So far, I’m enjoying the ludicrously named Stud Club trilogy, but at the same time I can tell that they are earlier works from an author whose later titles, I feel, are more indicative of her talent.
The second entry into the trilogy follows the VERY tortured Rhys St. Maur, Lord Ashworth, a war hero and broody dude who is a closet romantic and wants nothing more than to start over and create, rather than destroy, back at his ancestral home. His love interest is Meredith Maddox, formerly Lane, an innkeeper in the nearby village who grew up on Ashworth land as the stable-hand’s overlooked daughter. When Rhys sees her again after all these years, it takes a minute to place her in his memory, but even before the connections are made, it’s love at first sight — he’s infatuated at the sight of her and duly impressed by the no-nonsense way she manages her inn.
Meredith was simply fantastic. I loved her straightforward nature, her rational patience, and her can-do attitude. Further, I personally have a soft spot for a sexually experienced heroine with no qualms about making the first move and Meredith, as a widow who has also taken intermittent lovers since the passing of her husband, certainly qualifies. She’s got goals and desires, lofty and base, and she owns up to all of them guilelessly.
I wouldn’t say Rhys left me cold, but I have grown weary of the “broken man” shtick and that’s kind of his calling card. He still maintains a surprisingly joyful optimism what borders on bullishness when it comes to Meredith, insisting that she’s his future wife and that it’s simply meant to be, whether she admits it at the time or not. He puts a lot of stock in fate and destiny, which Meredith finds absurd and irritatingly naive in the face of the hard work and difficult decisions she’s had to make in her life to get her to the place where she is, and where she’s perfectly happy, thank-you-very-much! As much as she’s had a thing for Rhys for years and probably is, in some measure, in love with him, she’s not at all swept off her feet by his casual suggestion of inevitability or by his indifference that married life with him probably means abandoning the inn that she has poured her heart and soul into.
Two things, in particular, elevated this book from “Meh, pretty good” to an overall success: one was Meredith herself, and the other were some of the exceptionally sexy scenes between her and Rhys. Smolder is in the eye of the beholder, as it were, and even when I’m not head-over-heels for the hero myself, Dare’s particular skill in this area still had me furiously envy of Meredith. There are two scenes involving water, which should really not have worked because practically speaking sexytimes in or around bodies of water are never quite as successful as one imagines, but I’ll be damned if Dare didn’t make it work not once, but twice. Furthermore, I suspect because Meredith isn’t some virginal thing, a few of the encounters actually skew a little rough, which is definitely my cup of tea (there’s a reason I started in paranormals, which I devoured despite the vast majority of those I read being not objectively good books.)
I was a bit surprised by the way some things ended. A few small mysteries are solved and the culprit was not expected to me. At the same time, I admit to being a little let down by the particulars of the official union between Rhys and Meredith. It seemed a little rushed, and I think Meredith got a little shortchanged. It’s not that I doubt her future happiness, but I don’t think the way it played out exactly jived with her previous characterization. BUT: overall I liked Twice Tempted by a Rogue. It’s more 3.5 stars than 3.
Of the Stud Club series, the third one is my favourite. They’re fun, but she’s clearly evolved as a writer, which is so noticable when reading the Spindle Cove or Castles Ever After books.
Yes, yes, and yes, plus what Malin said. I felt like the third book in the series was where Dare really hit her stride.
I agree with you completely on Dare’s facility with smolder. She is world/Kleypas class with that stuff.
Ditto on the Spindle Cove series. I look to Tessa Dare when I’m in the mood for fun and frothy.
I have also dabbled in paranomals because fantasy + romance is the mashup of two of my favorite things. But there is only so much muscular alpha male and leather-clad huntress I can take. The genre is resoundingly popular however and most books are just slightly better than “meh.” Which is why one day we Cannonballers need to create an author collective and group-write some killer paranormals and split the income. We could form different committees:
– The committee to develop non-laughable alternate words for body parts
– The committee to create non-laughable character names
– The committee to create tortured hero/heroine backstory
– The smolder committee
I have also dabbled in paranomals because fantasy + romance is the mashup of two of my favorite things. But there is only so much muscular alpha male and leather-clad huntress I can take.
Yep, that’s about the tidy sum of it!
The character names. Oh, gawd, the character names.
So many alpha males (all nearly seven foot tall, at least). So many fierce heroines. So many crossbows and/or swords. So many ridonkulous names. :D We should totally collectively write romance. I suspect we could make a decent stab at something paranormal and something historical. The paranormal might need less historical research, though.
I have seemingly failed at convincing Mrs. Julien that she should write a romance novel but I’m 100% confident that the cannonballers could CRUSH a paranormal. Writing a book is a long lonely slog (speaking from the slog I’m in this minute) and I think a group writing project would be fun. And if (when) it sells like hotcakes we’ll all be rich, RICH I TELL YOU!
Thank you for your faith in me, but I just don’t think I have a book in me. Mr. Julien harps on it constantly.
Also, I would read Mrs. Julien’s book in a heartbeat.
ooohhhh. that sounds so much fun! But why can’t I find Mrs. Julien’s group on the FB? Yes I just typed the FB and I have no regrets. :)
Find me Prolixity Julien and I will set you up.
I would be interested in getting in on this. Fo sho.
Maybe we should give this a try. It might be a lot of fun. I’m not good with pajibanym to real life conversions. Are you with me on FB?
This. Is. So. Exciting!!!
I have created a FB group called “Put Up Your Dukes”. Come find us.
Classic.