The Wallflower Wager

Starred review from July 1, 2019
Dare outdoes herself with the scintillating third Girl Meets Duke Regency romance (after The Governess Game). Lady Penelope Campion would rather be at home with her rescued animals than out in society, but her Aunt Caroline instructs her to give up her pets and be a proper lady—or move in with her brother in Cumberland, a fate Penny dreads. Then Penny meets her neighbor, wealthy commoner Gabriel Duke, while retrieving her escaped parrot. Gabe wants to sell his residence for a profit and believes that having a lady reside next door to him will increase his property value, so he agrees to help find homes for her animals so she can stay in London. As Gabe and Penny spend more time together, she sees the kindness hidden below his drive for success and riches. The attraction between Penny and Gabe is magnetic even as their class difference threatens to destroy their relationship. Authentic characters, witticisms, profound emotion, and echoes of trauma are primary elements in this expertly crafted novel. This riveting romance may be Dare’s best yet. Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency.

Starred review from August 1, 2019

Lady Penelope Campion loves nothing more than collecting and caring for the stray animals nobody else wants. And she's got her heart set on one particular dark, brooding, and lonely creature: her neighbor, the notorious Gabriel Duke. The notorious Duke of Ruin rose from the slums of London by sheer hard work, here and there causing the undoing of a few aristocrats. His plans for renovating and marketing his new house include using his neighbor's highborn status as a selling point, so he's less than pleased when Penelope's motley crew of animals begin wreaking havoc on his lawn. But his icy manner begins to thaw as he helps kindhearted Penelope rehome her menagerie so she can stay in the city. Their mutual attraction quickly flares into heated trysts that have Gabriel questioning whether he truly is incapable of love. VERDICT Dare (The Governess Game) has created a deliciously sexy take on Lady and the Tramp. Laugh-out-loud scenes involving a runaway otter, a foul-mouthed parrot, and a scene-stealing hedgehog balance out the darker, more introspective topics of the characters' childhood abuse and neglect.--Kathryn Howe, Saint John Free P.L., NB

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2019
After happily dedicating the last nine years of her life to taking in stray creatures, ranging from kittens to a parrot with a drunken sailor's vocabulary, Penny Campion's plan to be Regency London's premier equivalent of a crazy cat lady is in serious jeopardy. Penny's older brother, Bradford, and her aunt, Caroline, insist that Penny give up her so-called life in London and return home to Cumberland. Penny resists, convincing her aunt to give her a reprieve by promising that she will update her wardrobe, make an effort to appear in society, and find suitable new homes for her menagerie, all within one month. Fortunately, Penny's sexy new neighbor, Gabriel Duke, has a vested interest in helping Penny out, even if that interest initially seems to be quite mercenary. RITA Award-winning Dare's (The Governess Game, 2018) flair for ingeniously inventive and wonderfully whimsical story lines is on full display in the latest of her marvelous Girl Meets Duke books, which distinguishes itself with a plot with a serious side while still delivering just the right ratio of lushly detailed love scenes to laugh-out-loud moments.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)