Review: A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare

Book: A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare (Spindle Cove #3)
Published: August 28, 2012 (Avon Books)
Format: Digital ARC from publisher via Edelweiss
Summary: After years of fending for herself, Kate Taylor found friendship and acceptance in Spindle Cove--but she never stopped yearning for love. The very last place she'd look for it is in the arms of Corporal Thorne. The militia commander is as stone cold as he is brutally handsome. But when mysterious strangers come searching for Kate, Thorne steps forward as her fiance. He claims to have only Kate's safety in mind. So why is there smoldering passion in his kiss?

My Review: Tessa Dare has done it again. I have yet to read a Dare novel during which I did not laugh multiple times and swoon nearly as often. Spindle Cove is my favorite series of hers yet, and A Lady by Midnight just may be the best of the three full-length novels in it (although it's definitely a close race).

One of the advantages of a romance series is that you can slowly build to a couple through books before the two ever actually get their story told. This was the case in A Lady by Midnight. Even though their build-up during the previous books was very subtle when compared to Book Two's Couple (so as not to spoil it for you) in A Night to Surrender, I was utterly captivated by Kate and Thorne. There was so much mystery surrounding them! In the previous books, there was pretty much one tiny moment where there was just a hint of...something. That's it. That's all you got. Did they have a positively torrid affair? Were they childhood BFFs? Was he secretly an undercover spy who recognized her as the long-lost princess of a tiny-but-successful country? YOU HAVE NO IDEA. When I read the excerpt - just enough to be tantalizing - in A Week to be Wicked, I went positively berserk. To think, I was cruelly going to have to wait months for this! (Really, I have a tendency to get dramatic over the wait for books. Reason #4378 that I love the book blogging community is that you guys get it.)

Anyway. I was not entirely sure what to expect of Kate and Thorne's story, but I knew I was going to love it. And I was not wrong! While it was a part of the story, I did not think of it at as "posing as the fianceé" book at all. There was so much more to the story. Kate was digging into her past, trying to figure out who her parents might have been. Then, all the sudden, people came out of the woodwork, claiming Kate, an orphan since she can remember, as a part of their unconventional but Titled family. There was mystery surrounding this, as well as the continued question of how, exactly, Thorne knew Kate. As to that, there were hints throughout the book before the truth finally came out.

The romance between these two was incredible! I love how neither of them were 100% "pretty people." Kate had a large, red birthmark on her face that made her very self-conscious, and Thorne was hulking, unrefined, and his features were too harsh to be considered handsome by many. It was a nice change. You don't have to be conventionally attractive for someone to love you or view you as such, and this book was a great example of that. As for the characters themselves, I loved them! Although I did sometimes wanted to kick Thorne because he was so dang self-condemning and couldn't see how wonderful he was. Over the course of the story, I became so attached to them that I full-out cried when they got their Happily Ever After at the end.

All in all, A Lady by Midnight was utterly splendid and charming and absolutely a worthy addition to the Spindle Cove series. I immensely enjoyed Kate and Thorne's story, and I would recommend it to any lover of historicals who enjoys her romance with a side of mystery, smoldering chemistry, wit, and lots of laughter.

Corporal Thorne could make a woman quiver, from all the way across the room. An inconvenient talent, so far as Kate Taylor was concerned. Kate realized she had a grave problem. She was infatuated. Or mildly insane. Probably both. The mood went from black to some iridescent color only found in rainbows and seashells. She was already suffering these fierce pangs of infatuation on the basis of his looks and strength alone. If he revealed a streak of sharp wit in the bargain, she might be in desperate straits. Those words shivered through her bones like cello notes, each one settling to a low, arousing thrum at the base of her spine.

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Review: A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare

Title: A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove #1)
Author: Tessa Dare
Published: August 2011 (Avon)
Rating: 4/5
Summary: Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men; it is a haven for those who live there. Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn't belong here. So far as he can tell, there's nothing in this place but spinsters... and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It's a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram's makeshift army. Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle...but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?


THIS BOOK. Oh my gosh, you guys. I cannot even tell you the last time I laughed this hard at a historical romance (and not in a bad way, just to be clear). Historical British humor is extremely difficult to convey. It is a subtle art, and not many authors have ever captured it in a way that seems authentic. It is either too understated or obscure, or the humor conveys a much more contemporary tone. I don't know how she did it, but Dare avoided this trap, and she did so tremendously. From the first page to the last, I seemed to laugh every other page. Yet A Night to Surrender was so much more than just humor.

Spindle Cove is such an original setting! I applaud Dare's imagination on this one. It is so different from the typical settings, but it is well thought out and completely believable. I am so excited to see what the rest of the series has in store.

The two mains were wonderful. Their banter was intelligent and funny, their chemistry tangible and smoldering. Speaking as a befreckled woman, I love that Susanna had more than just a "smattering across the bridge of her nose," as is so prevalent in the romance world. Bram was occasionally frustrating (as men are wont to be), but overall, I loved him.

I loved all the secondary characters! There were several of them, but they were all so colorful and interesting. I particularly loved one of them, and I had it in my head from the beginning that she should wind up with one of the secondary men. Lo and behold, they actually have a couple of scenes focused entirely on them toward the end of the book! I may have squealed and flailed a little. I'll never tell. Except that I totally did. In public.

Only one complaint: It contained a soldier saying "I'll make men of them." Cue me internally belting "I'LL. MAKE A MAN. OUT OF YOUUU!" for the next 24 hours. I do love that song, but it was rather distracting.

Quotes!

❝Susanna could have gleefully crushed its pages to powder with a mortar and pestle, labeled the vial with a skull and crossbones, and placed it on the highest shelf in her stillroom, right beside the dried foxglove leaves and deadly nightshade berries.❞

(Robinson Crusoe, anyone? Or your own personal book that you loathed like no other.)

❝Rather like the refrain of a song. A cheerful, stubborn sort of song. The sort of tune that persisted, dug a trench in a person’s mind and kept merrily chirping there for hours, days…even when that person would rather be rid of it. Even when that person would slice off his own great toe just to turn his attention to something, anything else.❞

(Ha! Oh, the irony.)

❝Where two or more ladies are gathered, there will be food.❞

❝But when seduction is your aim, you can’t go wrong with alabaster orbs.❞

❝Excellent vintage. Makes me sound almost intelligent.❞

❝Only a man could be so unkempt and manage to look more endearingly handsome than ever.❞

A Night to Surrender is a marvelously entertaining and romantic way to spend your time. I would definitely recommend it.

Endnote: I GOT #2 IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY. I am physically forcing myself to finish my other book today so I can read it. I can't wait!


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