Guest Review: A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare

If there is one quality of a historical romance that keeps me glued to the page it is the presence of two unlikely main characters who, because of social station or circumstance or personal differences, are adversarial to begin with but manage to find some common ground that moves their story along.  So it is with this new novel about those intrepid ladies of Spindle Cove, all of whom really do march to the beat of their own drummer and who have given society an “up yours” by banding together in this out-of-the-way location.  Colin, Lord Payne, is pulling in exactly the opposite direction.  Now he isn’t the sort that is dying to conform, not by a long shot.  He just wants to be away from this back water, lost in the fogs of rural England kind of place so that he can kick up his heels in his own fashion.  He has an eye for a pretty feminine ankle, but there aren’t many in this little place that interest him, if any.  No, he just wants to be gone!

But Minerva Highwood plants herself in from of Colin with a proposal that just might get him out of Spindle Cove, even if he does have to pretend to be a fiance or whatever.  She’s a woman who thinks little about herself or even of herself, a woman who is bent on being the best paleontologist she can be and with few other interests other than keeping Colin from offering for her sister–the pretty one in the family.  

This is a novel that is another fine work from an author who respects the intelligence of the reader, who knows how to right the wit and color of that historical period without losing sight of either the story or the people involved, who knows instinctively that the reader will “catch” the subtleties and appreciate the complexities of a story within a story within a story.  She has also given readers a heroine who is smart enough to fool even England’s premier scientists and to make her mark within that snobby, chauvinistic community because they don’t know that one of their rising stars is a woman.  At the core of this story is the journey of discovery that both Minerva and Colin must traverse–she must discover not only her marvelous brain and how to exercise her intelligence within a repressive society;  he must discover that he does indeed have a heart, a conscience, and the ability to love someone other than himself, to move beyond the hurts and inner barriers to being the man he really wants to be.  It is these discoveries that Minerva and Colin make as they must endure not only the constraints of their supposed betrothal, but each must find the inner fortitude to meet some very challenging occurrences as they travel.  Perhaps the greatest joy of this novel is watching these two learn that the most sterling quality of real love–the real thing–is that deep and abiding desire to think of the loved one before one’s self.  Funny how that changes people, eh?  It certainly did these two.

Tessa Dare has given romance fiction lovers some wonderful books and that gift continues in this novel.  It’s just a wonderful read, and I don’t think anyone who picks up this book will come away from the experience with anything but admiration for both the author and for the characters that have taken up residence in our minds and, if I might assert strongly, in our hearts.  The book is full of wit and the dialogue throughout is a feast for those who love the use of language which sets apart authors who really know their craft.  I can’t recommend this book highly enough.  Please don’t miss it!

I give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5

The series: