Wild Wicked Highlanders
historical romance
Series · historical romance
Would-Be Wallflowers
The Would-Be Wallflowers series by Eloisa James has 3 books and is best read in publication order, starting with How to Be a Wallflower (2022).
- Books
- 3 books
- First published
- 2022
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: How to Be a Wallflower (2022) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
How to Be a Wallflower
Alternative text for cover: Cover of How to Be a Wallflower - Book 2:
The Reluctant Countess
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Reluctant Countess - Book 3:
Not That Duke
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Not That Duke
About the Would-Be Wallflowers series
Would-Be Wallflowers follows a trio of Regency women who each try, and fail, to fade into the background of the marriage mart the way a proper wallflower should. How to Be a Wallflower (2022) opens the series, followed by The Reluctant Countess (2022) and Not That Duke (2023), each pairing an accidentally conspicuous heroine with a match who notices her despite her best efforts at invisibility.
The series' central joke -- women trying and failing to be forgettable -- gives James a fresh spin on the genre's usual wallflower trope, inverting the shy-heroine cliché into something more knowingly comic.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Would-Be Wallflowers series?
Three: How to Be a Wallflower (2022), The Reluctant Countess (2022), and Not That Duke (2023).
What is the Would-Be Wallflowers premise?
Each heroine tries deliberately to fade into the background of Regency society like a proper wallflower, but keeps drawing notice anyway -- a comic inversion of the genre's usual shy-wallflower trope.
Do I need to read Would-Be Wallflowers in order?
Not strictly -- each book follows a different heroine with a self-contained romance, though publication order is the conventional sequence.
Is Would-Be Wallflowers connected to James's other series?
No -- it's a standalone series, unconnected to her Wildes of Lindow Castle or Accidental Brides books.
Is a fourth Would-Be Wallflowers book planned?
None has been announced as of August 2026; the trilogy appears complete.
If you like the Would-Be Wallflowers series
Reading order last verified .