by Tessa
Dare
Rating:
4 of 5 stars
My
Review:
The
description of this book didn't jump up and grab me like some books,
but it's a Tessa Dare book so I had to get it. I didn't remember
much about Pauline from the rest of the series and I couldn't figure
out who Griff was for a while. I'd say it took a couple chapters for
me to get into it, but once I did, I could barely put the book down.
We met
Griff briefly in "A Week To Be Wicked". He wasn't really
someone I cared anything about in that book - he seemed a bit too
dissolute for my taste. Now, one of the questions I've mulled over
is: Do I really believe that this Griff could be the same person as
in "A Week To Be Wicked"? That Griff really seemed pretty
irredeemable and just not even likable. The Griff in this book was
completely different and I'm not sure that I believe the trauma he
went through can account for the complete transformation.
There
was also an issue for me that Pauline felt "In her youth, she
hadn't guarded her 'favors' as closely as she should have. But Griff
knew about that, and he never made her feel lesser for it."
Maybe there should be some allowance because this is a historical,
but this idea is problematic for me because Pauline is such an
independent person and also because Griff just a year ago left his
debauched lifestyle. Maybe the intention was to say that since her
prior experience was less than stellar, she should have been more
tuned in that the other guy wasn't treating her as an equal. But
really, what ground did Griff have to stand on anyway if he did make
her feel "lesser" - he was throwing bacchanalian orgies
pretty constantly up until a year ago. If he did say something, I'd
look at him as more of a pig - so the opposite (him not saying
anything) does not make him a better choice in my opinion, it just
makes him a decent human being.
I also
found the concept of "tasting ripe as berries" rather
funny. It just kept making me think, ripe body odor with a berry
undertone. This is before the time that baths happened regularly,
after all.
But Ms.
Dare was able to carry the story and within the first few chapters
and I was on the edge of my seat to see how Griff and Pauline worked
out their differences. Even Griff's mother, who starts out looking
very cold and manipulative, is shown to be a caring human who just
needs help showing it. And all the characters are very amusing.
They're good at poking fun at themselves and not taking themselves
too seriously.
Pauline
handles every hardship in a very open and honest way. Even though
life hasn't been kind to Pauline, she has aspirations of opening her
own bookshop in Spindle Cove. Griff is a duke. I had no idea how
they'd be able to compromise. I really didn't want to see Pauline
give up her dream just to be a duchess. But I can say, everything
worked out splendidly for both of them. Their romance was "Not
dreamlike or perfect, just more real." Over and over, Griff's
brain says "Her. I want her." And every time it made me
say "awww". It was very romantic. I got lots of happy
tingles from reading this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment