Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Wallflower Wager

When Penny meets her dashing neighbour Gabriel, known as the 'Duke of Ruin' they don't off to the greatest start thanks to Gabe's objection to her menagerie of rescued animals. When they team up to find new homes for the animals, they grow closer and can't deny the feelings they have for one another.

This was another lovely, enjoyable read in the Girl Meets Duke series. I always like picking these books up as they have me swooning and smiling in equal measure. Penny is just a wonderful character and the this book is the epitome of the grumpy-sunshine trope. I liked all of the interactions the two characters had with one another, and they had a lot of chemistry but also a lot of love and warmth between them as well.

One of my favourite things about this series is the friendship between all the girls. We see Emma, Alex and Nicola in these books (and I would advise reading this series in order so you're not spoiled for the first two), and how they all help each other and Penny but what I loved as well was Ash and Chase adopting Gabe when they realised Penny liked him so much. The interactions between the men really had me chuckling, and the scene in which Marigold the goat gives birth was utter gold.

I'm pretty sure Nicola's story overlapped in this one so I'm really looking forward to reading it when it comes out to see what happens.

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eemms's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book started off so strong but the last 25% just tanked it for me.

At least 2/3s of this book are great - Penny is sweet and kindhearted, Gabriel respects her, it's very silly and sweet and there's lots of kittens and animals. Lots of points for Penny being a MC who has masturbated before and Gabriel really respects her choices including her desire to get railed! Great! I'm still not totally sure what year it takes place in or what type of parrot Delilah is (she's got to be a cockatoo right?) but whatever, it's set in Fantasy Regency England and not everyone cares about parrots like I do.

The last quarter is just...totally deflated it all for me. Somehow it stopped feeling like it was about Penny? The emotional climax is definitely when Penny confides in Gabriel. It's a big deal for her, and he respects that. It's great, I liked it. Then I looked at how long was left in the book and knew that the pacing was going to let me down.

There's a last minute conflict over nothing which goes nowhere in terms of emotional payout, and then the end of the book is a big confrontation where Gabriel goes all alpha protector on her in a way no one is here for. There was nothing I liked about it. I don't like when LIs go violent to solve problems, I don't like him deciding to "take care of things" for her - these were lampshaded even, with Penny's friends being like "this is kind of unfair to take out of Penny's hands" and the book just went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it. And then idk, something about the way Penny confronted her past abuser in the very end just felt...off? It's nice that it happened I guess, Bad Guy got his due, I guess? But emotionally it just wasn't there for me and it all felt totally extraneous.

Maybe just file this under "would've been better as a novella" and take it at that.

cw:

past child sexual abuse

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readingthroughinfinity's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

3.75

Aaaand I'm up to date with the series.

This is another Regency romance in Tessa Dare's Girl Meets Duke series that hinges on the premise of the two main characters being at odds before gradually falling in love. And we have ourselves a classic grumpy/sunshine dynamic, which I am ALL FOR. I liked Penny's happy-go-lucky attitude and how much she cared for the animals round her, though at times I think her character was a little less compelling than Alexandra (in book two) or Emma (in book one). Similarly, I didn't mind Gabe, but sometimes he strayed too much towards the stereotypical stoic, perma-annoyed love interest that we often find in historical romance.

There were some serious themes that were discussed and challenged fully in this book and the overall ending was satisfying, but the progression of Penny and Gabe's romance felt a little unbelievable at times for me (would he really have ended up liking her if her penchant for taking in animals annoyed him that much? And, in that era, [redacted] against an alley wall like that fees like it wouldn't happen?). On the whole though, I did enjoy this and I sped through it in a day.

Content warnings for pedophilia and sexual abuse of a minor (past), grooming, violence, sexual content.

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megloveswords12's review against another edition

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funny medium-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

3.5

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