Review: The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower – Erica Ridley

Posted 26 November, 2014 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments

*I received a free copy of The Earl's Defiant Wallflower from Intrepid Reads via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *


Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Review: The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower – Erica RidleyThe Earl's Defiant Wallflower by Erica Ridley
Series: The Dukes of War #1
Published by Intrepid Reads on 1 December 2014
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
Pages: 250
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley

4 Stars

Oliver York returns from war to find his father dead, his finances in arrears, and himself the new Earl of Carlisle. If he doesn't marry an heiress—and fast!—he and his tenants are going to be pitching tents down by the Thames. He definitely shouldn't be trading kisses with a penniless debutante... no matter how captivating she is!

Miss Grace Halton is in England just long enough to satisfy the terms of her dowry. But a marriage of convenience isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Back in America, her ailing mother needs medicine only Grace’s dowry can afford. Which means the dashing earl she can't get out of her mind is the one man she can't let into her heart.

Can true love conquer all? The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower has really sweet main characters, regency London and a despicable grand-mother.

My The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower review:

Oliver and Grace really weren’t meant for each other at all! Grace only needed to get married so that she could get her dowry and get on the first boat back to America to help nurse her mom back to health, and Oliver didn’t want to marry at all. The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower is filled with romance and really good chemistry anyway, though. When Oliver and Grace met at a ball, he was instantly attracted to her, even as she was trying to hide against the wall to stay away from the old rakes who thought she was so different from the young English misses. Once Oliver danced with her, she got noticed by the rest of the ton, too, and she eagerly searched for a rich future husband.

Neither of the main characters in The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower thought they’d ever marry for love, even as they fell for each other, they kept telling themselves it was a bad idea. Their heartfelt struggles just made me root for them so bad, and I enjoyed their quick repartee and their scorching glances across the ballroom, and when they were dancing, I almost wanted to swoon!

Written in third person point of view and past tense, I got a good feel for both Oliver and Grace. Her grand-mother managed to get on my bad side as soon as I started reading, because it’s been quite a while since I’ve come across a meaner person in my books. She never let Grace speak her mind, and didn’t even believe her about Grace’s mother being ill.

If you are looking for a short, hot historical romance to help keep you warm on a cold winter night, The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower is the perfect book for you. There is a little bit of everything, and the characters really brought the story forward in a good way.

Some of my favorite The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower quotes:

 Drunken, yes. He was vey good at drunken. Alcohol was the only thing that dulled the anger. And the guilt.

Men of his class didn’t marry for love. Men with his past shouldn’t marry at all.

Grace nodded. To most of society, once’s reputation was even more important than one’s dowry. The last thing she needed was to make it harder to snare a husband.

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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6 responses to “Review: The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower – Erica Ridley

  1. ”Their heartfelt struggles just made me root for them so bad, and I enjoyed their quick repartee and their scorching glances across the ballroom, and when they were dancing, I almost wanted to swoon!”

    Aww!! Sounds lovely! I love ballrooms and the atmosphere and feeling you can dance around and dance around until you’re dizzy lol. Super review! 😀

  2. I agree, the dancing, and the parties of the ‘ton’ from that time just seem so lovely (at least for those people with a title and/or money!). It’s one of the things I love the most about historical romances featuring regency London, Lola.

    • Yeah that grandmother is a character I wanted to slap very hard, Molly! I enjoy HR every now and then, it’s just a different time to get lost in 🙂

  3. I think I’d root for Oliver and Grace to, Lexxie. I like it when characters fight so hard against what is obviously meant to be. 🙂 Here you tempting me with HR again. Maybe i can get one read soon. I really hope so.

    Hope you had a great week! Mine had been busy but fun. And we’ve had some great food too. 🙂 *big hugs*

    • I hope you’ll be able to read a good HR soon, Brandee. You know I always enjoy myself with these stories set in the past, where life was quite different in some ways, but still kind of similar to our world in other ways.
      My week has been busy and fun, too. *BIG HUGS*

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