Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove, Book Four): Tessa Dare

"What's a duke to do, when the girl who's perfectly wrong becomes the woman he can't live without?

"Griffin York, the Duke of Halford, has no desire to wed this season--or any season--but his diabolical mother abducts him to 'Spinster Cove' and insist he select a bride from the ladies in residence.  Griff decides to teach her a lesson that will end the marriage debate forever.  He chooses the serving girl.

"Overworked and struggling, Pauline Simms doesn't dream about dukes.  All she wants is to hang up her barmaid apron and open a bookshop.  That dream becomes a possibility when an arrogant, sinfully attractive duke offers her a small fortune for a week's employment.  Her duties are simple:  submit to his mother's 'duchess training'...and fail miserably.

"But in London, Pauline isn't a miserable failure.  She's a brave, quick-witted, beguiling failure--a woman who ignites Griff's desire and soothes the darkness in his soul.  Keeping Pauline by his side won't be easy.  Even if Society could accept a serving girl duchess--can a roguish duke convince a serving girl to trust him with her heart?"

Whoops!  I read this book out of order (which is something I HATE to do), but it was quite on accident.  I follow (wonderful) romance author Teresa Medeiros on Facebook and she sometimes advertises Amazon sales for her fellow writers' books.  This book happened to pop up and I was already in need of some new reading material (I'm currently enjoying some time off from work for once).  I purchased it and began reading right away.  I was immediately enthralled--even though I quickly realized that this was not the first book in the series.  Paulina and Griff were rich, deep characters with so many interesting facets.  Their backstories were extremely well-developed and it was impossible not to fall in love with both of them.

The beginning of the story was amusing--if a little bit out there--and I am sure I would have only appreciated it more had I read the books in order and previously been exposed to Griff.  I thoroughly enjoyed the banter and dynamics between Griff and his mother.  They certainly provided for some interesting reading.  Paulina was really enjoyable as well.  She was chipped and scuffed, but she really did shine brightly amongst the pantheon of some of my favorite female characters.  The plot managed to be whimsical, yet remain mostly believable, which is really nice.  It was filled with amusing moments and had the right amount of seriousness and depth that makes for a wonderful "for-fun" read.  It was the perfect book to read on vacation.  I'm definitely going to see if I can find more of Tessa Dare's books to read on my phone/iPad.  The idea of a "Spinster Cove" was charming.  I was definitely drawn into the plot and really cannot wait to get my hands on the first book in the series to see where this all began.  Tessa Dare really impressed me with the beauty and eloquence of her writing.  I highly recommend this book and I'm optimistically stating that the rest of the books should be along this same quality.  I'll be sure to let you know!

Tempting a Proper Lady (Brides of Nevarton Chase, Book One): Debra Mullins

"A Most Improper Alliance

"Two years ago, dashing Captain Samuel Breedlove disappeared without a word.  But he's resurfaced in London a wealthy man, only to discover his fiancee preparing to wed another.  Now Samuel needs to restore his good name and expose a villain--and tempting, temptable Cilla seems an idea accomplice.

"Priscilla Burke knows the marriage of her charge, Annabelle Bailey, to the Earl of Raventhorp must be perfect.  It would be madness for her to even consider doing anything that would mar this beautiful day and destroy her fledgling career as a wedding planner.  Why then is she so drawn to this irresistible stranger who insists she help him sabotage the impending affair?

"But a proper lady's desire is nothing to toy with.  And a man whose character has been questioned cannot allow himself to dream of happily ever after.  This not-so-innocent seduction may have unforeseen consequences..."

I'm back again after another unfortunate hiatus thanks to my massive course-load and full-time job.  I began this book about a year ago, actually.  I'm ashamed to say that it took me this long to finish it.  Those who have read my other posts know that I have a habit of devouring books fairly quickly.  Part of what took me so long to read this book was my busy schedule and the other is the fact that the story (and its characters) were a little bit unbelievable.  (The most telling thing here is that I use my busy schedule as a poor excuse, but I know deep down that nothing can really keep me from finishing a good book.)  It was pleasantly interesting, but nothing that made me salivate to read more.  I did not care nearly enough about the male lead in the story, Samuel.  This, I truly believe, is one of the things that makes or breaks a romance novel.  In order to lose herself in a book such as this one, the reader needs to fall head-over-heels for the "hero."  She has to believe that this is the most wonderful (if flawed) man in the world and she has to think he is the dreamiest and most charming and passionate person she could possibly imagine spending her life with.  She has to wish she were in the "heroine's" place.  This book did not make me feel strongly enough for Samuel and this was perhaps where it fell most short.  There was definite effort made to create sympathy for Samuel, but it was just shy of where it needed to be in order to make the book a success.  Priscilla's character was along the same lines.  I felt a bit more for her than I did for Samuel, but not by that much.  She fell a little bit flat for me as well.  Her story was a little bit sad, but could have been made tragic with a bit more effort.  The relationship between these characters was too...contrived for me to enjoy.  I feel like it was too obviously fictional for me to truly lose myself.  Lord Raventhorp was a good villain, but he wasn't in the book very much for so much of the plot to be revolving around his nefarious plans.

This is not the first Debra Mullins book I've read, but I don't recall having these issues with that one...  I just went back and checked.  I've actually read two other books by Debra Mullins and actually seemed to have really, absolutely enjoyed them...  Interesting...  Those books were fun and the characters had fire.  I think those were the things that were missing from this book.  The fire was lacking even in the most intense of scenes.  The ending itself was even a bit anticlimactic.  Overall, the characters were a bit on the shallow side, the plot was a bit unbelievable, and the ending was a bit hollow.  This won't prevent me from reading other Debra Mullins works because I've obviously enjoyed them in the past; see the following links HERE and HERE.  I realize that tastes change over the years (note that the first review is from 2009, the second from 2011), but not this drastically.