Do You Want to Start a Scandal (CBR14 #13)

I had a good time with Do You Want to Start a Scandal, primarily because it does one of my favorite things by putting a good deal of emotional intelligence into a character who may not be expected to have it and then let them deduce the world around them. It is deployed to good use as Charlotte Highwood goes head-to-head with Diplomat turned Spy Piers Brandon, Lord Granville after they are caught together during the Parkhurst ball but are not in fact the couple who had a tryst in that very room.

Charlotte is determined to discover who really had the tryst in the library to avoid a loveless marriage to Piers as Charlotte is now supposed to call him, has done the honorable thing… but Charlotte doesn’t want that – it will only support the rumors following her time in London for the season and there is no way this would be a love match. In fact, Piers has assured her that he will never love anyone, including her. As the two weeks of the stay at the Parkhurst estate play out Charlotte chases her clues and while she strikes out on finding the lovers, she does discover there is more to Piers than one might expect of a stuffy diplomat. Charlotte unravels the mystery of Piers while he just unravels, unable to complete the task he was sent to the Parkhurst estate for in the first place because Charlotte throws off all his skills by becoming the primary focus of all his attentions. The quiet moments between the pair as she puts the pieces together and he cannot fathom how she has become the only person to get the truth out of him in years were great.

This is technically a Spindle Cove novel – Charlotte is the youngest Highwood, her sisters Minerva featured in the earlier Spindle Cove book A Week to Be Wicked and Diana (who features in Beauty and the Blacksmith which I haven’t read) but it is never there, instead all action takes place at Parkhurst estate. Its also tangentially a Castles Ever After book, as Piers is the Marquess whom Clio breaks off her engagement with and marries her brother instead in Say Yes to the Marquess (I loved, love, loved the scene between Rafe and Charlotte in this!). Do You Want to Start a Scandal does show some of Dare’s usual go to tropes and structures, a Marriage of Convenience plot, smolder and steamy sexy times, sincere emotion on display, an emotionally wounded Hero who is smitten with the heroine area all on display here but what made this one stand out to me was that it is essentially a romance novel with mystery plot at its heart, something that I think I’d really like to read more of.  Purportedly there’s also humor in this one, but the “MURDER!” plot moppet enraged me instead of making me laugh, so I’ll have to take others’ word for it. Tessa Dare has a lively way of telling romance stories that is uniquely her, and it continues to make me happy to settle in and read her books.  

A Lady by Midnight (CBR14 #4)

I can always trust Tessa Dare to bust a slump, and as exhaustion is one of my last remaining COVID symptoms, I’m not so much slumped as I am distractable. A Lady by Midnight took care of it either way, and I enjoyed my evening with it so much that I’m rating it five stars, and I know that I am one of the few around Cannonball Read to do so. I get it, but I’m also keeping my rating as is.

I am currently working my way through a large non-fiction tome where the author seems to be taking themselves a bit too seriously (Clement Knox’s Seduction review forthcoming eventually) and yesterday I just could not focus on it at all, and as it was a section on Casanova, I thought it best to just put it down and pick something else up. Lucky for present me, past me had ordered A Lady by Midnight before American Thanksgiving but the crush of books that needed reading in December in order to fulfill my reading challenges pushed it right off my to read pile for the month. But there it was calling to me from atop my bookcase.

It had been almost four years since my last time to Spindle Cove with A Week to be Wicked, but it mostly came back to me – certainly the town and its residents broadly if not the particulars of the books I had already read in the series (including A Night to Surrender and Any Duchess Will Do). I did remember though the two leads, who were introduced in the first novel and have been floating around in the periphery of the stories since. Kate Taylor is the town’s music instructor, she’s also an orphan who has been making her own way in the world since she was brought to a foundling school around age five. She’s managed to maintain an inner spark, and Spindle Cove as provided her with safety and friends, but she is still in search of family, and love. She’s certainly not expecting to find either of those things in Corporal Thorne, the militia commander in charge at Spindle Cove who arrived the year before and has seemingly made it his mission to ignore her at every turn. Thorne however has his own reasons for acting as he has, and with a family of aristocrats arriving claiming that Kate is their long-lost cousin he finds himself announcing that he is her fiancé, in order to keep her safe. It however complicates things tremendously.

Dare sticks with the things in her writing that I appreciate the most, this book has most of her standard features: in Kate we have an independent lady making her way in the world, the plot pretty closely aligns to a Marriage of Convenience, focusing on an engagement of convenience, the smolder and steamy sexy times are present (even if we’re about 2/3rds of the way through the book before Kate and Thorne get past kissing, there’s a lot happening in this story), sincere emotions are on display – specifically in actions, and Thorne might be her most wounded hero. These is a lot of heaviness to the plot of this one, but as its Tessa Dare it was also silly at time, funny, and sexy, which is what I am looking for when I pick up on of her books. Once all the pieces are on the board the narrative takes off and never really slows down, right through to the epilogue (and I really would have loved another chapter between the end and the epilogue). This one  is all about love, the shapes it takes, the ways we express it (or don’t), where we look for it… and it worked for me even when it shouldn’t have.

A Week to be Wicked (CBR10 #16)

Another week, another Tessa Dare book review.

As I mentioned last review of The Duchess Deal, I love Tessa Dare books so it shouldn’t be all that surprising that I went ahead and picked up where I left off with A Week to be Wicked once I retrieved it. My quick review of this one is another five star Dare outing, these two back to back really highlight the parts of Dare’s craft that make these the fun, enjoyable, and downright witty reads I’ve come to hope for from her.

To me, Dare’s writing breaks down into a pretty clear set of standards:

1. Independent lady making her way in the world
2. More often than not a Marriage of Convenience plot
3. Smolder and steamy sexy times
4. Sincere emotion on display
5. Wounded Hero, either physically or emotionally, who is smitten with the heroine.
6. Interesting, but not overtaking, side characters
7. Comedy/quirkiness/whimsy in some regard. Dare is not afraid of humor.

And with all of that we have a sincerely winning combination of components.

In this, the second book in the Spindle Cove series, Dare gives us one of my favorite of her leading ladies, Minerva Highwood. Minerva is the intelligent catch as an early geologist who is determined to make it to a Geological Symposium in Edinburgh to present her findings. Colin is the middling good at everything one, and obviously not as intelligent as Minerva (and the best part is that he knows it, and relishes in her brilliant mind). It’s energizing to read a romance where the man is not some infallible savior come into rescue the heroine- Colin gives it his best, but as he brings up time and again his best intentions go to hell and he doesn’t always manage to do what he says he will. As the reader, we watch a relationship grow, not just a physical attraction (not that it is lacking) and it feels much more realistic and emotionally satisfying than other romances often are.

I’m all about Tessa Dare lately, and for good reason. One word of caution though, Dare writes what I lovingly refer to as Historical Fantasy Romance. There is *some* historically accurate threads that Dare uses to weave her tapestry, but they are very thin and often bent to suit her wants.

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read, where we read what we want, review it how we see fit (within a few guidelines), and raise money in the name of a fallen friend for the American Cancer Society.

A Night to Surrender (CBR9 #59)

Following A Farewell to Arms, a trip to Romancelandia was in order.

Historical Romance was up next in my rotation, so off to Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove I went. In the first book in the series we are introduced not only to the seaside locale, but to its resident mistress in charge. Susanna Finch has everything set up just so, she has created a safe haven for women and a schedule to keep them happy and mentally engaged. Unfortunately for her, Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff blasts his way (literally) into her life, and with some interference from her father, will be staying very much underfoot for the next month. All the worse, she is terribly attracted to him from the moment go.

This is a Tessa Dare book, and she writes charming, whimsical stories with characters that have great emotional chemistry. She also writes great side characters, even if she is a bit clumsy in introducing the next couple in her series (the chapter with Minerva and Colin stood out in the worst possible way). There was by far much less quirk than in the Castles Ever After books, which is a blessing, and more historical accuracy – as much as Dare is ever accurate. Dare does wacky like no one else, and like my other foray into the realms of Spindle Cove, was all-in with these wacky people (refreshingly not young) and their shenanigans. Where else am I likely to read about a pet lamb named Dinner?

It was silly, funny, and sexy, which is what I am looking for when I pick up a Tessa Dare book. The rest of the story had some pep in its step, and once the introduction of Spindle Cove itself was out of the way the narrative takes off and never really slows down. This book struck me as a more refined and more expertly executed version of One Dance with a Duke, another series introducer. It is in some ways burdened with world creation, but once that work is done Dare plays with two characters that are in equal measure true to their historical contexts, but also struggling with issues of gender roles and pride. It was all quite well done, and didn’t shy away from delivering very good sex scenes. All in all, you should all pack your bags for Spindle Cove, it is quite restorative.

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read, where we read what we want, review it as we see fit (with a few guidelines), and raise money for the American Cancer Society in the name of a fallen friend.