Any Duchess Will Do

Tessa Dare has officially taken the top spot as my favorite author! I loved every single book in the Spindle Cove series and “Any Duchess Will Do” was no exception! This was truly a fairytale romance, but with a heavy dose of humor and heart. (And the sex scenes were HAWT! I'll role play with you anytime, Griff, haha! ;))

I'm sorry to be saying goodbye to Spindle Cove and to these amazing characters.

Maybe more like 4.5, but a close second to A Week to be Wicked as my favorite in this series. I love the society/London aspects of it and Pauline was a great heroine.

(Review originally posted here at The Book Barbies.)

When I first laid eyes on Any Duchess Will Do, I was immediately struck with a bad case of Instalove. Hearts began popping up around my head, and “This Magic Moment” started playing in the background. Such an interesting premise! The duke and the serving girl? Duchess lessons a la The Princess Diaries, albeit with an older, more rakish Michael for me to swoon over? WANT. While the actual story did not exactly wind up aligning with that particular idea I had in my head, I was immensely pleased with it nonetheless.

Pauline was an interesting character. She was a serving girl in Spindle Cove. She was practical, rational, and direct, but she also had dreams. She was loyal and supportive of her sister Daniela, who had a developmental delay of some sort, and their relationship was very touching. She was hilariously unqualified to be a duchess and had an unfortunate habit of cursing and...well, basically, lots of things a duchess shouldn't do.

Griff was staunchly against the idea of getting married, but he did not want to tell his mother the true reason. While this is made clear early on, the reader is given no clues as to why. So you're simply left wondering until the answer comes flying out to you over in left field and hits you right in the gut. His anti-marriage feelings aside, though, I liked reading about Griff from the beginning. He was just so utterly ducal. In a good way.

I also had a real soft spot for Griff's mother. She was quite amusing, and I wound up caring about and enjoying scenes with her more than I would have anticipated. I also loved seeing the little cameos with some of the old Spindle Cove characters! That made me smile a lot. In fact, Griff himself had made an appearance in one of the preceding books, which I had completely forgotten about until it was mentioned.

Of course, some of the elements of the story were predictable. It was, after all, “the practical girl's fairy tale.” But the majority of it was not what one would expect. And all of it, predictable or not, was thoroughly enjoyable. There was a scene with a goose that had me giggling uncontrollably. Dare amped up the hotness factor, and there may have been a scene or two that left me fanning myself and reaching for a cool glass of water. Whatever the scene, I loved reading about Griff and Pauline and how they dealt with their accidental, inconvenient feelings.

I usually associate Tessa Dare with humor. I tend go to into her books expecting a fabulous romance and a lot of laughs. And I got them. But with this book, I got quite a few tears, as well. Some were good, and some were bad. I was not anticipating such an emotional read! While it is by no means the next Steel Magnolias, I would keep a tissue or two handy while reading.

Basically, I guess the moral of my story is this: When it comes to Any Duchess Will Do, expect the unexpected. It will surprise you. It will make you cry. It will make you fall in love. So let it. Experience it. Enjoy it. Love it. Spindle Cove is one of my favorite historical series, and Any Duchess Will Do was a wonderful installment. I am already eagerly awaiting the next one!

One of the better instalments of the series! Really enjoyed the class difference trope in this one and Pauline was just a brilliant character to follow.

This was SO funny! Oh my lord. Normally I HATE when HR's curse with cor and lud, but somehow when Dare does it I love it.

Griffin is kidnapped by his mother, and taken to the infamous Spindle Cove, where she tells him to choose anyone in the room and she will turn said girl into a duchess so that he can marry her. The mother desperately wants grandchildren, and Griffin looks around, and as a challenge, chooses Pauline, a serving girl, as she walks in. Covered in sugar. Pauline is saucy, she realizes why he picks her right away, and their back and forth is so funny,in the room full of ladies at Spindle Cove, Pauline looks at Griff and says something about the wedding night being fun.

While we don't normally get wedding night scenes in romances, we did get a steamy scene over a desk, which had me fanning myself. I was fairly impressed with how much I liked it, I read it twice, but don't lie, so will you. I also liked the way Griff was a perfect gentleman with Pauline's sister. I always love when the men are nice to the siblings, because my sister and I are close. There wasn't a page in this book where I wasn't giving my full attention, I loved the whole thing. That is hard to do for me, usually I am taking a break somewhere because there isn't enough of some kind of action.

loved the heroine, 10/10. and surprisingly, really cute relationship with the hero's mom. vv adorable. the beginning especially was so solid. everything was believable & cute.

also liked the fact that the hero wasn't like the best at everything, or like the coolest dude in his entire lineage. refreshing.