Author: Tessa Dare
Original Title: Any Duchess Will Do
Release Year: 2013
Literary Genre: Romance
Setting: England (Spindle Cove), regency
Series: 4° of Spindle Cove series
Vote: 10+/10
Wonderful.
Miss Pauline Simms is stubborn, proud, cheeky, conscientious and sometimes a bit rough and not exactly refined (I mean for XIX century English society; I doubt that nowadays words like “damn” or “blast” might be considered particularly vulgar...). Born and raised in Spindle Cove, she has worked really hard for all her life to provide a safe future for herself and her sister Daniela, unfortunately disabled. Her dream is to open a library and leave the parents' house, her father is a violent man, angry and disappointed for not having male sons instead of two daughters.
During a day, started badly and which promises to end worse, Paulina, covered with sugar and messy, stumbles upon the fascinating Duke of Halford.
Griffin Eliot York is a thirty-four-year-old dissolute and womaniser noble, but during the last year something has changed and Griffin isn't the same man anymore, he gets away from society, he doesn't take part in balls or any kind of fun, favouring a tranquil and private life. Behind this change there is a deep agony about which no one seems to know something.
One day he is kidnapped by his mother who, despite she hides it very well, is deeply worried for his son and she would love to see him happily married and with children.
The Duchess' plan is to bring him to
Spindle Cove, the most famous desperate noble girls' refuge, and find
there a bride: Griffin, quite angered by his mother's actions,
decides to turn the situation to his own advantage and chooses the one
girl who he believes to be the worst candidate for the future role of
Duchess of Halford: Pauline. Griffin secretly offers her one thousand
pounds to act as a complete disaster in London's society; the girl,
who sees in the reward the end of all her problems, accepts, careless
about how much the situation is and could be embarrassing for
herself.
The dowager Duchess takes up the
challenge to transform Pauline in a perfect Duchess-to-be, more then
everything, in fact, she wants grandchildren and her son's happiness.
Surprisingly and unexpectedly the girl doesn't prove to be the
expected disaster and Griffin, during this transformation process,
begins to grow fond of this clumsy and beautiful young girl, the only
person who can placate his pain with her sweetness, her compassion
and simply with her proximity.It's a beautiful, romantic and dramatic story, almost fairy. It's touching.
Tessa Dare has an ironic and sarcastic
style, it reminds me of both the Quinn and MacGregor's styles, she is
sharp like Sabrina Jeffries, brazen like Elizabeth Hoyt (maybe more)
and sometimes moving like only Lisa Kleypas can be.
The two protagonists are magnificent and complete; the author creates a certain trepidation in the story, see for example “the secret room” mystery (I've loved Pauline's reaction when she discovers the truth about it) or when Pauline has to decide what to do about her life: follow her dream or give it up for her impossible true love. Griffin and Pauline's interactions are wonderful, one in particular is reeealy passionate, nothing vulgar and I guarantee you it could have been too raunchy (I apologise to Sylvia Day's fans but she definitely might learn something).
The two protagonists are magnificent and complete; the author creates a certain trepidation in the story, see for example “the secret room” mystery (I've loved Pauline's reaction when she discovers the truth about it) or when Pauline has to decide what to do about her life: follow her dream or give it up for her impossible true love. Griffin and Pauline's interactions are wonderful, one in particular is reeealy passionate, nothing vulgar and I guarantee you it could have been too raunchy (I apologise to Sylvia Day's fans but she definitely might learn something).
The dowager Duchess is too funny in her
austerity, her “knitting disease” is fantastic: she wants so much
to be grandmother that she starts knitting to create children clothes
but the results are awful!
There is a scene that I truly love: the
dowager, during Griffin's fencing training, wants to show Pauline
that there is much more between the girl and his son, more than they
want to admit, especially on his part; while I was reading this part
it was as if the time had stopped for me too, not only for them.
Buona lettura!
Spindle Cove series: 1. A night to surrender (Susanna, Victor)
Buona lettura!
M.E.G.
Spindle Cove series: 1. A night to surrender (Susanna, Victor)
2. A week to be wicked (Minerva, Colin)
3. A lady by midnight (Kate, Samuel)
4. Any duchess will do (Pauline, Griffin)
No comments:
Post a Comment