Tessa Dare’s The Duchess Deal kicks off a new series, but this start is a little slower than some of her previous books, though it’s still a fine romance.
About a year ago, I reviewed Tessa Dare’s Do You Want to Start a Scandal right here on this very website. At the time, I mentioned that I’m a historical romance enthusiast. And, since I like traditions, I figure that it’s a good time to mention that Tessa Dare is actually my favorite romance novelist. I have read a significant number of her books, and her latest, The Duchess Deal, is now among that number.
At her best (and Do You Want to Start a Scandal is one of her best), her characters are funny, the plot moves along at a fair clip, and the love scenes are also satisfyingly steamy. All of this is true of The Duchess Deal, as well.
It’s not like Emma and Ash aren’t funny. Ash is a duke, who was scarred at Waterloo and thus finds himself in need of a wife who isn’t horrified by his scars. Emma is a seamstress who conveniently arrives just as he finds himself with this problem. But all of his changes don’t mean he’s not extraordinarily sardonic, offering some impressive humor in the sections he narrates. Of course, his scarring also remains a big source of angst. Emma, meanwhile, has her own ways of bringing the funny to the book, particularly in all of the ridiculous things she calls Ash.
But it’s hard to shake the feeling that something’s still missing. For the longest time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. And then Dare inserted a reference to “false news,” or the historical equivalent of that particularly pervasive phrase, “fake news.” (This habit is not new, and it’s usually one of the funniest parts of any Dare novel.)
Not to say that politics has completely ruined my ability to enjoy a good romance novel, but there seems to be a spark of verve missing from The Duchess Deal‘s non-romantic scenes. There are some of them, of course, and they’re still funny (especially when they’re Ash’s scenes), but they’re not quite as engaging as some of Dare’s other novels.
All of this is not to say that The Duchess Deal is bad. It is, in fact, still quite good! It’s way better than some of the other romance novels I’ve read this year, and I definitely stayed up to a slightly-inappropriate hour reading it because I still needed to know what happened, which is usually a sign of approval here on Book-Thirsty Thursdays.
Maybe it’s just that starting off a new series doesn’t always go well for her; Castles Ever After as a series had Romancing the Duke and then improved to When the Scot Ties the Knot by book 3 (yes, I know I mentioned Scot in my Scandal review, and the book’s been out for two years, but just let me have this, okay?).
Either way, thirsty readers, you’ll almost certainly find something to like about The Duchess Deal if you’re into historical romances. Even if it’s just the scenes I can’t technically write about because there are youths who might see this.
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