DemonessTenebrae

"In recent years, Spindle Cove had become the seaside destination of choice for a certain type of well-bred young lady: the sort no one knew what to do with. They included the sickly, the scandalous, and the painfully shy; young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men . . . All of them delivered here by the guardians to whom they presented problems, in hopes that the sea air would cure them of their ills.
As the only daughter of the only local gentleman, Susanna was the village hostess by default. These awkward young ladies no one knew what to do with . . . she knew what to do with them. Or rather, she knew what not to do with them. No “cures” were necessary. They didn’t need doctors pressing lancets to their veins, or finishing school matrons harping on their diction. They just needed a place to be themselves.
Spindle Cove was that place."

This series is about Spindle Cove and its interesting residents. Why do I think they are interesting? Because they don't fit in the Society and I definitely recognize myself in them so I can understand the characters.

This is the first book in the series. The story revolves around Susanna and Bramwell who find love under very unusual circumstances. I will not spend a lot of time writing about the storyline because I am sure that giving a general description of the place, the regency era and the basic undertone of this book is sufficient for any historical romance reader.

Susana is a 25-year-old unwed only child of a genius father who creates weapons for the army. She is a resident of Spindle Cove and in charge of all of the ladies who come there because they are in some way cast away from the society. She is intelligent, clever, capable, pretty and determined to keep men away from the women in Spindle Cove so women can feel more at ease and be themselves during their stay there. Bramwell is an officer who hurt his knee in the war and barely managed to keep his leg and he is on a mission to regain his post as a commanding officer and returning to the front lines in Spain to fight Napoleon's army. He thinks that his honor and his father's honor depend on his ability to return to war and defending their country.

The last thing on both of their minds is love but because of some stubborn sheep and bombarding them with black powder the fate for both of them will reveal its true plans.

I will also keep my thoughts about the book rather short because I said a lot about my feelings in the previous review I did which was about the fourth book in the series that I happened to read first (http://demonesstenebrae.booklikes.com/post/1646670/tantalizing-and-humorous-read).

This book is not as humourous as the fourth book in the series, Any Duchess Will Do, instead I would say it is more charming and heartwarming. Well, except for the first chapter with those stubborn sheep, that was amazing. Since this is the first book in the series, I imagine that the author took her time to set the tone for this series and that her writing gradually improved in some aspects as she got closer to her characters and to this world she created. Nonetheless, this doesn't take that much away from this book. It all depends on a reader, what he/she finds more endearing in this genre. For me, I appreciate both, and so I gave this book the same rating as I did for fourth book.

One thing that I also appreciate is the research the author does before setting the book in a certain historical time period and I believe that Tessa Dare did a great job concerning that. She even explained some of the things mentioned in this book at the end of the book under author's note. That is what every great author should do if they want their readers to get completely immersed in the story. If you understand the time then it is easier for you to understand the people and their actions better.

All in all, I find this a compelling story and a good regency world that I can easily enter and become a part of and feel for the characters. What more can a reader ask for? I also feel that I should add that I do not understand lots of comments in reviews who gave this book a one star rating based on the fact that the main heroine is a modern woman of her time that is fighting for women's rights in her own way but ends up in love with a man and gets married. Why is that a bad thing? Do all women who want equal rights for both sexes need to be without men and love in their life just to prove to some non-existent entity that they are feminists? I think that women can fight for their rights and have families and love just the same. Even more so maybe. Plus, in the regency era, especially in a high society, women who were openly voicing out such ideas were ostracised. Before you give this book such a low rating you need to understand the world setting which then commands the characters' actions and motives.

Thank you, Tessa Dare, for entertaining me and making me laugh. As a voracious reader that is a real blessing to me.

You’re human. We’re all scared, every last one of us. Afraid of life, of love, of dying. Maybe marching in neat rows all day distracts you from the truth of it. But when the sun goes down? We’re all just stumbling through the darkness, trying to outlast another night.” Colin downed another swig of wine, then stared at the bottle. “Excellent vintage. Makes me sound almost intelligent.”