Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Wallflower Wager

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

17 reviews

aoife98's review against another edition

funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book! It’s probably my favorite in the series. Penelope and Gabriel had a very sweet romance with conflict between them. Penny is one of my favorite heroines in HR. She is caring and loving but she’s not naive or aloof. She’s strong in her own way and she knows what she wants.

The premise of this book is pretty simple: Lady Penelope “Penny” Campion lives alone in her parents London townhouse surrounded by animals that she has rescued. Her brother have requested that she return to the their country seat and accept her fate as a spinster. Penny has three weeks to be seen participating in society to prove that she does have a life in London and staying in here is worthwhile. But there’s a catch - she must get rid of the animals.

Gabriel Duke, known in the newspapers as The Duke of Ruin due to his ruthless business tactics, has bought the house next door to her and intends to sell it for a profit. One of the big selling points is that the new home owner, likely from a new money family, would be the neighbor of a Lady. However, he didn’t anticipate she would have so many animals and he wants them gone. He can’t afford for Penny to leave London and so the pair strike up a deal. Gabriel will help find loving homes for the animals if it helps her stay.

Despite this being a fairly lighthearted story, the backstory for both of these characters is pretty heavy.

Gabriel was sold as a child and was subject to extreme poverty. As a child, Penny was assaulted by a friend of her parents.

Both characters have to deal with these issues throughout the story.

I like how Penny stood up for herself and gave her brother the ultimatum.

I think Penny and Gabriel balanced each other out well. He needed some love and comfort and she needed someone who took the time to understand her. He also didn’t try to protect or treat her like a child which her friends occasionally do.

I did think Ash and Chase were a little ridiculous at times but the scenes still humorous and I liked seeing their begrudging friendship. The parrot was also quite funny.

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skyhazzard's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was so cute and adorable, although it did have its moments of heavier topics. The backstories of the characters was a bit heavier than the other characters in the series I believe.

Penny is just this ray of sunshine and joy despite things that happened in her past. She cares so deeply for those around her and her creatures. I loved reading about her. And she was the perfect foil to Gabriel’s undoing. They were so fun together right from the beginning. I really liked that we didn’t have to wait long to see them get together. And then of course he had to put up with her friends and their husbands (which the husbands were hilarious, they’d eventually became friends although I don’t think they’d ever say that, they ended up fighting over who would be the second in a duel).

This one might be my favorite out of the series.

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ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition

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4.0

This was another fantastic addition to this series. I loved both our self made hero, Gabriel and our quirky heroine, Penelope.

Once again the story was filled with humour and steam. Both characters also had quite heartbreaking backstories (for which I am a sucker), and learned to love by being with each other. I really enjoyed Penelope’s character growth and the pivotal point at which she stood up for herself.

I also appreciated the instances of the hero seeking clear consent from the heroine to engage in sexual activity. This was a very attractive quality of his.

We also got a few cameos from Ash and Chase which I enjoyed immensely.

I’ve decided I want this narrator to narrate ever historical romance audiobook because she’s fabulous to listen to. Her cadence is very soothing and I find I’m easily able to conjure the scenes of the story in my head.

There was a slight technical issue with the audio recording within a certain chapter which unfortunately took me out of the story at a crucial moment (it sounded like different audio files had been spliced together, perhaps from different days of recording, and so the sound of the narrators voice differed for various sentences).

Now I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the next book, The Bride Bet. Amazon is thoroughly confusing me with three different release dates:

paperback - 1 Feb 2024
Audiobook - 15 Apr 2024
eBook - 12 Feb 2026

What is happening?!?? 😩

Content warnings:

⚠️child abandonment

⚠️poverty

⚠️grooming/ child sexual assault

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gillyreads's review

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3.75

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kyeruhh's review against another edition

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3.5

While this book included both love/lust at first sight and a third act breakup, neither of which I’m a fan of, I did really like both Penny and Gabriel. Also Tessa Dare is a banter QUEEN.

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nina_readsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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haley49's review against another edition

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inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was so good. I read it in under 24 hours! I loved the tropes it had but also that it didn’t rely on them too much. I loved the cameos and characters from other books. The conflicts felt realistic and in-character. The fmc’s conflict that is revealed made sense and hit me emotionally.

it reminded me very much of should’ve, could’ve, would’ve😢

My only issue is that I felt the fmc forgave the mmc too fast at the end but to be fair he did work for it.

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