Name: Winning the Wallflower
ISBN: 9781405513999

Eloisa James

It could only happen in a fairytale . . . Lady Lucy Towerton Plain and tall (according to the lady herself). Titled, and irreproachably proper (according to her fiancé). Until, overnight, she becomes . . . Lady Lucy Towerton Heiress (thanks to an aged aunt's bequest). Belle of the Ball (so say the fortune hunters of the ton). In charge of her own destiny (finally!), Lucy breaks her engagement and makes up her mind to never be proper again . . . Discover Piatkus Entice: temptation at your fingertips - www.piatkusentice.co.uk 'Nothing gets me to a bookstore faster than Eloisa James' - Julia Quinn

Winning the Wallflower

A delightful ebook original novella from New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James. Winning the Wallflower introduces Lady Lucy Towerton, who is plain, tall, and considered very lucky to be betrothed to a man who lauds her irreproachable propriety. When she unexpectedly becomes an heiress—and belle of the ball—she breaks her engagement and makes up her mind to never be proper again. Includes lengthy bonus excerpts from 4 other titles.

A Novella

Connor 

3.5. more enjoyable than the other ones I've read in this series? I like Lucy!

Preye

Full review: https://therookiejurist.com/

The first thing to be stated is that the title is highly deceptive and there is little to no chase in this book. Also, the blurb makes it seem like the female protagonist is somehow in possession of her wits, and unfortunately, she lost it whole tripping over herself repeatedly while attempting to drape herself all over the male protagonist’s body.

As for the male protagonist, a long time ago, his mother shunned society and eloped with her family’s solicitor and he and his siblings were the result of that happy union. This, my dear friends, is the reason he’s made it his life mission to not cause anything to stir the attention of the peerage towards him. For this reason, he surmised that a docile and supine wife from the aristocratic class would make a nice addition to their tainted bloodline.

What’s even crazy is that he’s quite open with his adoration of his parents and their blissful union but couldn’t help feeling scorned by society because of the match. The big reconciliation doesn’t happen at the end, mind you. He eventually gets an appointmemt (I’m not sure this is the word) and comes into possession of a duchy. In other words, all his concerns were eventually laid to rest by confirming all the biases.

Nothing on earth can convince me that the female protagonist actually bought the crap the male protagonist was selling so enthusiastically. I understand that the point of a novella is to cram as much detail as possible into as few pages as possible and this could make the story less plausible and vital details end up lost (or ignored) in the rush but really?

In the morning, he’s convinced she’s a wallflower and blah blah and by night (after a scorchingly hot kiss) he decides that she’s the perfect mate for him. He instantly forgets the very reason he was bent on marrying an unfastidious person after brushing her “pert” nipples and watching his cousin (whom he loathes) dance with her. Crap.

I didn’t like the male protagonist one bit and usually Eloisa James makes her characters have these witty dialogues that make me laugh, but the little conversations the both of them had was riddled with endless moaning over their stations in life. Understandably romance novellas should have insta-love as it’s pillar but this one was just annoying.

I had a hard time reconciling the female protagonist’s description with her actions. We are told she’s courageous and outspoken and blah, and indeed speaks out her mind countless times. However, after being shunned by the male protagonist and when he quite literally told her that she was the best candidate for the position of his spouse because she wouldn’t be fussy and wouldn’t do anything untowardly, she still accepted him into her bossoms.

It almost seemed like she was desperate for any form of connection with anybody and even the times she thought to question his behavior, they were weak-hearted efforts at best.

I honestly cannot say I enjoyed this one and after reading When Beauty Tamed The Beast (full review on the blog soon), I was sure this was going to be another hit. Regardless of the difference as to length. I was disappointed.

Sans

I apparently read this 7 years ago (I guess?) but I can't remember what I did last Tuesday, so I'll just pretend the past isn't a real country. 

Short and sweet and utterly unbelievable, just how I like my historical romances. Not as funny as Tessa Dare's books, but nowhere near as cracky as some others out there, whose names I will refrain from mentioning. Well written and easy to read, though the pacing was a bit out there. I'll blame that on the novella format, necessitating a faster route from start to finish.

I'm a giant sucker for fairy tales and love retellings even more. I'm not entirely sure which fairy tale this was a riff on, but it had that fairy-godmother flavor so I'm not going to think too hard on that (best to not think to hard in general with this genre).

Winning the Wallflower

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