ANY DUCHESS WILL DO by Tessa Dare

A Spindle Cove Series Novel
Avon

May 28^th, 2013

978-0-06-224012-5

Historical Romance

Paperback Advance Reading Copy

Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)

Obtained by Publisher

3.5 Hearts

Griffin York is determined to not get married, no matter what his mother wants. But when she gets him to Spinster Cove, she forces him to choose a bride from the ladies there. Annoyed by this, he chooses the least reputable woman- a serving girl. Pauline Simms is shocked when the Duke of Halford chooses her to be his bride. All she ever wanted to do was not be overworked and to open a shop of her own. When Griffin offers her a sinful amount of money to get “Duchess training” by his mother & fail miserably at it, both find that Pauline is not a failure at all. Quick-witted & brave, Pauline finds herself falling for the duke even as he tries to stay away from the beguiling miss. But when hearts are involved, sometimes what you need the  most is the one thing worth fighting for.

I really enjoyed Tessa Dare’s ANY DUCHESS WILL DO. The story flows quickly with no bumps in the storytelling, which was a nice breath of fresh air and this author delivers a story that I enjoyed immensely. The writing is tight and the characters completely captivated me. This is an author who knows how to steal her readers hearts with masterful storytelling that weaves a spell around them until the very last page is read. The characters are intriguing, diverse and I had to chuckle a few times over the quips they made. I really loved the dynamics between Griffin and his mother as well as Griffin’s determination to not give into his mother’s manipulations. With a broad stroke of her keyboard, Ms. Dare delivers a charming story that will transport you and keep you highly entertained from start to finish. This is an author who created multi-faceted characters to fall in love with. From Griffin’s desire to be single to  his mother’s determination that he be married to a hardworking woman’s desire for her dream to come true, the author gives the reader several characters to enjoy and I, for one, am hoping some of the secondary characters get their own book in the future.

ANY DUCHESS WILL DO is more than a cross-class story, it is one where the people who are center stage are more than they seem and that is what I loved about this book. You got people/characters being what society expects them to be even as they are not really those things or it is a small percentage of who they are. Ms. Dare definitely knows her characters and gives them plenty of room to shine in so many ways within the pages of ANY DUCHESS WILL DO. Now I need to check out the rest of the Spindle Cove series by this author in the future. Ms. Dare has a fan in this reader.

If you enjoy a highly entertaining story with complex yet enjoyable characters, then give this latest book by Ms. Dare a try. I can highly attest you won’t want to put it down once you start it.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement