Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove, #4) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 22, 2018 Juliana Philippa rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, 0-purposefully-not-shelving, 0-to-reread, series, 0-to-reread-romance, romance-historical, did-not-finish, 0-reviewed, 0-own-avg-rating-4-plus, hr-series

DNF'd on page 221. This series has been really hit or miss with me; I didn't like Book 1, loved 2 and 3 (and the two Spindle Cove novellas I've read), and then couldn't get into this one.

I was really excited by the premise, but the whole My Fair Lady twist didn't at all work for me. First of all, it was absolutely unbelievable that she makes the progress she does in the supposed time—or the writing just isn't well done, because she speaks almost completely normally way too soon. I also didn't re ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Sam rated it really liked it

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

This was the book that started it all, the one that got me to pay attention to Tessa Dare and the warm characters found in Spindle Cove. Of course, being a completist, I wouldn’t allow myself to read this until I finished all of the previous installments. Any Duchess Will Do was worth the wait.

What had drawn me to the book was the delicious premise: Griffin, the rakish Duke of Halford whom we first met in book #2 at his den of debauchery, gets kidnapped by his mother and finds himself in Spindle This was the book that started it all, the one that got me to pay attention to Tessa Dare and the warm characters found in Spindle Cove. Of course, being a completist, I wouldn’t allow myself to read this until I finished all of the previous installments. Any Duchess Will Do was worth the wait.

What had drawn me to the book was the delicious premise: Griffin, the rakish Duke of Halford whom we first met in book #2 at his den of debauchery, gets kidnapped by his mother and finds himself in Spindle Cove, being ordered to choose any woman here for her to train to be a duchess. If her training is successful, Griffin must agree to marry her. To teach his mother a lesson, he chooses a foul-mouthed tavern serving girl, Pauline. And when his mother accepts the challenge, Pauline also agrees because Griffin has promised her a huge sum of money for her to be a spectacular failure. Then after they part, Pauline will be free to make her dream of opening up a village library come true. Funny shenanigans ensue.

This is a good story overall. There is some of the sparkling writing here that I’ve come to expect from Dare. The chemistry between the characters is terrific, even if the zingy-ness of it was tinged with more somberness, mostly due to Griffin’s secret.

The only reason I’m not jumping up and down with love for it like I have for the others is because I think I just had really high expectations coming off some really stellar books in the series, buoyed by a premise that had so much potential and could’ve gone in so many different directions. The heroine falls in love and realizes so a bit too early in the story for my taste, and I found some of the conflicts too melodramatic at certain points. This is all personal preference, though, so take my hesitation with a grain of salt. After all, I did still give it 4 stars.

In certain points in the book, we get to check in with Colin and Minerva, my favorite Spindle Cove couple though, so that was my highlight. It’s so sad that this is the last book in the series! But I’ll definitely follow Dare into her new series because she’s fast become a favorite romance author of mine.
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