A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 10, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it

Shelves: romance, historical-romance, did-not-finish

Wow, with this book I went from: (1) I don't expect much from this book, to (2) wow this actually isn't bad! I think I'll like it!, to (3) OMG I can't believe the suckage here, but maybe it gets better, to (4) I must stop reading, I can't stand it any longer.

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At the start, I enjoyed this book FAR more than I expected. It made it to my list by a recommendation (can't remember from where ... Julia Quinn maybe?) but I didn't expect much. I'll be honest, the author's name sounds so made up and over- ...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Juliana Philippa rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance-historical, hr-hero-aristocrat-lord-titled, set-in-england, hr-hero-nobility, hr-heroine-good-girl, hr-opposites-enemies-attract, 0-own-as-kindle-ebook, romance-series, 0-own-in-dead-tree-form, 0-own

February 21.
Second attempt at reading this book. First time (January 2016) I got to 12%, now I've gotten to 24%. I have heard SO MUCH about this series and have loved the two novellas I've read from it, but I just can't get into this book! It all seems very superficial and completely lust-based to me; I'm not feeling any other connection between the main characters. Think I might have to give in and just go to the other books in the series I've been wanting to read ...

February 23.
Finally finish ...more

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Feb 23, 2018 Juliana Philippa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-own-as-an-ebook, 0-own-as-kindle-ebook, 0-own, 0-own-multiple-copies-or-formats, 2018-reads, 0-other-gr-book-edition-is-main-one, 2018-feb-reads, 0-need-to-clean-up-versions-copies

Review is on Mass Market Paperback edition: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

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Jun 15, 2013 Sam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed, 4-historical-romance, read-2013

I can’t believe it took me this long to discover Tessa Dare’s books. I made up for it, though, by basically consuming the entire Spindle Cove series in the span of one week. I loved the village that she created, visited by women who had left the strict confines of a London society that they couldn’t fit into for one reason or another, be it because they were sickly, headstrong, intellectual, or—gasp—“ruined.”

A Night to Surrender is my second favorite book of the series, with my favorite being A I can’t believe it took me this long to discover Tessa Dare’s books. I made up for it, though, by basically consuming the entire Spindle Cove series in the span of one week. I loved the village that she created, visited by women who had left the strict confines of a London society that they couldn’t fit into for one reason or another, be it because they were sickly, headstrong, intellectual, or—gasp—“ruined.”

A Night to Surrender is my second favorite book of the series, with my favorite being A Week to Be Wicked. And this was a surprise. The battle-of-wills premise sounded ho-hum, compared to the other installments, so my love for the book is a testament to Dare’s excellent skills.

What struck me the most was the superb writing, not just unobtrusive or competent, but actually beautiful and vivid. On a sentence-by-sentence level, the writing here is head and shoulders above what I’ve encountered in other romance novels. It is lyrical with lovely metaphors that aren’t overwrought and embarrassing; it’s lively with the clever wordplay that’s ladened with symbolism, double entendres, hidden emotion, and callbacks to previous conversations; and the dialogue is just sharp and witty, practically giving off sparks.

The whole idea of Spindle Cove is also refreshing as it offers us female characters who are strong, independent-minded, and confident. When the heroine realizes she’s grown to love the hero, she just tells him. No hemming and hawing about it. In a romance, there’s nothing more refreshing than that. The series doesn’t gloss over the strictures of the era, but because Spindle Cove's very reason for being is to serve as a safe haven away from society’s expectations, these modern sensibilities, as the characters themselves call them, all seemed totally plausible.

A few of the criticisms of this book center on how people felt that it was a slow-moving book with very little action. I can see how readers could feel this way since there aren’t really any “grand” plot points to punctuate the everyday interactions of the Spindle Cove denizens. The story did feel “episodic” in a sitcom sort-of-way in that we’d see one instance of hijinks followed by another as part of these everyday interactions. But I didn’t mind not having a billion plot twists because each of these episodes were enjoyable on their own. It’s like watching a sitcom where you’re visiting a quirky town and its charming characters for a bit to see what amusing antics they’re up to.
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Jun 20, 2011 Lauren⁷ 💜 rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-has-a-copy, romance, historical-romance

I throughly enjoyed this. Bran and Susanna make a splendid match.

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May 23, 2017 Nancy H rated it really liked it

What a good story! This book is a romance, but is much more than that with a heroine who is an independent woman and who fosters independence in other young women. The story takes place in the early 19th century in a coastal village near the English Channel, and the male protagonist wants nothing more to go back to his army regiment and escape this village and the tame civilian life. The story is very funny, starting off with a bang, in fact. It has steamy parts, touching parts, and maddening pa ...more

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