Duchess Deal

The Duchess Deal- Tessa Dare
Avon/HarperCollins
Release Date: August 27, 2017

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Since his return from war, the Duke of Ashbury’s to-do list has been short and anything but sweet: brooding, glowering, menacing London ne’er-do-wells by night. Now there’s a new item on the list. He needs an heir—which means he needs a wife. When Emma Gladstone, a vicar’s daughter turned seamstress, appears in his library wearing a wedding gown, he decides on the spot that she’ll do.

His terms are simple:
- They will be husband and wife by night only.
- No lights, no kissing.
- No questions about his battle scars.
- Last, and most importantly… Once she’s pregnant with his heir, they need never share a bed again.

But Emma is no pushover. She has a few rules of her own:
- They will have dinner together every evening.
- With conversation.
- And unlimited teasing.
- Last, and most importantly… Once she’s seen the man beneath the scars, he can’t stop her from falling in love…

________________________________________________

Returned from Waterloo scarred both physically and mentally, the Duke of Ashbury has decided he needs an heir.  When his fiancee drops him because of his scars and her seamstress shows up at the ducal residence demanding payment for a finished wedding gown, Ash decides she'll do.  Emma at first thinks he's making fun of her, but she's desperate and before she knows it, she's the new Duchess of Ashbury.  Emma doesn't mind Ash's scars but she does refuse to fall in exactly with Ash's plans.  She won't be a wife in bed only.  She's determined to push Ash back into enjoying life, and before she knows it, she's fallen in love with him.  Will Ash break her heart or learn to love again?

The Duchess Deal takes the familiar romance trope of a poor but genteel woman who enters into a marriage of convenience with an obscenely rich nobleman and gives it a refreshing, fun reboot as only Tessa Dare can do.  Emma may be alone in the world, but she refuses to let life's trials beat her down.  She hides her fears, whether she's facing down a strange duke or admitting that she loves him.  Few women, no matter how desperate to get paid, would show up at the home of a duke who has just had his betrothal ended and demand that she pay for his former fiancee's gown.  Fewer still would show up wearing the dress- and then not kill the man who compares her creation to "unicorn vomit". When Ash snaps at her or tells her she can call him 'Duke' if she has to be familiar, she starts keeping lists of the most ridiculous pet names she can come up with to call him. 

Ash is a deeply wounded hero who tries to retreat from the world to protect himself.  He's listened to a few people tell him he's a monster and so he refuses to believe he could be anything else.  He tries to keep Emma at an impersonal distance, rejecting her before she can reject him.  He fights her every step of the way as she drags him back to being himself.  But his wicked sense of humor and basic decency still manage to come through- like when he pretends to be a demon and menaces Emma's vicar father.

Tessa Dare (Do You Want to Start a Scandal?) gives us another gift with The Duchess Deal: delightful characters, sparkling wit, and her trademark brilliant sense of humor.  This fast-paced enjoyable read will captivate you from page one and refuse to let you go. August's release of the next book in this series (The Governess Game) can't come soon enough! A must read for Tessa Dare fans, romance fans, and everyone looking for a good book!

Do You Want To Start A Scandal

Do You Want To Start A Scandal (Castles Ever After/Spindle Cove series)- Tessa Dare
Avon Books
Release Date: September 27, 2016

Rating (Out of 5):
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:On the night of the Parkhurst ball, someone had a scandalous tryst in the library.

Was it Lord Canby, with the maid, on the divan? Or Miss Fairchild, with a rake, against the wall? Perhaps the butler did it.

All Charlotte Highwood knows is this: it wasn't her. But rumors to the contrary are buzzing. Unless she can discover the lovers' true identity, she'll be forced to marry Piers Brandon, Lord Granville--the coldest, most arrogantly handsome gentleman she's ever had the misfortune to embrace. When it comes to emotion, the man hasn't got a clue.

But as they set about finding the mystery lovers, Piers reveals a few secrets of his own. The oh-so-proper marquess can pick locks, land punches, tease with sly wit . . . and melt a woman's knees with a single kiss. The only thing he guards more fiercely than Charlotte's safety is the truth about his dark past.

Their passion is intense. The danger is real. Soon Charlotte's feeling torn. Will she risk all to prove her innocence? Or surrender it to a man who's sworn to never love?

_______________

Do You Want to Start a Scandal finally gives us the story of Charlotte Highwood (Spindle Cove series), a sensible, adventure-loving young woman whose mother would give Mrs. Bennet a run for her money in desperation to get her daughters titled, wealthy husbands.  At  a friend's house party Charlotte knows her mother is going to not-so-subtly try and catch a marquess (Piers Brandon, Lord Granville to be exact), for Charlotte's husband. Charlotte tries to warn Piers and reassure him that she has no desire to marry him, but no sooner has she said that than the two of them have to hide from a mysterious pair of lovers taking advantage of what they think is an empty library.  Charlotte and Piers end up getting caught together and Piers saves Charlotte's reputation by announcing their engagement.  Charlotte decides to discover the identities of the mystery lovers to clear her name; Piers is trying to do some investigating of his own but keeps getting distracted by his attraction to Charlotte.  Maybe this fake betrothal is a good idea after all?

This was a great book.  Dare's sense of humor comes through more strongly than her last few books and the fast-paced mystery kept me turning pages long after I should have put the book down for the night.  Charlotte shines as a young woman who is confident enough in herself to try and lead the life she wants, who will flout convention and marry for love and not for scandal.  Piers ended up being one of my favorite of Dare's heroes: secretive, with a brilliant dry wit, and a traumatic childhood that has shaped him into a man who refuses to believe in love or that he's worthy of the love Charlotte offers.  Despite their differences, he quickly  discovers that this seemingly odd pairing may be the perfect match.

We get more of Mrs Highwood here than in some of the other Spindle Cove books and I really loved how, instead of just making her a characture of the ultimate Matchmaking Mama, Dare gives us a great scene between Charlotte and her mother where we get to see into Mrs Highwood's past and discover what shaped her into the mother that she is.  There is also a scene where Mrs Highwood tries to explain marital relations to Charlotte that is one of the most painfully hilarious scenes ever- and Charlotte gets her revenge in the perfect way!

The chemistry between Charlotte and Piers is off the charts and the most innocent scenes between them steam up the page.  The secret of the mystery lovers and the mystery Piers has been sent to unravel end up dovetailing perfectly- and wasn't an answer that I guessed before Piers and Charlotte did, which I always like.

A definite must-read for not only Tessa Dare fans but anyone looking for a fun, fast-paced, brilliant book that they won't be able to put down.  The question is: Do you want to start a scandal? The answer should definitely be: Yes!

When A Scot Ties The Knot

When A Scot Ties The Knot (Castles Ever After Series #3)- Tessa Dare
AvonBooks Publisher
Release Date: August 25, 2015

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.   A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter . . . and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.   Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He's wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters . . . and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.

I've only recently discovered the joy that is reading books by Tessa Dare, and all I can say to anyone who hasn't tried her books yet is: start now! 

When A Scot Ties The Knot is the third book in Dare's Castles Ever After series- a series that doesn't have to be read in order for you to fully enjoy each book.  It's the story of Madeline Gracechurch, a shy woman more at home drawing or reading than dancing and visiting.  At age 16 she invents a mythical Scottish soldier to explain to her family and friends why she doesn't want to go to London and meet potential suitors.  Why look for Mr. Right when Captain McRight has already stolen her heart? She strengthens this fiction by writing him letters, assuming they will end up in some dead letter box somewhere and that will be the end of it.  Her family believes her story, no one bothers her about London Seasons, and she falls in love with her imaginary Captain Logan MacKenzie over years of letter writing.  Eventually she realizes that the only way to end the lies is to kill off her Scot.  So she's beyond surprised when the real Captain Logan MacKenzie shows up, having read all of her letters, at the castle she's inherited, ready to marry her.

Of course the real Logan is not quite what she'd imagined.  He refuses to believe he has dreams, hopes, or emotions.  He's naturally a little peeved that she killed him off.  He wants to marry her because he and the remaining Scottish soldiers under his command have returned from fighting Napoleon to find their sweethearts have married others, families have died or moved away, and their homes have been destroyed by the Highland Clearances.  Logan needs the castle and land Maddie promised in her letters as a new home for his men, and he's ready to blackmail Maddie to get his way.  After all, what would her family and friends think of the fact that she's been lying to them for years?  They agree to a marriage of convenience, and things promptly get, well, not convenient.

Maddie is a strong and independent woman who thinks she's a shy and weak wallflower.  She has a paralyzing terror of crowds and has let that dictate her entire life.  She's a wonderfully written character full of depth, intelligence, and humor.  She doesn't let Logan blackmail her because she cares about Society, but because she cares about what her friends and family will think, and because it would most likely damage her burgeoning career as an illustrator.  But she's also a romantic and has a hard time hating Logan, especially when she watches him with his men, or when he's talking to her, or when he's . . . anything.

Logan is a far more complex, and it's easy to make the mistake of thinking he's a shallow and underdeveloped character acting more as a prop for Maddie than as his own person.  But by the time you get to the end of the book you realize Logan is, if anything, an even more layered character and more affected by his past than Maddie.  

When A Scot Ties The Knot explores not only a wonderful romance between two people who believe they are very different, but also explores how we can trap ourselves into thinking we are one thing when we've secretly grown into something different, and how the dreams that we once had can change into something different (and maybe better) without our noticing.  How do you choose between new love and old dreams? It's a book of brilliant wit and humor, a beautifully described Highland setting, and more kilted soldiers than you can shake a sporran at.  And of course, a lobster named Fluffy who manages to steal the show without saying a word.