#CBR8 Book 110: "Do You Want to Start a Scandal?" by Tessa Dare

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

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 mama will do her utmost to force her together with Piers Brandon, Marquess of Granville, as much as possible, as he is the highest ranked peer at the house party they're at, hosted by the Parkhursts.

With the intention of assuring Lord Brandon that she has no designs on his title, Charlotte seeks out Piers in the library. She wants to make sure they arrange their schedules for the next two weeks to meet as little as possible, thereby saving Piers from having to deal with Mrs. Highwood's painful matchmaking. Being discovered alone with an eligible man would defeat the purpose of Charlotte's plan, however, so when another couple enters the library, Charlotte and Piers are forced to hide behind the heavy curtains, trying very hard to ignore the sounds of the unknown couple trysting on a desk nearby.

All their plans to protect Charlotte's reputation come to naught when the young son of the house (convinced that Piers was trying to murder Charlotte) starts recreating the sounds he overheard. Piers does the only honourable thing and promises to marry her, but Charlotte is having none of it. Both her sisters married for love (one to a viscount and the other to a blacksmith), and she wants the same thing. Even at the risk of her reputation, she's determined to refuse Piers' suit. Still, she needs to clear her name of scandal to convince the Parkhursts that she'll be a suitable travelling companion for her daughter, and sees no other solution but to track down the mystery lovers and make them confess to their amorous encounter, proving to everyone, leaving Piers and Charlotte in the clear.

Piers, a highly placed agent for the Crown, is at the house party to investigate Sir Vernon Parkhurst (Delia's father), who is up for a cushy diplomatic position and has some discrepancies in his finances. Piers has to prove whether Parkhurst is trustworthy, and was trying to snoop through paperwork when he was surprised by Charlotte in the library. He's certainly not looking for a wife and does not need distractions from his primary mission. Young, adventurous and impetuous Charlotte Highwood and her enquiring mind keeps muddling up his plans and he soon discovers that the initially unremarkable debutante is far more perceptive than most people suspect.

While Charlotte knew Piers Brandon was handsome from the moment they first met, she always believed him to be icily proper, a perfect gentleman. She's surprised to find that he has a lot of hidden depths. He can pick locks, has a wicked sense of humour and his kisses make her likely to forget her own name. The more time she spends in his company, the more convinced she becomes that he might actually make her a fine husband, if only love could enter the equation.

Charlotte is never going to settle for anything but a romantic match, no matter how lofty a title, how many stately homes, how influential a status and how much pin money she'd receive. She never came to the Parkhursts' house party to find a husband (no matter what her mother wanted), but to convince the parents of her dear friend Delia that she's a decent and proper companion for their daughter, enabling them to go off on adventures. While Diana is known as the really beautiful Highwood sister, and Minerva is the very clever one, Charlotte has more modest accomplishments, at least on a first look. Piers discovers that she's well-read, funny, loyal and inquisitive. She may be young (only 20), but she's not frivolous or silly.

Piers is older (I'm going to assume he's in his thirties, I don't think it's ever specified in the book) and has an excellent reputation as a diplomat. Only a very few know that he's in fact a spy and has been for most of his career. He's done some pretty dark things and therefore seems to believe himself unworthy of love and affection. His former fiancee got bored with waiting for him to actually marry her and ended up with his brother instead, and Piers knows that she's much better off that way.

While he had no plans of marrying before he arrived at the Parkhursts, Piers quickly determines that he would be mad to let Charlotte go. Despite her insistence on a love match (which true to about half of all broody romance heroes, he is convinced he can't offer her), he starts pursuing her in earnest and when charm, his wealth and seductive encounters don't seem to work, he is not afraid to play dirty to secure the match.

This book features references to Stephen King's The Gunslinger, Pride and Prejudice, the absolutely wonderful Hamilton, and quite understandably, James Bond. There is an absolutely hilarious scene involving Charlotte, her mother, a peach and an aubergine. It's witty and light-hearted, but while it was a perfectly entertaining read, it's not Tessa Dare at her very best. While Charlotte is delightful throughout, Piers' insistence that he's unworthy of her love because of his past is rather boring (as I pretty much always think it is). There is also Ms Dare's strange tendency to set love scenes outside, where anyone could chance upon the lovers at any point. Considering that they are at a house party, with a large amount of guests and probably scores of servants, Charlotte and Piers find themselves alone and unchaperoned a LOT.

This book fits into both Ms Dare's Spindle Cove AND Castles Ever After series, but you don't need to have read any of the previous books to enjoy it. It's not one of her best, nor is it one of her more forgettable ones either. I don't regret pre-ordering it, but hope Ms. Dare has something great up her sleeve for her next romance.

Judging a book by its cover: Based on the hair colour of the female cover model and the colour of her dress, I'm assuming this is supposed to be Charlotte and Piers, who clearly got a bit more undressed in the library than the scene in the book suggests. Considering how often the appearance of the cover models and the clothes they wear bear absolutely no resemblance to anything in the actual story, the fact that the lady is blond and wearing a colour described in the book is a plus. I could do without quite so much naked man-chest on my covers, but I've seen worse.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR7 Book 87: "When a Scot Ties the Knot" by Tessa Dare

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Shy and scientifically-minded Miss Madeline Gracechurch suffers from anxiety attacks and couldn't bear the thought of having to be out in society during the Season. So she comes up with a fictional suitor, a strapping and handsome Scotsman that she met on the beach in Brighton and who's unfortunately gone off to fight Napoleon. She keeps writing letters to the brave Captain Logan MacKenzie to keep up with the fiction that their feelings for one another are so strong that she couldn't possibly interact with other men and jilt her absentee beau. As the years go by, the letters become a diary of sorts for Madeline, where she confesses her hopes, fears and dreams and shares tales of her family and her scientific explorations. Her godfather even bequeaths her a castle in the Scottish highlands so she and her future husband will have somewhere to live when he returns from the war.

In time, Madeline is unable to continue her fiction, and kills off her fictional fiancee, going into deep mourning instead. She moves with her great aunt to the Scottish castle, content to go about her quiet life, tending to the tenants, using her artistic skills to make a living illustrating scientific papers. So imagine her surprise when a tall, handsome soldier appears on her doorstep, claiming he is Captain Logan MacKenzie, back from the war, ready to finally marry his sweetheart. He's read every single letter Madeline sent, and now her deceptions will allow him to secure a decent future for those of his men who don't have any other homes to return to. Madeline can't very well confess to all and sundry that she's been living a lie since she was a teenager, even accepting the inheritance of a castle as a result. Can she really marry a total stranger, just to protect her reputation?

With a lot of Tessa Dare's recent novels, you don't really have to suspend your disbelief as throw it out the window, waving at it as it flies away. She writes such frothy, witty, engaging romances that I can't bring myself to care if the premise or plot is preposterous. In Any Duchess Will Do we go along with the idea that a Dowager Duchess would be so desperate for grandchildren that she will happily let her son marry a tavern maid. In Romancing the Duke there is pretty much a fandom convention, complete with cosplayers, despite it being a Regency novel. In When a Scot Ties the Knot a retiring young lady believes that she's sending letters to a fictional recipient that will end up in a dead letter office, but that are actually received by a young Scottish recruit. Logan ignores the mockery and jeers from his fellow soldiers and works his way up to become the Captain the letters address him as, then travels to seek out the woman who wrote them.

Having been orphaned at an early age, Logan MacKenzie was taken in by a parson who raised him along his own sons, not so much out of charity as to make sure that he could send the orphan off to war and save his own children that fate. Years on the battlefield, starting out at the very bottom, fighting his way through the ranks and across Europe has scarred Logan both physically and emotionally. He received every single one of Madeline's letters, reading and memorising the words she never believed anyone would see. Daring to dream of her, even when she didn't know he existed, realising that she killed him off was a serious blow. So he has no compunctions using her for his own ends when he and his men need a place to settle after the war is over. The letters provide wonderful blackmail fodder, and Madeline has after all profited nicely from her deceit. He's destitute and feels deeply responsible for the men who are still with him, all scarred from the war in different ways. She's the mistress of a castle and lands in the Scottish highlands, independent and prosperous. That she's pretty and appears to have a bit of a temper is just a bonus.

Madeline feels she has no choice but to agree to Logan's demands that they marry, but she's hoping to steal her letters back from him before they actually consummate the union and make it legal. She's mortified that all her years of intimate confessions weren't just thrown away, but read over and over again - that her fictional suitor was a real flesh and blood man. And what a man he turned out to be - tall, handsome, brave and fierce (Anyone who tells me that Tessa Dare didn't model Logan on Sam Heughan's portrayal of Jamie Fraser in Outlander is a big fat LIAR). While shy and prone to panic attacks when in a crowd, Madeline isn't blind and the imposing Captain MacKenzie affects her in all sorts of ways. As her family actually believed her stories, sympathising deeply with her first with her separation and then with her apparent grief when they believed her fiancee died, she really can't bear the thought of disappointing them all with the truth to her schemes.

As she spends time with Logan, seeing him interact with his men, realising quickly that it's not just greed or some sort of twisted wish for revenge against a woman who unknowingly used him that's making him want marriage. Madeline's lands will provide a place for Logan's men to settle down, a chance for them to support themselves, maybe marry and start new families, having lost everything they had when off fighting for Britain in the war. Logan comes to realise that while he read all of her letters, facing the woman who wrote them is a very different thing. Because he also wanted those around him to believe his attachment to Madeline was real, not wanting his men to believe him faithless, he's been forced to stay celibate and loyal to a woman he'd never even met. He has years of unresolved sexual tension to work through, yet doesn't force himself on his new wife when she asks that they wait. He naturally uses everything he's got to try to make her desire him as much as he does her, with assorted (and hilarious advice) from his men.

I liked Logan and Madeline and their romance a lot. The supporting characters were really well established and while the premise for the story was crazy, it worked out very well. I liked how neither of them diminished the hopes and dreams of the other and how the complications of the romance were resolved. There is a sub-plot involving mating lobsters that we'll just quickly skip over, the less said about it the better. From the descriptions, it sounds like Madeline's work room would give me the willies, but it's always nice to have a nerdy heroines. According to Ms. Dare's website, both her next novella, due around Christmas, and her next full-length novel will feature the return of Spindle Cove characters. This makes me extremely happy.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 2: "Say Yes to the Marquess" by Tessa Dare

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

For eight long years, Miss Clio Whitmore has been waiting for her betrothed, Piers Brandon, now the Marquess of Granville to stop travelling the globe and avoiding her. They've barely seen each other since they got engaged, and Piers has never even kissed her. Then there's the fact that Clio's frighteningly ambitious mother did everything in her power to make sure Clio was the perfect Marchioness and diplomat's wife, making sure that her entire life was a training exercise, to the point of starving her as she had the misfortune of not being as tall and svelte as her two sisters. Now Clio has inherited a castle and its surrounding lands and she's not about to be "Miss Wait-more" any longer. She just needs her fiance's younger brother to sign off on the annulment papers, and then she intends to support herself by starting a brewery.

Rafe Brandon is the black sheep of the family, and made his own way as a prizefighter after his father disowned him. After their father died, though, Rafe has done his best to take care of his brother's estates, lands and holdings to the best of his ability, even though he hates accounts, paperwork and is pretty sure all the staff look down on him. He's already guilt-ridden about their father dying while Piers was away on the other side of the globe somewhere, he's not about to let his brother's promised bride run off either. He's determined to change Clio's mind, even if he has to plan and arrange the wedding himself. As a result, he shows up at her castle, his personal trainer and Piers' ancient bulldog in tow. His plan involves dazzling Clio with the perfect flowers, decorations, cakes, not to mention an exquisite dress. He refuses to listen when Clio tries to explain that even if she were willing to marry Piers, she doesn't actually want a big elaborate ceremony.

Clio tries to persuade Rafe to sign the annulment papers. Rafe keeps trying to come up with new heights of wedding luxury to change her mind. Not helping matters are Clio's bitchy younger sister Daphne, clueless and insulting brother-in-law (their nickname for Clio is "dumpling"), nor Clio's socially challenged youngest sister Phoebe (nickname "kitten") who would rather be working on advanced mathematical equations or studying than acting as bridesmaid. The chief complication to Clio and Rafe's negotiations, however, is the sizzling chemistry and palpable attraction between them. The only thing worse than Clio dissolving the betrothal would surely be if Rafe fell for his brother's intended?

I've said it before, and will say it again. Tessa Dare writes wonderfully frothy and diverting romance. That's not to say that her characters don't have "hidden pain", much as Rafe puts it, it's just normally not the main focus of the novels. It's obvious that Clio has been beyond patient, and had it not been for the unexpected legacy of a whole castle, she might have stayed content to be ignored by her aristocratic fiancee. It's clear that Piers Brandon is off doing important work for his country, but it seems as if he could possibly have tried to encourage Clio's affections through correspondence, at least. Now Clio, practical-minded and determined to forge her own happiness, wants to make sure her inheritance pays dividends by starting a brewery.

She's not at all impressed with Rafe's convictions that she's shallow and vapid enough that the right flowers, cake and wedding dress is it will take for her to forget the EIGHT long years of being ignored and throw herself into wedding planning. At the same time, she doesn't want to cause an awkward scene with her family and announce that the wedding is off before the annulment papers are actually signed. Rafe is adorably flustered by the whole situation and mainly wants to focus on training himself back into a shape where he can reclaim his Championship title. Bruiser, his trainer, is wonderful comic relief, posing as a wedding planner mainly by trying to speak like a gentleman and using a quizzing glass. I thought the bits involving the dog were possibly a bit too far, but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story as a whole. Plus, that bit with the cake tasting was pretty spectacular. I really wish I'd had that many cakes available to me when planning my wedding.

If you have enjoyed the previous novels of Tessa Dare, I'm sure you'll find this one amusing too. While there are some story elements that border on too silly, I don't think it has anything that might completely break your suspension of disbelief, like Romancing the Duke did for my good friend, Mrs. Julien. Tessa Dare is one of the lucky few to be on my pre-order list, and based on this book, she's not likely to move off it anytime soon.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 9: "Romancing the Duke" by Tessa Dare

Page count: 384 pages
Rating. 4.5 stars

Miss Isolde Ophelia Goodnight, or Izzy, is the orphaned daughter of the author of a beloved series of adventure stories. She has barely a penny to her name, so when she is told that her recently deceased godfather has left her Gostley Castle, it seems too good to be true. Of course, her castle is a filthy ruin, currently inhabited by the scarred, bitter and extremely rude Duke of Rothbury, who's adamant that he didn't sell any castle, and it therefore can't belong to Izzy. He wants to drive her away, so he can go back to his brooding. She refuses to leave, and dares him to try his worst to drive her away.

Realising that he needs to prove her wrong, Ransom, the duke, hires her as his secretary, so she can go through the piles of correspondence that have piled up since the accident that left him with a wicked facial scar and near blindness. Izzy agrees to spend the mornings sorting through his letters, but insists on spending her afternoons trying to restore the castle to a semblance of comfort, aided by the vicar's daughter, a huge fan of her father's stories. Ransom, quite happy to sulk in the bat-infested ruin, now has to engage daily with Izzy's determined cheer, not to mention the hordes of fans who keep turning up to talk to little Izzy Goodnight.

The readers of her father's books still see Izzy as the innocent girl in the melodramatic adventure stories. In reality, she's a pragmatic and fiercely optimistic spinster in her mid-twenties and she's not afraid to admit that she finds the cranky duke who keeps trying to shock her with profanities and improper behaviour devilishly attractive. While her father's Moranglian tales are full of courtly love and chaste maidens and dashing knights, the actual reality of her upbringing was not very idyllic, and she's clearly met her fair share of disappointment. When she finally finds herself the owner of her very own castle, she's not going to let anything stop her from taking possession of it. She's a great heroine, and probably actually far too good for Ransom, who was a bit of an idiot.

Ransom is clearly modelled on the Gothic heroes of old. He's holed up in the ruins of the castle with his wolfish dog and one loyal family retainer, after he was badly scarred in a duel. During his voluntary exile, his business managers have clearly started mismanaging his finances, and it's only when Izzy shows up and he's forced to actually review his accounts that he discovers that he may end up losing more than Gostley castle if he doesn't stop wallowing and prove to the world that he's someone to be reckoned with.

I adored this book, and found it a delightful and highly enjoyable romp. The story is full of convenient coincidences, and silliness and frankly rather anachronistic details, like cosplaying fantasy fans roaming the Northumbrian countryside and it didn't bother me in the slightest. I thought Izzy's pet ermine was funny, I liked that Abigail, the vicar's daughter, who in romance from a lesser author would have likely been a bitchy rival to Izzy instead became her supporting friend. I found the banter and battle of wills between Izzy and Ransom enchanting. I would love to see the complete list of romances there are loving references to here (I'm sure I didn't even catch half). I absolutely understand that this novel may not be for everyone, and that the silliness and suspension of disbelief may be strained too much, and therefore wouldn't recommend it as a starting point for those who have never read Tessa Dare's books before. A Week to Be Wicked is excellent, though.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.