In I love vacations, don’t you? I love the change of scenery and schedule despite the fact that I control my own schedule all year long. Oh yeah, I love the chance to catch up on my reading too. In my humble opinion, airplanes and trains are perfect for reading. Guest rooms are too.
I just returned from almost a week of vacation, staying with friends in Virginia and North Carolina. I saw the sights, visited with my besties, and attended an awesome party. The days were very full as was my belly. Seeing friends always boils down to the meals: breakfast with Ann, lunch with Sarella, dinner with Brenda. Brenda introduced me to fried Oreo’s for which I will be eternally grateful. (She was a fabulous host ).
I managed to spend some time catching up with a little work on my book, and read a romance or two. In fact, I had a little trouble putting one down, sinking under the covers on starry Virginia nights reading when I should have been sleeping. I discovered a new author and I couldn’t stop reading her book. I recommend it and want to share a bit of it with you.
Any Duchess Will Do
The book is “Any Duchess Will Do” by USA Today Bestselling author Tessa Dare. I borrowed my sister’s Kindle to read something else for our book club but I read this instead. I am so glad I did.
Any Duchess Will Do is part of the Spindle Cove Series. Spindle Cove is a fictitious seaside village haunted by hopeless spinsters, who are in fact, anything but. Instead, they are smart and resourceful women. I was not aware until several capable characters from Spindle Cove arrived late in the book that this was a series, but it quickly became obvious that each of these women was spunky, bright and wonderfully quirky. So is the heroine in “Any Duchess Will Do.”
Redheaded barmaid, Pauline, is plucked from Spindle Cove as the unlucky pawn in a game between a determined Duke and his equally tenacious mother. Unfortunately for Pauline, mother and son want completely different results from her, and so the fun begins. The Duchess vows to turn Pauline into Duchess material in 7 days so that her son will marry the girl. The Duke promises Pauline a veritable fortune to fail at her task. We all know where this is leading, but Tessa Dare takes us there in such a delightful and fresh way.
The plot seems ludicrous as I describe it and yet it works – completely. From the first chapter to the last, these characters are rich, funny and believable. The writing is quick and clever and the sex is hot. Regency England comes alive under the author’s pen in all its haughty stuffiness, so that Pauline –and her lack of pedigree – are a breath of fresh air.
Now it’s my turn…
This book has inspired me to get back to my own writing, but now I want to inject some humor. I couldn’t wait to try my hand at suspense in my book, Bedeviled, and I continue that path in the final book of the Beguiling Bachelor Series. My new challenge will be to marry a bit of fun with a bit of mystery. I am about 50 percent done so stay tuned for “Besotted” later in 2017 to see if Tessa Dare’s influence is a success.
In the meantime, go buy Dare’s book, and I suspect you will want to read the entire Spindle Cove Series.