Tessa Dare

Welcome to Spindle Cove, where the ladies with delicate constitutions come for the sea air, and men in their prime are . . . nowhere to be found. Or are they? Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men; it is a haven for those who live there. Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn’t belong here. So far as he can tell, there’s nothing in this place but spinsters . . . and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It’s a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram’s makeshift army. Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle…but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?

A Night to Surrender

Arianna M

Natalie

OH MY GOD THIS BOOK. THIS BOOK. 

Such an amazing and awesome book.

(Review has no spoilers, but there are three quotations from the text.)

Susanna Finch (not a noble!) lives in the small town of Spindle Cove with her father, a noted munitions expert. They moved there a number of years ago, after Susanna's short and disastrous stay with relatives the year after her mother died (details of what happened with her relatives are revealed about halfway through the book). 

Enter Victor Bramwell--Bram for short. Also not a noble at the beginning of the book, he is ennobled shortly after the book starts. He's in Spindle Cove to attempt to regain the military command he lost when he was shot in the knee on the battlefield. 

The thing about Spindle Cove is this: since her disastrous stay with relatives and equally disastrous Season, Susanna has made the town into a place where women who don't quite fit in to Society can come and regain their health, explore their interests, or just plain be themselves. And the town caters to their needs and interests, so isn't quite prepared for what happens with Bram, his wastrel with a heart of gold lordling cousin, and mysterious and flinty lieutenant show up in town. To build a militia, the success or failure of which will determine Bram's military future.

So that's the set up. There's lots of conflict and energy between Susanna and Bram. Susanna is explicitly clear about the value she and other members of the community have for their (relatively) safe space:

Men need a purpose? She sighed, exasperated. Can't you understand that women are the same? We crave our own goals and our own acocmplishments, our own sisterhood as well. And there are precious few places where we can find it, in a world ruled by the opposite sex. Everywhere else we are governed by men's rules, live at the mercy of male whims. But here, in this one tiny corner of the world, we are free to be our best and truest selves. Spindle Cove is ours, Bram. I will fight to my last breath before I let you destroy it. Women's needs are important, too.

BE STILL MY BEATING HEART. A FEMINIST STATEMENT IN A ROMANCE NOVEL. AMAZING.

So yeah: Susanna and Bram have a lot of ground to cover before they can meet in the middle. His military commission is everything to him and this small corner of the world that she's carved out for women is everything to her. They both need to learn why these things are important and vital to each other and that's a huge part of the tension between them. It's fantastic.

Also fantastic? Is Susanna's struggle against the alpha male desire to possess the female of the species--but first, this funny bit from Bram, as he realizes how similar they are:

"I've never met a woman like you. You're so much like me. It's as though we're two examples of some rare, exotic breed. Only I'm the male specimen, and you're the female. Clever as you are, you must know what that means."

"Enlighten me." 

"It means we should mate. We have a responsibility to Nature."

A little while later, though, while trying to get Susanna to declare that she's his, this is their exchange:

"Susanna fair. I want to hear you say you're mine." 

She framed his face in her hands and looked him in the eye. "I'll say this. I claim sole possession of my body, my heart, and my soul. And tonight, I choose to share them all with you." 

His fingers slid from her body, leaving her feeling hollow inside. "God. That's..."

"Disappointing? Intimidating? Too much, too soon?"

He shook his head, moving in for a kiss. "I was going to say, it's even better." His tongue traced her bottom lip. "So much better."

THAT'S RIGHT. SHE OWNS HERSELF AND SHE CONSENTS TO SEXY TIMES. AND HE THINKS IT'S HOT. BECAUSE IT IS HOT.

This is seriously one of my favorite things about Tessa Dare's work: the explicit and enthusiastic consent to sexy times. No, it's not period. But. It's not possible for them to be completely accurate because, well, they're being written now for a modern audience. They are in dialogue with society and culture NOW despite the historical veneer. And that's one of my favorite things about all my favorite romance novels--they are very much wrestling with issues that are important and relevant to people today and they do it in a way that's both entertaining and thoughtful and immensely readable. 

A NIGHT TO SURRENDER definitely ranks among my very favorites.

Haley Murray

Maggie Hepditch

This was exactly what I expected of a regency romance but I definitely did not expect disability rights!!!!! Great romance, great drama.

Jaclyn

I’m in love with Spindle Cove!! I couldn’t put this one down and I’ll be getting about 4 hours of sleep for work tomorrow but it was worth it! I absolutely love Tessa Dare so it’s no surprise that I flew through this and adored it! I will say that Bram isn’t my favorite hero of hers but he had really good development by the end and I loved the romance. I loved Susanna, I loved how head strong she was and how she wouldn’t let the men walk all over Spindle Cove! I also really enjoyed all the side characters and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series, especially Colin and Minerva!!

Toni Turner

I’m glad I decided to read this series from the beginning. I read them really quickly and there are a lot of good messages within this series dealing with sexism and sex positivity (aka it’s rather consent oriented) which is great! But this is super white hetero romance centric which I know going into them but it gets me every once in a while in the writing. It’s just a bit of a buzzkill to be in the story and then read a line that ignores a whole group of people or makes you feel the feminism being preached is a little awry one way of the other. That brings you into the whole “it’s the characters not the author” debate which I get but that doesn’t mean it’s less upsetting. But overall they do a good enough job of setting the story into historical context while still letting modern thinking persist better than any other romance I’ve read. Also the steamy scenes are 👌🏼which is honestly the reason we are all here am I right?

Kate

dnf @ 60% - Liked the heroine and really liked the setting, but just was not into the hero or the fact that the relationship seems 100% based on lust? I'm going to read the sequel and hopefully it will be better, although I wasn't wild about Lord Payne in this book... we'll see

Amanda J 

b.andherbooks

Forced to return home after an injury to his knee during the Napoleonic Wars, Bram finds himself tasked with training a militia to protect the small town of Spindle Cove, a sanctuary to gently-bred ladies who don't quite fit society's norms. His task threatens the idyllic and mostly man-free atmosphere Susannah has carefully cultivated for her ladies and she is adamant Bram and his militia not interfere with her mission. Both are intent on getting their way but may realize working together is much more delightful, in more ways than one.

Super sweet and sassy, I really enjoy this series and it was fun to finally read the first. I've totally read these out of order, but really it doesn't matter. I especially loved the lamb named Dinner.

It was so lovely to return to Spindle Cove, and I had so much fun rereading this with the #butdotheybang crew. On the re-read, some of Bram's charms were lost on me, as I didn't appreciate how he sort of pushed Susannah without also giving her time to think and very enthusiastically consent. What Dare does with aplomb though, is make your heart sing with feelings for these two, and we as a group appreciated her depictions of Bram's leg injury, and Susannah's past trauma with "doctors."

“An engaging love story with strong, believable characters. I can’t wait to read the sequels!” —Mary Balogh “Prepare to fall in love.” —Julia Quinn Presenting the winner of the Avon FanLit contest, the immensely talented Tessa Dare! Tessa’s first Avon historical romance, A Night to Surrender, is a love story to remember—kicking off her wonderfully inventive Spindle Cove series, set in England’s Regency Era in a small seaside resort town that caters specifically to ladies “of good breeding and delicate constitution.” Fans of Lisa Kleypas, Christina Dodd, and Liz Carlyle will delight in the passionate chaos that ensues when a dashing British officer, under orders, “invades” this community of strong-willed “spinsters,” only to discover he’s met his match in Miss Susannah Finch!

When I first decided to give historical romance a go a few years back, the first book I picked up was by Tessa Dare. I fell in love with the genre and her writing immediately. Of course, I meant to tackle her backlist before now, but something else always got in the way. When I saw the Spindle Cove series was available from my library through Hoopla, I jumped in. I'm glad I did, too. A Night to Surrender was a great introduction to the Spindle Cove series. I thoroughly enjoyed Susanna and Bram's enemies to lovers romance. I can't wait to continue with the series. 

It's worth mentioning audio was a great way to consume this story, even though it took me some time. It had nothing to do with the story or the narration, but more to do with my mood. Carolyn Morris is a new-to-me narrator (I think) and I thought she did a great job voicing these characters and bringing the story to life.

RTC

A Night to Surrender

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