Review: Lord Dashwood Missed Out

LORD DASHWOOD MISSED OUT
Spindle Cove #4.5
Tessa Dare
Historical Romance
144 pages
Avon
Available December 8th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
A snowstorm hath no fury like a spinster scorned!

Miss Elinora Browning grew up yearning for the handsome, intelligent lord-next-door…but he left England without a word of farewell. One night, inspired by a bit too much sherry, Nora poured out her heartbreak on paper. Lord Dashwood Missed Out was a love letter to every young lady who’d been overlooked by gentlemen—and an instant bestseller. Now she’s on her way to speak in Spindle Cove when snowy weather delays her coach. She’s forced to wait out the storm with the worst possible companion: Lord Dashwood himself.

And he finally seems to have noticed her.

George Travers, Lord Dashwood, has traveled the globe as a cartographer. He returned to England with the goal of marrying and creating an heir--only to find his reputation shredded by an audacious, vexingly attractive bluestocking and her poison pen. Lord Dashwood Missed Out, his arse. Since Nora Browning seems to believe he overlooked the passion of a lifetime, Dash challenges her to prove it.

She has one night.

MY THOUGHTS
Lord Dashwood Missed Out is an all-too fleeting return to the Spindle Cove world, one that delights us once again with Ms. Dare’s trademark sense of humor and a cast of characters who never take themselves too seriously.

Nora is a joy of a heroine, a young woman who had a crush on a friend of the family growing up and dreamed of the time when her fantasies of a wedding and children would finally become a reality. What awaited her instead was heartbreak and loneliness as Lord Ashwood took off to travel the world, but not before he made it glaringly obvious that he was aware of her feelings and didn’t return them. While we don’t know all the details until midway through, we can more than relate to Nora’s unrequited crush and the pain that accompanies such a thing, and we can’t help but applaud her for writing an essay encouraging young women like herself to find worth in themselves rather than in a proper marriage as decided by the Ton.

Lord Ashwood has some serious groveling to do from the first page as our solidarity lies firmly with Nora even without knowing the whys behind his actions, but Ms. Dare of course beautifully redeems him (eventually that is, he earns a narrowed eye or two along the way) with warmth, humility and humor. While their romance is unfortunately brief (this is a novella) and Nora forgives a touch too easily, both things are easily overlooked as we glory in characters who always leave us hoping for more time with them.

A review for this series wouldn’t be complete without the mention of Mrs. Highwood, a woman so hilariously unrelenting in the pursuit of an advantageous marriage for her youngest daughter that we can’t help but smile at her every appearance on page. If you’ve yet to experience the Spindle Cove series and are a fan of historical romance, I can’t recommend these books highly enough!

Rating: 4/5
 

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.