I like Tessa Dare. I know her books are derisively considered by many to be HINO (Historical In Name Only) but that’s something that’s never bothered me, personally. I like that her characters have modern sensibilities, because I don’t want to read about a hero with traditional Regency-era attitudes toward women. I like that her books each tend to have a designated Element of Silliness (see: Romancing the Duke‘s cosplayers, Any Duchess Will Do‘s terrible knitting) and in this one it’s the recurring joke of […]
Featuring a Pet Lamb Named Dinner
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 […]
Was There A Kissing Book Writer Race to Use This Title?
Do You Want to Start a Scandal? by Tessa Dare
Tessa Dare’s latest Regency romance series is The Duchess Deal and I would recommend its first book, Girl Meets Duke, over Do You Want to Start a Scandal. This crossover story between Dare’s Spindle Cove and Castles Ever After novels, features the youngest of the Highwood sisters and longtime troublemaker, Charlotte, who has both eldest sibling Diana’s desire for a loving home and intellectual Minerva‘s sense of adventure. Piers Brandon, Lord Granville is an agent of the crown performing reconnaissance at a two-week house party in the English countryside. Devoted to his duty to King […]
How *does* the aubergine fit inside the peach?
Spindle Cove/Castles Ever After crossover? Okay! (Piers Brandon is the Marquess that didn’t get said yes to, in case you don’t recognize him.) (He’s much more likable in Do You Want to Start a Scandal than he was in Say Yes to the Marquess.) (I don’t know why I keep using parentheses.) People have been asking for years for Dare to finally give the last Highwood daughter, Charlotte, her own story, so it seems fitting that she (and we) should be rewarded for her patience […]
The gentleman in black turned down the corridor, and Charlotte Highwood followed
Miss Charlotte Highwood, youngest sister of Minerva and Diana, is not really interested in marriage. She just wants to tour Europe with her best friend Delia Parkhurst, but after earning the moniker “The Desperate Debutante” after her mother literally flung her into the path of an eligible young nobleman (causing him to fall off his horse and three carriages to collide), convincing the ton that she’s not a scheming fortune huntress is going to be more difficult. She knows full well that her extremely marriage-minded […]
My linkiest review in a long time, with an assist from Godzilla
3.5 stars First of all, I want to thank the ever lovely Mrs. Julien, who kindly sent me an Amazon gift card during my continued convalescence. Part of that gift card financed this story. This novella follows four full novels and a novella, which while they’re not strictly necessary to get the full impact of the story, are well worth reading. Start with A Week to Be Wicked, it’s amazing! Miss Elinora “Nora” Browning grew up next to and was taught lessons along with George […]