Do You Want to Start a Scandal is good. It’s so, so good. How good is it?
It’s this good: I wake up at the ass crack of dawn on a Saturday because a big storm is rolling in and I’m getting pre-migraine twinges, so I take my usual migraine cocktail of Excedrin, ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and plan on sleeping until noon. While I’m waiting for drugs to kick in, I start the book. Despite Flexeril-sleepiness, despite headache, despite having the option to sleep until a reasonable hour (and I love sleep), I stay up to finish the book in one sitting. It’s that good. It’s all the things in italics good.
Do You Want to Start a Scandal is a Spindle Cove novel but you can read it as a stand alone (it will make you want to read the rest of the books in the series, though). It’s got a broody, but still sensitive and sexy hero. It takes place during a house party. It has one of the funniest scenes I’ve read in ages. It worked perfectly for me.
Charlotte Highwood has been mocked in the tabloids due to her Mrs. Bennet-on-PCP momma who wants her married NOW. Charlotte would rather go on a grand tour of Europe with her friend Delia. She knows she’s destined to be a well-married, bored-out-of-her-mind lady of the ton and she’d really like to do some shit before that.
So she’s at Delia’s family’s two-week house party and she knows her mom is going to do everything in her power to get her married off to Piers Brandon, Lord Granville. She sneaks into the library to warn Piers and ask him to avoid her during the entirety of the party when another couple enters the room. Knowing they can’t be caught alone together, Piers and Charlotte hide behind a curtain while the mystery couple bone on a desk. Once the boning is done and the mystery couple have gone, Piers and Charlotte emerge from the room, relieved to have escaped scandal.
EXCEPT (cue dramatic music):
They’d been discovered. The door to the library was flung wide.
Edmund Parkhurst, the eight-year-old heir to his father’s baronetcy, stood in the doorway, pale and saucer eyed.
“Oh, it’s you.” She pressed a hand to chest in relief. “Edmund, darling, I should think you would be in bed.”
“I heard noises,” the boy said.
“They were nothing,” Charlotte assured him, approaching the lad and crouching to look him the eye. “Just your imagination.”
“I heard noises,” he repeated. “Bad noises.”
“No, no. Nothing bad was happening. We were only…playing a game.”
“Then why have you been crying?” The boy nodded toward Lord Granville, who was still clutching the drapery cord. “And why is that strange man holding a rope.”
“Oh, that? That isn’t a rope. And Lord Granville isn’t a strange man. He’s your father’s guest. He arrived this afternoon.”
“Here, I’ll show you.” The marquess moved forward, holding our the length of braided velvet–no doubt hoping to calm the boy’s fears. He didn’t seem to realize how unlikely it was that a tall, imposing man could pacify a frightened child who’d never seen him before in his life.
The boy backed away shouting at the top of his voice. “Help! Help! Murder!”
“Edmund, no. There isn’t any–”
“MURDER!” he shrieked, running down the corridor. “MURDER!”
I’m already wheeze-laughing at this point. Then a few seconds later:
Sir Vernon quieted his son’s hysterics. “What happened, my boy?”
“I heard noises. Murder noises.” The boy leveled a pointed finger on a straightened arm. “From them.”
“There weren’t any murder noises,” Charlotte said.
“The boy is confused,” Lord Granville added.
Sir Vernon put a hand on Edmund’s shoulder. “Tell me exactly what you heard.”
“I was upstairs,” the boy said. “It started out with a squeaking. Like so. Eek, eek, eek, eek.”
Charlotte slowly died inside as the boy began an uncanny reenactment of the passionate sounds of the past quarter hour. Every sigh and wail and groan. There could be no doubt as to what activity the boy had actually overheard. And now they would conclude Charlotte and the marquess had been engaging in that particular activity.
While grunting.
And using ropes.
In her worst nightmares, she couldn’t have dreamed this scene.
“And then there was a terrible growling, and I heard a lady scream. So I ran down to see what was the matter.” He turned his accusing finger to the window seat. “That’s where they were together.”
Sir Vernon looked visibly disturbed.
“Well,” said Mama. “I certainly hope Lord Granville means to explain himself.”
So now Charlotte and Piers have to get married to avoid scandal, unless within the two-weeks the house party lasts, they can figure out who the mystery couple was. Charlotte has a few clues and she’s bound and determined to suss out the actual culprits and get started on her grand tour. Piers isn’t quite as sure. He’s a broody hero, but Charlotte makes him FEEL THINGS and now he thinks he might want to marry her. Convincing her to marry him is going to be the trick.
Also, Piers is actually a spy (of course he is), assigned to find out if Sir Vernon is up to no good, so there’s lock-picking, dangling from windows, mysterious fires being set, poison, and even more mystery solving. Actually most of that list involves Charlotte, not Piers, which drives him up a wall.
This book is funny, it’s charming, and the romance works so beautifully. I loved Piers. He’s not quite an alpha-hero. He’s a powerful, intimidating man, and he’s used to getting shit done. He’s also quiet and very observant and quite considerate:
Oh, this man. He’d built a wintry fortress around himself–whether out of desire, necessity, or both, she didn’t yet know–but inside it, he was anything but cold.
That describes an Elyse-bait hero right there, to a T.
I also loved that Charlotte has PLANS and Piers is interfering with them. She’s got stuff to see and shit to do and landing a marquess is not on the agenda. After the library-of-shame episode, Charlotte will inevitably be the subject of more gossip and Piers helpfully mansplains to her how, as his wife, she’ll be above reproach because he’ll destroy anyone who is mean to her. Charlotte is like “Dude, do you not know how gossip works and how nasty women can be to each other?” I loved it.
I also loved that the novel addresses what happens to good friends when one of them suddenly enters a serious relationship. Delia and Charlotte had plans to travel and avoid marriage, and suddenly Charlotte might be falling in love and that changes the dynamic of their friendship. I think a lot people experience this–friendships shifting as one party enters a relationship while the other is single. I know I have.
Finally the book is full of Tessa Dare’s wonderful sense of humor. While explaining the birds and bees to her daughter, Charlotte’s mom uses a peach and an aubergine as visual references. So Dare managed to sneak emoji porn into her book.
Plus this line:
No one had warned her it would be like this. Love was supposed to feel good. Wasn’t it? Not terrifying.
Perhaps this wasn’t love after all, but malaria.
Clearly, I loved Do You Want to Start a Scandal. This review is dripping with squee. It’s funny, it’s sexy and it’s got some Clue-like shenanigans going on. If you have better self control than I do, I recommend savoring this book rather than powering through in one sitting (good luck).
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well.
Thanks!
Thanks for the review- I’m so excited for this one! I absolutely love Spindle Cove; something about Tessa Dare’s writing draws me in, even when I don’t love the set-up or the characters at first glance. Given that I already adore Charlotte from the earlier books and I’m a sucker for a house-party story, this one is rocketing to the top of my to-read list.
This sounds like a great book. You’ve definitely tempted me. However when I read the title it’s ends up being sung to the tune of “Do you want to build a snowman” from Frozen. And now I bet you will read it that way too.
Thanks for the reminder that this book is out! Now the problem will be trying not to ignore all of my duties today in lieu of devouring it.
Sounds fantastic and I love Tessa Dare.
Squee! I have been in the mood for a house-party story and love Spindle Cove. Can’t wait to read this one. Thanks!
I’m a little behind on my Tessa Dare reading (you KNOW life has been crazy if one allows THAT to happen), so I just finished WHEN A SCOT TIES THE KNOT. Now I’m jonesin’ for another delicious Dare romance – how lucky that this one is out now! I also love the idea of a not-quite-alpha-hero. Don’t get me wrong, I love a growly, intimidating alpha, but I find myself drawn to more ambiguous hero types lately. Maybe because they’re more interesting? One clicking this now!
Also, @Shan…now I can’t stop thinking about this title without singing it to that tune. Too funny!
I can’t wait to read this and @Shan I’m going to be humming that all day long
The only thing about this that puts me off is the plot moppet scene above. I loathe kids in my romance novels. I don’t like real kids too much for the most part, either, but kid characters in my romances annoys the tar out of me.
ohh, look what just showed up on my Kindle! yay! (and @Shan – ahhhh! now it’s stuck in my head!)
This is one of the few books I preordered this year. I must make a point to read it in the next few weeks instead of letting it sit forever!
Let’s be honest: I didn’t even really need to read this review because I saw the title, saw the author, saw it was Spindle Cove…*drool.* Huzzah.
A Tessa Dare book is like a nice, hot mug of tea or a cozy blanket. They’re so… friendly. I don’t mean the plot or relationships in them (nor as an indicator of the level of sexiness), I mean the books feel friendly to me, the reader. Some books are emotionally challenging and sometimes that’s what I want. When I want a friendly book, I go to When a Scot Ties the Knot and Beauty and the Blacksmith.
Speaking of which, this book ties together the Spindle Cove and Castles Ever After series. It’s not particularly important, but as someone who’s read from both series, it amused me.
Did everyone catch that a line from Hamilton snuck into the book? That amused me too.
I NEED this book NOW. Damn Tuesdays. Work all day. Chorus for 2 hours tonight. Why does it have to be Tuesday?
I loved the book (read it all in one day – yay!) and absolutely hear the title to the Frozen song every time. I love that Dare credits Stephen King for the opening line (which I actually did not seemed familiar, but couldn’t place until I read the acknowledgements). As well as the Hamilton line (it HAS to be on purpose), there were obvious James Bond comparisons and I’m pretty sure Charlotte and Delia giggling about a girl being attacked by murderous pigeons may be a sly reference to the Gothic romance that appear in more than one Julia Quinn’s books (where the heroine’s mother is pecked to death by pigeons, if I recall correctly).
I still wouldn’t rank it as highly as my all time favourite of Dare’s books (A Week to Be Wicked and Any Duchess Will Do) but as always, it was a light and frothy read, which I needed so badly right now as my life is full of stress.
I want to love Dare and Spindle Cove. They are all the catnip. And yet I’ve read one and it left me slightly annoyed and that was about it. This review makes me want to try again in case I was PMS or something when i read the other one…
Preordered months ago, along with Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo.
As Ice Cube might say, I got to say it was a good day.
Have to finish The Woman in Cabin 10 though. Which is keeping me hooked like a fishie, so it’s all good.
I binge read yesterday as I knew I would. I laughed at the “Hamilton” reference, and it was overall a great book. My one beef is that the hero pulls a TSTL moment toward the end that just made me pretty much lose all my sympathy for him. Thankfully, the narrative calls it out as well, and Charlotte’s response was spot-on perfect.
And if Delia doesn’t get her own story someday, I’m going to be very sad.
Really excited for this. The Castles Ever After series was a bit uneven for me (loved the one with the blind hero, couldn’t stand Zthe wedding planning one, and liked the Scot one okay), but I LOVE all things Spindle-y and Cove-y.
What?! I missed the Hamilton reference! Could someone tell me generally where it might be so I can go find it. Grr. Argh.
I enjoyed this one more than any of the Castles series. There were a lot of one on one conversations between the protagonists, but I wish there were more scenes of them interacting in public, in crowded rooms, or even just conversations with other people. They seemed to be able to find lots of alone time for two people who get into a pickle being caught alone in the first few pages.
Patsy: 14% into the book if you’re on the Kindle.
Thanks Meg! I can’t believe I missed that. I just saw it last week!!
I loved this book and actually laughed out loud. Ms. Dare’s writing is always par excellence and she is auto buy for me. Her humour is so well written that you tend to laugh at how its written and not the actual action itself.
However there was one scene where they do it in the bath and of course take precaution to prevent pregnancy and then … then … they continue to sit in the water and talk..
Can I say “eeeeeuuuuwww” ?
I’m going to get this book in print because I’ll be d**ned if I pay a premium for the ebook version. *sigh* I read the excerpt earlier and can’t wait for the book, especially now that I’ve read your squees.
Thank you for saying you read this after taking Excedrin for a migraine! I have a chronic illness that brings me down and read this Tessa Dare novel and followed up with two of her others. LOVE her sense of humor. As Meg said about the hero’s TSTL moment toward the end — that about did it for me with the guy, too. And Patsy pointed out how the two lovebirds managed to find LOTS of time alone. I would have enjoyed more scenes with more people if only for a bit of variety. But all that said — the book is every bit as entertaining as I hoped it would be. And then I read two more and continued in that happy state. YES! Delia needs a book of her own.
Finished it in one sitting and Loved it! Rating: 5 Adorable Hilarious Stars. It was funny, charming, romantic, and sexy. Writing was fresh and engaging. Every few pages there were laugh out loud moments, so don’t read on Public Transit if you don’t want people looking at you funny or hanging over your shoulder to see what is so amusing.
Heroine was wonderfully bright and blunt.Also loved that although she was a virgin, she explained she was ‘innocent but not uninformed’. Her Mother explaining the Facts of Life with vegetables and fruit is so hilarious, my husband had to come down the hall to see what had me in stitches-it made my Gratitude List this month. This Book is going on my 2016 Favourites List and keeps Tessa Dare on my ‘Must Buy” List. Thanks Elyse for the review that pushed me to cough up the money and just buy it!
I don’t have the ability to articulate how much I love this book and how much I absolutely adore the two protagonists. I’m actually commenting out of desperation because I REALLY need to find another Charlotte and it doesn’t matter to me that this review is two years old and my chances are slim in the comments…