Tessa Dare

They call him the Duke of Ruin. To an undaunted wallflower, he's just the beast next door. Wealthy and ruthless, Gabriel Duke clawed his way from the lowliest slums to the pinnacle of high society—and now he wants to get even. Loyal and passionate, Lady Penelope Campion never met a lost or wounded creature she wouldn’t take into her home and her heart. When her imposing—and attractive—new neighbor demands she clear out the rescued animals, Penny sets him a challenge. She will part with her precious charges, if he can find them loving homes. Done, Gabriel says. How hard can it be to find homes for a few kittens? And a two-legged dog. And a foul-mouthed parrot. And a goat, an otter, a hedgehog . . . Easier said than done, for a cold-blooded bastard who wouldn’t know a loving home from a workhouse. Soon he’s covered in cat hair, knee-deep in adorable, and bewitched by a shyly pretty spinster who defies his every attempt to resist. Now she’s set her mind and heart on saving him. Not if he ruins her first.

Girl Meets Duke

The Wallflower Wager

mercy

2.5 remind me why do they like each other again?

Beatriz Aguiar

It was a good book. It wasn't wonderful. I really liked that Lady Penelope took charge of her sexuality at that time in history and especially after what she had gone through. I wish we could see more of the demons inside Gabe's head. Overall, it has great potencial and I think it could have been more intence.

Amelia 

Oh my god. Your kidding. This was so friggin cute I’m deaddd. I think this was my favourite of the series so far. 

Gabriel. Ughhh. You have my heart. I’m so glad I picked up this series. I’ve loved every second of it. It was so much fun and they were all such quick reads. Loved it, so much.

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To RomanceI received this book for free from Avon in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Wallflower Wager is the third book in the "Girl Meets Duke" series and this is a story that I have been looking forward to all year. Of course, this is Tessa Dare we are talking about so its definitely one of the most anticipated book for many romance readers, including myself. However, I do want to put out a warning for readers. This is a book that won't be authentic to the time frame that the story is set in. This is a stamp of the author, and its not a bad one, but don't go into this story expecting a authentic dialogue, you won't find it in this one. But now that I have that disclaimer out of the way, lets delve deeper into this book here.

Now The Wallflower Wager begins with our hero Gabriel Duke who moves in next door to Lady Penelope Campion. Penelope has a soft heart and is compassionate and has a deep love for every creature. She has a whole menagerie of animals in her home in London. When one of her creatures is found in her next door neighbor's home and shegoes in search, she finds herself face to face with the "Gabriel Duke" who is feared among the Ton and high society for his ruthlessness but all Penelope feels for Gabriel is a strong sexual attraction, in a way she has never experienced before.  When her brother and aunt give her an ultimatum, she seeks out Gabriel and they come to an agreement. As Gabriel and Penelope work together, the sparks between them fly and the chemistry they feel for each other is too difficult to be denied. But with these two opposites find a common ground in each other and the love that is blossoming between them...

  
    
      Penny wasn’t unused to men, but there was a difference between friendly acquaintance and a close-range confrontation with sheer masculine physicality. It felt like someone had taken a mallet to a gong of femininity hidden deep in her belly, and now the vibrations traveled through her bones, summoning an ancient, primal force. Penny could think of only one name for it: lust. 
      

    
  

Now in this beloved story, we have Penelope's story and I have to say out of all them, I have been drawn to her the MOST. She has such a kind and loving nature and I was curious who Tessa Dare would pair her up with. These two couldn't be more opposite from each other if they tried, but they do have some commonalities as well that you don't quite expect to find. We have our heroine who is a introvert, loves all creatures and doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Then we have our hero Gabriel, who is ruthless and grew up in the London Underground, a self made man who likes to tear down high members of society and destroy them financially. This is a true beauty and the beast retelling and what a sweet retelling it was in this installment. I truly couldn't get enough of these two and their connection to each other.

  
    
      “Listen to me,” he said sternly. “My motives are never kind. Neither are they generous or charitable or good. They’re money-driven and entirely selfish. You’d do well to remember that.” 
    
  

I found their dynamics to be both steamy and entertaining. It was quite fun to see how they interacted with each other and boy the chemistry written in this one is probably the BEST of the whole series, in my honest opinion. I really wasn't expecting it for Penelope's book but Tessa Dare always likes to give me these curveballs of unexpectations and she delivered in this element. There are plenty of laughs though especially when we have the previous couples come into play....especially the men.

  
    
      
        I’ll look. I’m not afraid. I intend to be there for every moment of the miracle of my own child’s birth.” He crouched and squinted. “And . . . I’ve changed my mind.” Chase retreated to the far corner of the stall and sat on a crate, his pallor having turned a pale, sickly green.
“Fine,” Ashbury said. “I’ll do it. If I could stomach my own injuries from that rocket blast, I can stomach this.” He went to look, then reeled a step backward. “Oh, God. Something’s coming out.”
“Of course something’s coming out,” Gabe said. “A baby goat.”
“No,” Ash said grimly. “No.”
“If it’s not a goat, then what is it?”
“It’s a punishment for all my earthly sins, is what it is.” 
      
    
  

All I can say is they are HYPOCRITES and its hilarious the double standard they have. But you see how its them being protective and caring about Penelope. What I did love was seeing Penelope learning to stand on her own especially with the choice in the man she wants to be with even if that means against people she considers true family.

  
    “Your Ladyship, you are anything but calming.”
“You’re not particularly cuddly yourself,” she said. “Luckily, I have some experience soothing prickly beasts.”

  

Overall The Wallflower Wager is bound to deliver plenty of laughs, lively dramatics, adorable fur babies and true delights of sensuality!!

Annabella

sophia n

god these are so much funny and so cute, i can't even. i think this might be my favorite of the series so far (though i will reserve my final ranking until we get to nic's book) but i am SHOCKED at how much i loved penny. from what we saw of her in the previous books i thought she might grate on me, but she was such a well balanced character here in her book. i genuinely loved seeing her take charge of her life and her trauma. in comparison i think gabe was a little weaker as a character, but i still enjoyed him especially as a partner for penny. the duel scene GOT. ME. SO. GOOD. lives rent free in my head forever, love you penny.

tws: csa, pedophilia, grooming

Anna

The funniest book in the series! I adored Penny (and her animals) from the first book, and this one just cemented my feelings.

Jaclyn

Absolutely adorable!!! This one might be favorite in the series!! It was so incredibly sweet and fun!!

April Romero

Definitely my least favorite out of the three unfortunately :( still looking forward to the 4th book though!

Flavia Louise

This book was quite a bit heavier than I had anticipated.

Becky

You know when you finish a book and just want to hug it close? That's me after finishing this book.

It was just so utterly satisfying to read. It had fluff, romance, sexy times, drama and fun. I am so glad I read it and will happily read it again and again. I've never been disappointed by Tessa Dare and there was no concern that would happen here either. I loved reading Penny's story and she so deserved this book.

At the start you know little of Penny apart from her large collection of unwanted animals. From a goat to a dog with a cart due to his bag legs not working. There was an otter, a hedgehog, and a Highland steer. And let's not forget the parrot with the dirty mouth. But throughout the book you learn there is so much more to her. She is not naive and sheltered. And she doesn't need saving. She may have a soft spot for abandoned creatures but that's only as she feels a little adrift herself and needs someone to hold onto and help give her a focus and perfect. Luckily for her Gabe moves in next door and if there was ever a man in need of a little saving (and a whole lot of love) then it was him. And she needed the level of stubbornness and care he can provide too.

I love when a romance has sparks flying off the page as soon as the couple meet and we definitely have that in this book. I was also cracking up laughing throughout but especially at that first meeting. How could I not? It's that damned parrot. I adore the comedy value it added to every scene.

Look, I loved this book. It was absolutely genius and I cannot wait to read it again and again.

Sahi K

As all you friends already know, I’m not much of a reader of historical romances, but when I discovered this series at the end of last year, I was surprised by how fun I found it and have been very excited for this third installment since then. I never ever expected to get this ARC though, so that was another delightful surprise.

Lady Penelope Campion aka Penny was always the most eccentric of the group and it was finally nice to get to know her better. She is a warm, kind and compassionate person with lots of love to give, and shares it with the horde of animals she has rescued. I adore the idea of her giving love to those who have been abandoned, and it’s very obvious that she would fall for Gabriel because he needs some of it too. He has a bad boy reputation, having built his empire from the ground up by ruining quite a few aristocratic families, but in his heart he doesn’t believe that he is worthy of being loved. They have the most adorable meet cute and an instant attraction to each other, followed by lots of sexual tension. I loved watching them grow closer, especially on the pretext of rehoming her animals, and realize that they actually like each other’s company. They both are also surprisingly sex positive which kinda feels more like a contemporary romance, but I thought it was done well and was quite organic to the characters themselves. 

We see the whole gang back again and I was so glad for it. While reading about Emma, Alex, Nicola and Penny together is a joy, I was much more amused by Ash and Chase. They were quite protective of her and gave Gabriel a hard time initially, but the way those three developed a friendship was lovely. The bromance was a complete delight and I couldn’t contain my chuckles at their antics. I really want to see more of them together too. 

The first thing I expect from a Tessa Dare romance is lots and lots of banter and this book was no different. There’s some absolutely silly situations, hilarious banter, lots of animal antics which left me laughing to no end and a swoon worthy romance. And among all this entertainment, we also see some hard hitting topics discussed and I thought the author wrote it all beautifully. I loved the emphasis on what defines a person’s worth and how it’s not wealth or station in life or virtue in case of a woman, and that everybody deserves love. 

If you’ve already read the previous books in this series, then I’m pretty sure you will read this too and I’m 100% sure you’ll love it. If you haven’t, but would love to read a historical romance series full of sassy and strong female protagonists, slightly roguish and broody heroes, lots of wicked banter and swoons, then go back and pick up The Duchess Deal first because I promise you, it won’t disappoint.

Grace O'Callaghan

While this is definitely one of my least favourite books of the year, I will be continuing as I did enjoy the first two.

Penny has never come across an abandoned or injured animal that she doesn’t want to take in and rescue. Penny’s new neighbour, Gabriel Duke, is planning on selling his house for profit. But that’s not going to happen when next door a spinster is nursing animals back to health. When Gabriel tells Penny the animals have got to go she agrees on the condition that he’ll help find them all loving homes. 

I like the idea of Penny’s character, but in execution she was lacking. She was sweet and nice but that was all there was to her really.

Gabriel was fine, not much substance really. He’s similar to Chase and Ash from the other two books but where they have things to differentiate them, Gabe does not. He’s kind of a watered down version and I didn’t really see why he has the reputation of the Duke of Ruin. Yes he gets money out of rich people, but it’s because they haven’t paid what they owe, which is entirely legal. It just wasn’t a good enough reason for him to be ‘bad’ and ‘undeserving’ of Penny.

I can’t say that the plot if particularly great. It does the job I guess, just poorly. Everything is so convenient and so rushed that I just don’t buy the romance. When you can’t believe the main part of the book, there’s a problem.

Unlike others in the series, the side characters fell by the wayside and didn’t contribute much at all. They seem like caricatures of what they were. 

My least favourite thing about this book was the development of the characters. There’s something that comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing whatsoever. I have to talk about it in a spoilery way so hopefully the review still makes sense without this part. (view spoiler)[ It’s revealed that Penny was sexually assaulted when she was a child. Absolutely disgusting. But I don’t think it was very realistic. It was never really eluded to, she never worked through it, was fine having sex with Gabe. It seemed like it was used as a shocking twist more than the traumatic experience it was. I also felt very distant when they were talking about it. Gabe doesn’t get emotional when she tells him but then he’s angry and wanting to duel to move the plot along. It was a way to add conflict to the ending than actually talk about and explore it.  (hide spoiler)]

I’ve seen the criticism that Tessa Dare’s books aren’t ‘historically accurate’. If they were then I don’t think we’d enjoy them as much. I don’t have a problem with suspending my disbelief a bit when it comes to historical romance. But when you have such feminist and strong female leads with modern ideas, they need to be consistent. I can’t say why because of spoilers but if you’ve read it, it’s something that she plans to tell her brother about depending on the gender of his children. 

Overall, this whole book was poorly done in my opinion. I can see why people enjoy it as the kernels of good ideas are there, they just never turned into popcorn for me. I will still continue as I did enjoy The Duchess Deal and loved The Governess Game.

Content warnings below:
(view spoiler)[pedophillia, grooming, poverty, abandonment, confronting an abuser  (hide spoiler)]

Francesca G

"Wealthy and ruthless, Gabriel Duke clawed his way from the lowliest slums to the pinnacle of high society--and now he wants to get even. Loyal and passionate, Lady Penelope Campion never met a lost or wounded creature she wouldn't take into her home and her heart. When Gabriel demands she clears out her rescued animals, she challenges him to find them homes. Soon Lady Penelope's set her mind and heart on saving him, but not if he ruins her first."--Provided by publisher.

Moray Lyle McIntosh

Classic Tessa Dare fare. Funny, silly, romantic, sexy. The plot is as ridiculous as ever but Dare writes with such gusto and affection that it just doesn't matter, in fact it just adds to the charm. A thoroughly enjoyable addition to the Girl Meets Duke series.

laura

I thought this book was a super fun listen. I thought this book has a decent balance between sexy times but also plot development. It was really fun listen. I love books where animals have major focus. I also really liked all the side characters that we met and hope to eventually read their books soon. I also liked that is book tackled harder issues like abuse in regency times. I flew through this read!!

Renee Delcourt

Oh. Penny is just so precious and I really really enjoyed Gabriel. I loved the banter in this book between the friends and I especially love the herd of pets/animals. I honestly just love this book series. It makes me smile and laugh without fail.

Loredana

3,5/5

gabriel Duke and Penelope Campion are radical opposite but when a common goal - keeping Penelope in the city - they both team up to achieve it and maybe more...

This book was fun with characters that we learn to love. Penelope is cute and full of tenderness for her animals. Gabriel is this handsome and dark man who discovers a soft spot for Penelope. The sex scene were well written and story led to the love story softly and naturally. A good soft romance to cuddle in bed with.

Heather Harrington

This was even better on the second read. It's just so funny and Penny and Gabe are delightful together. It's definitely my favorite of the series so far.

Lucy

The third and final regency romance book in this triology. This time following Penny from the friendship group. Very cute. Such an easy read.

b.andherbooks

2021 - reread for #ButDoTheyBang
Knowing the ending and the big reveal helped me catch a couple of context clues for the sexual (view spoiler)[assault/grooming  (hide spoiler)] plotline. I changed my rating from 5 to 4 stars, as the reveal and wrap up of this plotline didn't hit right for me upon the re-read. The relationship is still so swoony and romantic, I just wish some different decisions had been made.

What a great summer reading Tessa Dare!


Congratulations to THE WALLFLOWER WAGER for becoming a member of the Bad Decisions Book Club which should really be re-named 'Worth every minute of lost sleep book club.' 

Contains:
🦡🌻 Grumpy stern hero who tumbles hard and fast for a sunflower heroine
🦜 A cussing parrot
🦔 a hedgehog used as personal safety device
👗gowns with pockets
🔥delicious sexy consent

You can read Tessa Dare's next book soon!

Thank you.to the publisher for the ARC.

CW: off the page sexual abuse of a main character when they were a child

First of all, the narrator for the audiobook is a damn treasure, I adore her.

Secondly, I've read all the books in this series and I believe I wasn't as knocked for a loop by Penny's past because of a few context clues from the other stories, but now upon a re-read I can see if you hadn't read those other books the reveal is really shocking. And super upsetting. I still really love this book but wish the CW mentioned above had been handled better.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


Can anyone tell me why on earth I waited so long to read The Wallflower Wager? Tessa Dare is one of my favorite authors. I really should know to drop everything and binge immediately when I get one of her books. One of these days I'll learn. (Probably not, but it's fun to dream.) 

I'm not kidding when I say I loved absolutely everything about this book. The charming characters. The animals. EVERYTHING. I didn't want to stop listening once I started. I mean, who wishes for their commute to have delays just so they can read more? This lady. I do. Or, at least I did while I was listening to this audiobook. I spent a fair amount of my commutes giggling like a fool over Penny, Gabriel, and the pets. Especially Delilah. That bird was everything. Ah, I start grinning just thinking about this book! 

The Wallflower Wager was a delightful read and a wonderful listen. Penny and Gabriel gave me a whole slew of feels. Mary Jane Wells was a new-to-me narrator and I thoroughly enjoyed her performance. 

Favorite Quotes:

"Every creature has a soft underbelly. I'm going to find yours."
"Search me if you like, Your Ladyship. I warn you, it's not softness you'll find."

"Every man has his weakness."
"I know they do. I'm still looking for yours."

"Wounded male pride has caused the world more destruction than the Black Death and the Great Flood put together."

"If men are bent on destroying the world, we women must be the ones holding it together."

Sans

In no way is this my favorite Tessa Dare book, but it’s not my least favorite either. I have some problems with both the story and the chemistry between the characters, but in the end, I read and mostly enjoyed it.

Lacey

If you love a quirky heroine, a grump of a hero who tries to hide a soft heart, hilarious characters, and a whole bunch of animals, READ THIS BOOK!! The Wallflower Wager is too adorable for words. I had so much fun with Gabriel, Penny, and their friends. I don't even know why I skipped over book 2 but I'm remedying that immediately. I love Tessa Dare so much!

The Wallflower Wager Girl Meets Duke

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