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adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Minor: Death
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A super spy invades a Christmas Eve gala to find the woman he loves, whose heart he broke a year ago.
He’s got reasons. She’s rightfully pissed (and even points a gun at him). They have one night to talk, kiss, argue, make love, run away, plan,have an extremely romantic “wedding,” keep their secret, and, of course, they eventually get their HEA.
He’s got reasons. She’s rightfully pissed (and even points a gun at him). They have one night to talk, kiss, argue, make love, run away, plan,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, War
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment, War, Classism
Minor: Colonisation
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
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!
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nothing much memorable and I don't have any coherent thoughts and opinions since this was only a novella. From my impressions, this plot was something bonkers and if you're in the mood for that, then read this. This is also a second-chance romance (I don't know if this is a spoiler-y bit lol). This was just fine, and the reason for the half star subtracted from my rating was that the hero did not grovel enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content