Wallflower (The Old Maids' Club, #1) by Catherine Gayle


Wallflower (The Old Maids' Club, #1)
Title : Wallflower (The Old Maids' Club, #1)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : -
Language : English
Format Type : Audible Audio
Number of Pages : 10
Publication : First published May 6, 2011

10 hrs and 22 mins

The choice between adhering to a long-held pact and finally accepting love could prove Lady Tabitha Shelton’s unhinging. She is plump, plain, pleasant . . . and thoroughly unappealing to any of the men of the ton—apart from fortune hunters. A self-appointed wallflower, she has every intention of remaining one. Tabitha made a vow of spinsterhood with her cousins when they were girls, and she refuses to go back on her word. So far, she’s proven herself quite adept at warding off the blasted fortune hunters’ pursuits.

Noah deLancie, Marquess of Devonport, would prefer to marry for love and companionship—he’s a gentleman through and through—but circumstances have forced his hand: he needs money as badly as he needs a bride. When Noah’s brother-in-law suggests pursuit of his sister, Tabitha, a woman with a dowry large enough to cause even Croesus to blush and who is tantalizingly good company to boot, Noah stumbles into the future he hopes to secure. He’ll stop at nothing to convince Tabitha to marry him.

Nothing, that is, except perhaps the barrel of a dueling pistol, held to his face by his ladylove.


Wallflower (The Old Maids' Club, #1) Reviews


  • Quinn

    1.5 stars

    I really wanted to like the main characters, I really did... I love rooting for the underdog and the overlooked characters, but Tabitha is a nincompop and Devonport really is a milksop.

    Her attitude was just too contrived and the I-must-push-everyone-away-because-they-only-love-me-for-my-money spiel was understandable until the 6 billionth time it was slapped into my face. Perhaps I'm just being cynical and hard-hearted, but I couldn't stop from being exasperated by her actions (mainly the ones done out of spite to Devonport - real mature there, lady) and wanted to punch her in the face.

    I cheered when I read the paragraph: "What a blithering idiot she'd been". Yes! This! I felt a little bit better, perhaps a little bit vindicated... And then I had to slog through the last 30% of drivel. Ugh.



    Sighs. In any case, I found the supporting characters MUCH more likeable and Jo's quite a lot of fun. I hope her story is a lot more fun than this one =_=

  • Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves

    I persevered for as long as I could (4 chapters) ... but now my brain refuses to read and assimilate even one more line of this drivel!
    Reading a newer author after a traditional regency was never a good idea in the first place. My bad! :(

  • Darbella

    Tabitha and Noah. The heroine is almost 30. I could not get past the fact that to me almost everyone acted and sounded like they were still teenagers.

  • Mephala

    Gosh, this book...
    I'm going to be honest: Wallflower was BAD. It was a chore to finish this book; I was very close to dnf-ing it, but as I don't like leaving books unfinished I powered through.

    This book is so awkwardly written, with a plethora of hard to read scenes and dialogs.
    All of the characters are unlikable, especially the heroine's family. There is a difference between teasing among friends/family and being hostile and mean. Here's where the extreme awkwardness was so painful. Tabitha's brothers and father constantly humiliate her commenting on her weight and "old maid" status. I feel the author wanted to portrayed all of those comments as cute-y, but they weren't. Noah - the hero - even commented on the "teasing" (not once) saying something like "why did the entire Sheldon family find such jokes amusing?" Speaking of Noah, he was no better - he might not agree with what was being said, but he never really called them out on their behavior. I mean, he zeroed on Tabitha because of her dowry and how her money can help him with his financial problems, so what we as readers can expect, right? He had some semi-redeeming moments, but they were such over the top reactions they verged on being comical. In the end, I've never really believed Noah had any genuine feelings for Tabitha. Every time he professed his love (more of a lust to be honest) it felt fake. Here the lack of any significant character development became obvious.
    Moreover, every supposed funny moment in the story was so awful and incredibile awkward. Tabitha wielding a pistol (want to read well written, funny and dramatic scene with pistol duel? Read Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean), Oglethorphe's (given how this character was, this name is so on the nose it's not even funny...) rants, the ton's evilness were all so over dramatic.
    There was also a couple of really weird scenes where Tabitha's brothers were lusting (???) over hear breasts and her "lush figure", and I was honestly taken aback. And no, I'm not exaggerating, the specific phrase "lusting look" was used by the author.
    Because you know, this book is full of mentions, descriptions, and reactions to Tabitha's ample breasts. Her boobs are honestly as much of a character of the story as she was. Oh, and hero's "burgeoning erection"...

    I guess all of those complaints would not be so difficult to overlook, if the story was interesting; if it was engaging and made me care about the main couple. It wasn't and I didn't care.

    Wallflower was really bad book, and I'm very disappointed because I always look foreword to read romances with plump/plus size/fat heroines.

  • Suzanne (Under the Covers Book blog)




    Lady Tabitha Shelton made a pact with her two cousins; that they would become old maids together, they wouldn’t let society’s expectation that they should all marry trap them. Not that Tabitha is inundated with offers, no matter that her dowry is embarrassingly large, she is far to plain and plump for that, and has been a wallflower since her debut. That is, until Noah, Marquess of Devonport one of her brothers best friends and of the few men she is comfortable enough to have a conversation with, suddenly starts flirting with her. At least she thinks he’s flirting. But is Noah like all the other men who has tried to pursue her; a fortune hunter or does he want Tabitha for herself?

    I wanted a romance where the Wallflower was unexpectedly swept off her feet by the handsome and charming, or maybe dark and brooding, hero to shock and awe of all the ton. A Cinderellaesque type of story that I could happily float along with and enjoy. Wallflower kind of reached these expectations, the heroine was definitely a wallflower and hero was handsome, however, the only sweeping being done was by the servants.

    Maybe I am too used to the heroes being commanding and alpha, so when a beta hero like Noah comes a long, I feel a little underwhelmed. However, I refuse to believe that a beta hero has to be bland, which unfortunately is how I felt about Noah. However, I did like Tabitha and Noah together, they had a very sweet, although at times sedate romance. I looked forward to the times when passion would flare between them as that’s when they seemed to have the most chemistry.

    I did like this book, it was an enjoyable read and I am intrigued enough about the cast of supporting characters in Wallflower to want to read the next in this series. But, I just wish the romance between Noah and Tabitha was a little bit more exciting

    Lady Tabitha Shelton made a pact with her two cousins; that they would become old maids together, they wouldn’t let society’s expectation that they should all marry trap them. Not that Tabitha is inundated with offers, no matter that her dowry is embarrassingly large, she is far to plain and plump for that, and has been a wallflower since her debut. That is, until Noah, Marquess of Devonport one of her brothers best friends and of the few men she is comfortable enough to have a conversation with, suddenly starts flirting with her. At least she thinks he’s flirting. But is Noah like all the other men who has tried to pursue her; a fortune hunter or does he want Tabitha for herself?

    I wanted a romance where the Wallflower was unexpectedly swept off her feet by the handsome and charming, or maybe dark and brooding, hero to shock and awe of all the ton. A Cinderellaesque type of story that I could happily float along with and enjoy. Wallflower kind of reached these expectations, the heroine was definitely a wallflower and hero was handsome, however, the only sweeping being done was by the servants.

    Maybe I am too used to the heroes being commanding and alpha, so when a beta hero like Noah comes a long, I feel a little underwhelmed. However, I refuse to believe that a beta hero has to be bland, which unfortunately is how I felt about Noah. However, I did like Tabitha and Noah together, they had a very sweet, although at times sedate romance. I looked forward to the times when passion would flare between them as that’s when they seemed to have the most chemistry.

    I did like this book, it was an enjoyable read and I am intrigued enough about the cast of supporting characters in Wallflower to want to read the next in this series. But, I just wish the romance between Noah and Tabitha was a little bit more exciting

  • Quinn

    Had a hard time putting down my Kindle when I was reading this! It took awhile to get to the heat, but once I got there, OH BABY! I wasn't disappointed. I usually prefer more sex in a novel, but I was okay with there being only two scenes in this story.

    Other Notes-

    -I liked Tabitha, but I wanted to put her in a headlock until she gave poor Noah an effing break.

    -Noah, bless his heart. He took more sh*t then a lot of men would. When he finally gets stern, I rejoiced. I hate to see a good man hassled for no good reason.

    -I couldn't *see* Noah in my head. There wasn't a lot of physical description about him. There were conflicting descriptions of his hair color. He was blonde, then he has light brown hair. Oooookay. It's really nice when an author helps paint a visual portrait of characters, and that wasn't done with Noah. Hardly done with any of the characters, to be honest. We got a somewhat better description of Tabitha, but not by much.

    -I would've loved if Bethanne would've played more of a part. Felt weird to push the idea of the 3-women pact, and one woman was left out for 98% of the story.

    -I felt Tabitha's father in this story was unrealistic. What high bred man of the time would be so tolerant of a 29 yr old unwed daughter who outright refused to obey his wishes? That bugged me.

    I saved this story on my Kindle for further reading, which isn't often done. About 3-4 sections were bookmarked. I wish there had been more. Overall, I think it rates 3.75 stars.

  • SheLove2Read

    Catherine Gayle is a new-to-me author but I will definitely be reading more of her work. This was a really sweet little story about a plump "old maid" who is being courted by a family friend after years of being on the shelf.

    Tabitha was a heroine it was hard not to love. All her life she had been led to believe she would be a spinster because she was overweight. It never really was discussed just exactly how "big" she was, but from the descriptions I'm guessing she just wasn't anorexic like most young debutantes seem to be. Noah seemed to find her appealing and that's all that's really important anyway. I love how he slowly made her feel as beautiful as he found her to be. It wasn't easy though - several times I wanted to smack her myself. But I do understand the mental anguish that goes along with not accepting your body image.

    I also loved her family and friends. Even though her father and brothers should have been flogged for making her feel as if her size was all that there was to her, in the end they still loved her desperately and only wanted what was best for her, even if they went about it the wrong way.

    A solid 3.5 stars and I'm looking forward to reading more in this trilogy!

  • Joan

    Too many incidental characters thrown into the pot too quickly for this reader to make sense of them. I dnf'd at 8%

  • Lexie

    This was unsatisfying with a confusing message. Tabitha's transformation about 2/3rds through made no sense. She suddenly realized she could have been living less frumpishly? If her cousin Jo could be Belle of the Ball, pretty as you please while keeping herself an 'old maid' why couldn't she? Oh because everyone said she was plain and plump.

    Other then the 'villain' of this title, no one called her plain or plump. Not her brothers, not her cousins and definitely not Noah. Part of her self-confidence issues stemmed from "people she loved" saying such to her, frequently she would have you believe but no one did! Jo came the closest by apologizing for possibly making Tabitha believe that all these years, but she never said it.

    Then there's Noah, who apparently has been making lusty eyes at Tabby for years but no one said anything and he never approached her. It took both her brothers more or less selling her to him for him to realize by jove she's perfect!

    I think I liked Leih and Miss Jennings the most but the former is in his own ridiculous farce of a romance with Jo and the latter disappears quite inexplicably given her 'vital' role in Tabby's plans.

    And while we are here, I really really got confused by the authors use of names. Told from third person limited in either Noah's or Tabby's point of view, the author referred to several people (Tabby's brothers, and Leih) with different names. Tabby called them all their first names, while Noah alternated between their titles and first names, sometimes in the same chapter! So confusing!

    I wanted to like this, but couldn't in the end. I wont be checking out the others either.

  • Dee

    A good read. A little long winded but good none the less.

    Story: Lady Tabitha Shelton, thinks every man only wants her for her ever increasing dowery. She believes no one wants her for herself. But all she wants is to be loved for who she is.

    Noah deLancie, Marquess of Devonport, always thought he would marry for love but now that his debts are slowly upon him, he has no choice but to marry for money, even if it kills his pride. But when his brother in law suggests him to court Lady Tabitha, he thinks both his problem might be solve. Not only could he solve his problem with debt but also might have found love apart of the bargin. That is if everything goes according to plan.

    My favorite character is Tabitha's twin brother Toby, he's just to funny. And I love the family dynamic. It really a good read to get you laughing. At time the heroine might piss you off with her view of herself but as the story goes it gets alittle better.

    Happy Reading!! :)

  • Wendy Lohr

    *Update: Still couldn't get through the whole book, although I did manage to get about halfway through. I just don't care what happens to the characters, didn't really like the plot, and most likely will never attempt to finish this book.

    Just couldn't get into this book. I might try again sometime in the future, but for now, it's a dnf.

  • Dar

    Tabitha and Noah had me hooked on them from the start! Both were such likable characters, with depth and dimension. I had thought I’d know how it would go, but they swayed a bit here and there, keeping things interesting.

  • Chels Patterson

    This book, because really novel is too good of a word for this writing, is pathetic.

    The writing Is awful, illformed and not suited for the time period. I detest when authors use "that" in every sentence.

    The author also jumps from present tense to past tense in the same scene for the same characters! Clearly an editor was need or a better one. Half the time, because of poor editing one does not know what is happen, the scene is not set up for the reader, are they in a park? Are they at a ball? We do not know.

    A little stickler for details, romantic love is a 20th century ideal, the female characters of this book would have had arranged marriages, and known whom or what type of man they would be chosen to marry, no one would have been given an option, unless financial independent or a governess, which they are of too high a class for. Let alone would they be of their ages.

    Furthermore, the author fails to note that in 1812 plump as the author refers to Tabitha would have been if not desired, normal at least accepted, more so in an arranged marriage! Plump or fatness showed health, wealth and the ability to have children. Not to mention their clothing were meant to show large hips, large breast and corsets would easily tighten the waist. Thin only became sexually popular in the 1960 with the advent of Twiggy as a pop icon. Before her May West, Marilyn Monroe and Betty Garble were considered ideals of beauty, all three were size 8 to size 14.

    I found this book a sorry try at subject many other authors have excelled at. Better writing can make one forget the authors lack of knowledge, and good editing can make a reader loose themselves in the story, this book does none of it, leaving one's mind to wander. Bad book, thank god it's not on paper and I didn't pay a cent!

  • MasterSal

    Sept 2019 re-read:
    Despite my Kindle lying to me I think I have read this before. Perhaps because of that I can't say I enjoyed this particularly. It was a little too drawn out for the plot as nothing much happens in it. Our heroine has a complex about being "too fat to be loved" or something and jumps down our hero's throat every time he does anything romantic. Doesn't make for very fun romance reading.

    This could have been acceptable but our heroine finds her feminine mystique through a Cinderella transformation about 50% in. Except that she loses her mojo and gains it back at the drop of a hat which made for frustrated reading.

    All this also would have been enjoyable in a farcical way except that there was a duel plot over the last 25% of the book which was confusing as heck. I didn't follow any of it which made the book end on an odd note.

    Not really recommended.

  • Frankiejohnny

    Loved it!!!

    I totally fell in love with Tabitha. Overweight, Old Maid, Wallflower, and Completely Insecure. This totally annoyed some readers, but I found it perfect. I think she did push Noah away one too many times, but in the real world, you don’t lose 29 years of Self Esteem issues just because the man of your dreams, who desperately needs your money, says he loves you. I would still be suspicious that it was the money and not me that was truly loved as well. Speaking of our hero… Noah is a different type of hero as well. He doesn’t drink Brandy like water, he doesn't gamble, he doesn't swear, he doesn't fight, and he’s not a Rake. He sounds boring on paper, but is actually a pretty interesting guy. And handsome as all get out!

    This is R-rated in the romance department, but you have to wait until the last few chapters for it.

    Happy reading!
    -Frankie

  • Paki

    If I could, I'd give this book a half star.
    The H needs to marry a rich woman (of course) and the h's brothers nudge him towards her. She's a bluestocking, wallflower, and old maid who insists on not marrying a fortune hunter.

    I found the h to be ridiculously stupid. She's treated like shit by her father and brothers who all think they know what is best for her and yet she wouldn't stand up to them despite not taking crap from anyone else. She had all these "modern" thoughts but at the end of the day, wouldn't let them out.

    The H was mediocre. Nothing to write home about.

  • Dailyn

    I liked the premise of the book. The characters were lovable. I felt bad for the heroine and her body image. She felt like no one could love her just for her. The hero was okay but did not do much for me. I like my men strong not unsure of themselves. I dont know it was a fun, fast read. Not the worst book but not the best either. I found some of the secondary characters a little more interesting and hope that they have their own book.

  • Whitebeard Books

    This tale introduces the principal characters when they are still just kids, cousins and filled with mischief. Then the story continues as they have reached “of an age to marry.” The ladies are so totally believable and likable that the reader can’t help but cheer or gasp at the outcomes to which they are exposed. Can’t wait to see the next few episodes Ms. Gayle.

  • gina~*

    This was a GREAT kindle freebie.... A few parts dragged but the love scenes were steamy and overall I was pretty impressed. I will be seeking out more books by this author.

  • Maria Nairne

    Sorry, couldn't finish!

  • Crazychriss889

    Our hero is a bit of a coward... Don't know why it takes him that long to apologize to Tabby and why he doesn't court her for such a long time...
    I mean, sure, they were friends but where was the chemistry between them? All of a sudden he sees how beautiful she is?! Grrr...

    Other than that, I liked this novel. It was well written. There were hardly any mistakes. Sure, at times, the changes were a bit too abrupt but I could keep up.

    Plot?
    The plot was a bit too over-the-top, especiall because the old maids (let's just call them that) are friends but don't talk about what concerns them. It's evident that our heroine wants to marry... So why doesn't she just tell her friends that?

    MCs?
    Our heroine is overly self-conscious. She sees herself as fat. It riled me up. I mean, sure, people told her she was (which is, by the way, not very likely for that time period but anyways) but is she not capable of forming her own opinion?
    At times, she was pretty distant with our hero and seemed to play games with him but most of the time, I got why she did that.

    All in all, this one doesn't deserve its low rating here on Goodreads.