Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Once Upon a Winter's Eve by Tessa Dare

3 reviews

greeneyed_ives's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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overflowingshelf's review

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lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

CW: Violence; sexual harassment

I somehow skipped this novella when I did my last reread of the Spindle Cove series. Now, normally I adore Tessa Dare’s work – she writes some of the funniest, smartest, and sexiest historical romance novels out there. But this novella was not it. I think I actually hated it? And that pains me to say. Violet should have stayed FAR away from Christian as that man is a walking red flag.

Violet Winterbottom is a wallflower with a knack for languages (she speaks six!). During the Spindle Cove Christmas ball, a mystery strange crashes into the ballroom and collapses at her feet. Wet, chilled, bleeding, and speaking an unfamiliar tongue, any young lady would stay far away from him. But Violet understands him, and she sees a flicker of someone she once loved in him. She has one night to uncover his secrets, but he would rather seduce than confess to his true identity

While we do get to see a few friendly faces from Spindle Cove, this story is very much a standalone novella and has little impact on the overarching series. I would recommend skipping it if you’re reading the Spindle Cove series, as it adds little and is super frustrating.

My biggest issue with this novella was that Christian is the WORST. This man is such a prick, and all he does is lie! I don’t know what Violet sees in him or how she can ever trust him after everything he’s done. I also did not buy that he was in love with Violet this whole time – there was no setup or emotional arc for him at all. Literally, just thinking about his actions ENRAGES ME. Like, dude, you’re not really doing all that much work in your job to justify how you treated Violet.

I also thought Violet would kick his butt to the curb after how he treated her in the past, but she too easily accepted him back, in my opinion. I seriously thought she would make him work harder to make it up to her considering she had been referring to him as the Disappointment over the years. On a positive note, I did enjoy Violet’s intelligence and her way with languages – I can see how she would fit in well with the ladies of Spindle Cove.

So clearly, the romance didn’t really work for me, given all this. Dare does manage to squeeze in two sexy love scenes, but I wasn’t feeling it as I didn’t buy the emotional arc of these characters. I was so disengaged by the end and actually hoping Violet would come to her sense and leave him behind, but they do get their happily ever after.

For me, this novella suffers from too much telling and not enough showing. I wish there were more flashback scenes to show Christian and Violet’s past, as I think that would have helped the emotional arc of the story and made me more connected to the romance.

There were also a few scenes that rubbed me the wrong way, like the one with Sally Bright’s father and when Violet literally carved the letter V into Christian’s chest, which really hampered my enjoyment of this story.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Tessa Dare! She has written some of my all-time favorite historical romance novels. But this novella felt nothing like her regular writing and left me scratching my head at the end of it. Luckily, it was a quick read, but I would definitely skip this if you’re checking out her backlist or reading the Spindle Cove series.

Content Warnings

meggiemine's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

Stats

Author: Tessa Dare

Series: Spindle Cove #1.5

Read Date: December 4, 2021

Genre: historical romance

Setting: Spindle Cove, Regency era England, Christmas Eve

Hero: Christian Pierce

Heroine: Violet Winterbottom

Tropes: holiday romance, snow, mistaken identity, spy hero, childhood friends to lovers, second chance romance

Format: ebook borrowed from Libby, released October 30, 2012

Length: novella, 120 pages, 32k words

Steam Level: 🔥(1 out of 5) - Medium Steam

Sexual Content: 1 full, explicit sex scene near the end of the book

Review

I’ve made a long list of Christmas romances to read this month and am prioritizing the ones in series that I’ve already started or read. This novella takes place after the events of A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove, #1). Susanna and Rycliff make appearances in the beginning and, surprisingly, I liked seeing them again even though I thought their book was just okay. I honestly had low expectations for this novella and it exceeded them. After finishing, I got excited to continue the series and put A Week to Be Wicked (Spindle Cove, #2) on hold at the library.

The heroine of Once Upon a Winter's Eve is Violet Winterbottom, who I don’t think was introduced in the previous book (I would have remembered the delightful name Winterbottom). The events of the novella take place the night of Spindle Cove’s Christmas ball. There are occasional references to holiday décor, snow, and such, but this isn’t a festive holiday romance at all. Still, the story was engrossing and funny and I devoured it in one sitting.

Probably my biggest criticism is that Violet doesn’t recognize Christian sooner and that Christian, in turn, isn’t more forthright about his identity. I don’t believe that a person’s appearance can change so much in the course of only one year such that they would be unrecognizable to someone who had grown up with them and knows them intimately. And it took too long for Christian to confirm Violet’s suspicions. Anyway, I found it fairly easy to suspend my disbelief and enjoyed it.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because of the gender reversal of the possession/mine/claiming trope, quoted below. This is one of my favorite tropes and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it subverted*, but I liked it a lot!

Pulling at his collar, she lowered the knife to his exposed chest. There, she applied pressure to the blade, scoring his skin. Once, and then again. Two neat, fiery lines of pain etched just beneath his collarbone. His eyes watered as he suppressed the urge to lash out or curse. Wincing, he looked down.
Thin red slashes made the shape of a tiny V.
She’d marked him. The act was shocking. Barbaric. Wildly arousing.
“You are mine.” She tugged his collar and pulled his face down to hers. “You are mine. Do not forget it.”
Her lips claimed his. The ferocity and passion in her kiss set his mind spinning. His body responded with raw, visceral need.
The knife slipped from her grip, clattering to the shingle beach. She slid both hands into his hair, gathering fistfuls of his overgrown locks to pull him closer. Hold him tighter. Kiss him harder. Until she possessed him so completely, he forgot his own name.
He only knew he was hers. She’d marked him and claimed him, and he was hers. Flesh and blood, heart and soul.

*There’s that part in Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon where Jamie and Claire carve their initials onto each other’s hands. But that’s like a mutual branding, so it doesn’t really count.

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