Tessa DareRomance · Historical Fiction
The Wallflower Wager
Synopsis
Gabriel Duke, known through London society as "the Duke of Ruin," clawed his way up from the city's lowest slums to its highest circles by sheer, ruthless will, and now he wants the crumbling townhouse next door. Its owner, Lady Penelope Campion, has other plans: her home is a menagerie of rescued creatures, from a two-legged dog to a foul-mouthed parrot to a very opinionated goat, and she isn't giving any of them up without a fight.
Penny strikes a bargain: she'll clear the house of her animals if Gabriel can find every one of them a loving home first. He agrees, certain it'll be easy, and certain that a respectable lady neighbour will only raise the property's value once he's ready to sell. But placing a two-legged dog and a foul-mouthed parrot proves harder than expected, and so does staying immune to Penny's warmth, which keeps finding the parts of him he thought were unreachable.
The third novel in Tessa Dare's New York Times bestselling Girl Meets Duke series, The Wallflower Wager is a witty, tender Regency romance about a man who measures everything in profit, and the woman who teaches him what's actually worth keeping.
How it reads
Prose complexity 3/10
- <div>I was expecting a much deeper story, and I think it was my fault that I didn't get it. After reading numerous reviews proclaiming this as the best book in the saga, I had built up too many expectations.<br><br>It's not that it's bad, by any means; in fact, I found it to be incredibly funny. My favorite scene, of course, was when the three dukes helped deliver a baby goat—how could it not be? And now the protector wasn't just Ash but Chase joined in, and I loved them.<br><br>However, despite these enjoyable moments, it didn't surpass the first book in my ranking; actually, it’s at the bottom. I felt that the characters weren't as developed as Emma and Ash, each of whom had their own traumas to overcome. This book had the potential to be very emotional, but it focused more on the animals than on really addressing the difficult themes.<br><br>But it's still a good book. Hopefully, the author will give us the fourth someday.</div>
- This was so f•••••• good. Oh my god Tessa Dare, I love you. Penny has my heart 😭😭


