Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, it’s hard not to love the stories where the wallflower finds their true love. Their shy demeanour often means they’re on the outskirts, and who doesn’t love an underdog? Grab one of these great stories featuring characters you’ll love cheering for.
How the Wallflower Wins a Duke by Lucy Morris
Marina Fletcher’s Rules:
- Rule 1: Spend life composing music in peace. Do not worry about finding a husband.
- Rule 2: If must worry about finding a husband, marry for love only or commit to becoming a spinster.
- Rule 3: Resist urge to spend time with the sinfully sexy Duke of Framlingham, who clearly does not believe in love.
- Rule 4: Never ever say yes to said duke’s wicked plan for us to silence society’s expectations with a fake engagement…
But what happens when this wallflower breaks every single rule?
Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Series Name: Wallflowers, # 3
A devil’s bargain.
Desperate to escape her scheming relatives, Evangeline Jenner has sought the help of the most infamous scoundrel in London. A marriage of convenience is the only solution.
No one would have ever paired the shy, stammering wallflower with the sinfully handsome viscount. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Evie is a woman of hidden strength—and Sebastian desires her more than any woman he’s ever known.
Determined to win her husband’s elusive heart, Evie dares to strike a bargain with the devil: if Sebastian can stay celibate for three months, she will allow him into her bed. When Evie is threatened by a vengeful enemy from the past, Sebastian vows to do whatever it takes to protect his wife . . . even at the expense of his own life.
Together they will defy their perilous fate, for the sake of all-consuming love.
Accidentally Compromising the Duke by Stacy Reid
Series Name: Wedded by Scandal, #1
England, 1817. Miss Adeline Hays is out of options. Determined to escape marriage to a repugnant earl, Adeline plans to deliberately allow herself to be caught in a compromising position at a house party with the much kinder man she’d hoped to marry. Instead, Adeline accidentally enters the wrong chamber and tumbles into the bed of the mad duke.
Edmond Rochester, the duke of Wolverton, is seeking a wife to care for his two daughters. A young lady of sensibilities, accomplishment, and most importantly, one who he is not attracted to—a complete opposite of the bewitching beauty who traps him into marriage. But despite the lust he feels for his new duchess, Edmond is resolved to never allow them intimacy, refusing to ever again suffer the tormenting loss of a loved one.
How to Fall for a Scoundrel by Kate Bateman
Series Name: Her Majesty’s Rebels, # 2
As a founding member of King & Co., London’s most successful private investigation firm, studious Eleanor Law delights in secretly proving that women can solve crimes just as well as men. When a charming con man pretends to be her fictional boss, “Charles King,” Ellie knows he’s lying, but accepting the scoundrel’s offer of help might just be the key to cracking her new case and recovering a priceless manuscript.
“Henri Bonheur”—or “Harry” as he asks to be called—claims his criminal past is behind him, but a man who steals and seduces with such consummate ease can never be trusted. As the investigation draws them deeper into danger and desire, Ellie’s infuriated to realize she’s developed feelings for her law-breaking accomplice. How can she love the scoundrel when she doesn’t even know his real name? And what will happen when Harry’s past finally catches up with him?
How to Be a Wallflower by Eloisa James
Series Name: Would-Be Wallflowers, # 1
Miss Cleopatra Lewis is about to be launched in society by her aristocratic grandfather. But since she has no intention of marrying, she visits a costume emporium specifically to order unflattering dresses guaranteed to put off any prospective suitors.
Powerful and charismatic Jacob Astor Addison is in London, acquiring businesses to add to his theatrical holdings in America—as well as buying an emerald for a young lady back in Boston. He’s furious when a she-devil masquerading as an English lady steals Quimby’s Costume Emporium from under his nose.
Jake strikes a devil’s bargain, offering to design her “wallflower wardrobe” and giving Cleo the chance to design his. Cleo can’t resist the fun of clothing the rough-hewn American in feathers and flowers. And somehow in the middle of their lively competition, Jake becomes her closest friend.
It isn’t until Cleo becomes the toast of all society that Jake realizes she’s stolen his fiercely guarded heart. But unlike the noblemen at her feet, he doesn’t belong in her refined and cultured world.,
Caught between the demands of honor and desire, Jake would give up everything to be with the woman he loves—if she’ll have him!
Governess Gone Rogue by Laura Lee Guhrke
Series Name: Dear Lady Truelove, #3
Dear Lady Truelove . . .
My twin brother and I need a new mother, though Papa insists he’ll never marry again. Must be nice, brainy, and fond of cats . . .
Lady Truelove may be London’s most famous advice columnist, but James St. Clair, the Earl of Kenyon, knows his wild young sons need a tutor, not a new mother. They need a man tough enough to make his hellions tow the line, and James is determined to find one.
Miss Amanda Leighton, former schoolteacher and governess, knows she has all the qualifications to be a tutor. And while female tutors are unheard of, Amanda isn’t about to lose the chance at her dream job because of pesky details like that. If Lord Kenyon insists on hiring a man, then she has only one option . . .
Jamie isn’t sure what to make of his new employee, until he realizes the shocking truth—beneath the ill-fitting suits, his boys’ tutor is a woman. An unconventional, outspoken, thoroughly intriguing woman. Despite Amanda’s deception, he can’t dismiss her when his boys are learning so much. Yet Jamie, too, is learning surprising lessons—about desire, seduction, and passionate second chances . . .
The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare
Series Name: Girl Meets Duke, # 3
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.
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
Series Name: Love By Numbers, # 1
Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing.
But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.
If she’s not careful, she’ll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love.
How the Wallflower Was Won by Eva Leigh
Series Name: Last Chance Scoundrels, # 2
Finn Ransome is an expert on Lady Luck, which is why he refuses to take a chance on love. Experience has taught him that he’s happier at a gaming table than around people he will, inevitably, disappoint. However, the clock is ticking on his father’s matrimonial demands. But the only woman to catch his eye is a bluestocking who would never consider a rogue like him.
After a disastrous first Season, Tabitha Seaton decided to focus on books instead of ballrooms. She hopes to join the Sterling Society, a collective of the most brilliant, influential minds in London. Except, they will never admit an unmarried lady. Now Tabitha needs a husband, and a notorious, handsome gambler may be her best bet.
Finn and Tabitha are opposites who have no intention of wagering on a love match, and a calculated marriage of convenience solves all their problems–with no risk to their hearts. Once married, however, their potent attraction boils over into a deep passion that neither expected. When a painful mistake drives the new lovers apart, Finn will risk it all to prove a scoundrel and a wallflower are a winning pair…
Diary of an Accidental Wallflower by Jennifer McQuiston
Series Name: Seduction Diaries, # 1
Pretty and popular, Miss Clare Westmore knows exactly what (or rather, who) she the next Duke of Harrington. But when she twists her ankle on the eve of the Season’s most touted event, Clare is left standing in the wallflower line watching her best friend dance away with her duke. Dr. Daniel Merial is tempted to deliver more than a diagnosis to London’s most unlikely wallflower, but he doesn’t have time for distractions, even one so delectable. Besides, she’s clearly got her sights on more promising prey. So why can’t he stop thinking about her? All Clare wants to do is return to the dance floor. But as her former friends try to knock her permanently out of place, she realizes with horror she is falling for her doctor instead her duke. When her ankle finally heals and she faces her old life again, will she throw herself back into the game? Or will her time in the wallflower line have given her a glimpse of who she was really meant to be?
