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Series · historical romance

Would-Be Wallflowers

by Eloisa James

The Would-Be Wallflowers series by Eloisa James has 3 known books (3 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with How to Be a Wallflower (2022).

Books
3 known books (3 novels)
Published
3
First published
2022
Status
completed
Last checked

Start here: How to Be a Wallflower (2022) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of How to Be a Wallflower

How to Be a Wallflower (2022)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. How to Be a Wallflower

    Novel

    How to Be a Wallflower opens Eloisa James's Would-Be Wallflowers trilogy in 2022, spanning 400 pages as the first of three Regency heroines discovers that trying to disappear into a ballroom is harder than it looks.

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  2. The Reluctant Countess

    Novel

    The second entry, The Reluctant Countess, appeared the same year as the opener, 2022, continuing the trilogy's running joke of heroines who fail spectacularly at going unnoticed.

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  3. Not That Duke

    Novel

    Not That Duke closes out the trilogy in 2023 at 315 pages, giving the third and most conspicuous of James's would-be wallflowers her turn opposite a match who refuses to look away.

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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.

Reading order last verified .