
Ashley
“Marigold is not that kind of goat.” How can you not love a book that has such stuff in it? I may be slightly biased as this book also coincidentally came out on my 25th wedding anniversary. I am married to a man who often thinks himself unlovable. I am often perceived as loving everything and everyone. I am also a survivor of the same sort of trauma as Penny. I nearly jumped for joy at the climax of just desserts being served to the villain. Some folks felt the ending rushed, but I personally needed that express train to justice. YAY TESSA!!!
Thank you Elyse for the review. I loved Book One in the series and was a bit disappointed in Book Two, so I was hesitant about buying this one. However your review gave me the push I needED to purchase Book 3 and I loved it! Your Review higlights and lowlights reflected my feelings about the book perfectly. Thanks again SBs for the work you do.
Sorry thanks for the review Carrie…one of those days…