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mediaevalmusereads · 2 years ago

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Lord Dashwood Missed Out. By Tessa Dare. Avon

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: historical romance, novella

Part of a Series? Yes, Spindle Cove 4.5

Summary: Miss Elinora Browning grew up yearning for the handsome, intelligent lord-next-door…but he left England without a word of farewell. One night, inspired by a bit too much sherry, Nora poured out her heartbreak on paper. Lord Dashwood Missed Out was a love letter to every young lady who’d been overlooked by gentlemen—and an instant bestseller. Now she’s on her way to speak in Spindle Cove when snowy weather delays her coach. She’s forced to wait out the storm with the worst possible companion: Lord Dashwood himself.

George Travers, Lord Dashwood, has traveled the globe as a cartographer. He returned to England with the goal of marrying and creating an heir--only to find his reputation shredded by an audacious, vexingly attractive bluestocking and her poison pen. Lord Dashwood Missed Out, his arse. Since Nora Browning seems to believe he overlooked the passion of a lifetime, Dash challenges her to prove it.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: graphic sexual content, blood

Overview: Finishing up the Spindle Cove novellas. What can I say? I'm a completist.

Writing: Dare's prose in this novella is comparable to that of the other installments in this series. It's quick, humorous, clear, and well-balanced, and I don’t have all that much to add to my precious reviews.

Plot: The non-romance plot of this book follows Elinora "Nora" Browning, who finds herself trapped in a snowstorm with her childhood best friend (and crush), George Travers (Lord Dashwood). After Dashwood treats her cruelly and fails to say goodbye before departing in a multi-year sea journey, Nora pens an essay about the fickleness of men and the pressure for women to get married. The essay grants her some amount of fame, enough that the ladies of Spindle Cove have invited her to give a reading and a lecture at their local library. En route to Spindle Cove, Nora finds herself traveling with none other than Dashwood himself, newly returned to England. The two bicker about her essay until suddenly, the carriage slides in the snow and is left useless. While the footman takes the horses to the nearest inn, Nora and Dashwood find shelter in an abandoned cottage, and to their dismay, are left in each other's company until morning.

What I liked about this plot was that the scope felt appropriate for the length. Dare didn't try to fit a novel-length story into a novella, nor did she try to worldbuild so much that the details made the story feel cramped. Instead, Dare relied on the context of Spindle Cove to do most of the work and focused mostly on her characters.

That being said, I don't know if I'd recommend this novella to people who haven't read the rest of the series. It could theoretically stand on its own, but readers will already know most of the characters and their histories if they've read the other books first.

As for things I disliked about this novella, I do think the reveal at the end (Dashwood's role in how the night progressed) felt a bit empty. Without spoiling anything, I will say that I think his role made his emotions throughout the novella feel retroactively insincere, and I would have much rather read a story that came from a place of sincerity. The emotions would have felt a little more richer, at least to me.

Characters: Nora, our heroine, is admirable in that she is unafraid to stick up for herself and is incredibly stubborn. I loved that she refused to compromise on her values and didn't let Dashwood off the hook easily, and I loved that she was unapologetic about her essay.

Dashwood, our hero, was interesting at first because he seemed to be genuinely upset about Nora's essay, and I loved seeing the two clash. While he was quarreling with Nora, it seemed like both of them had understandable reasons for being angry, and I was curious as to how they would work things out. Over time, however, I didn't quite see the appeal of Dashwood as a love interest, and I wished there was more to him than just he was kind to Nora in the past.

Supporting characters almost entirely come from the rest of the Spindle Cove series, and whether or not you like them will depend on whether or not you found them engaging in the other books. Not much work is done to give them any minor character arcs except for the arc between Pauline and Griff, which was simple and light enough not to distract from the main narrative.

Romance: The romance between Nora and Dashwood was simple yet fit the scope of the story. A lot of it relied on the two having a past history, which was explored just enough to feel like it mattered. I appreciated that Dare didn't try to create a situation in which the two met and fell in love in the span of one night; instead, the arc seems to be that they were both already in love with each other yet had a past that needed to be addressed.

I very much enjoyed how the two got under the other's skin. It's not that I like seeing couples fight, but I liked how the characters could provoke feelings of intense emotion without the argument becoming toxic. Instead, the anger that they feel turns from annoyance to hurt to emotional intimacy, and I think Dare did a good job showing how the two finally forced each other to be open with their feelings.

TL;DR: Lord Dashwood Missed Out is notable for its unapologetic heroine and an appropriate scope, creating a plot just complex enough for its length. Romance readers who enjoy tropes such as "lovers trapped together during a snowstorm" and "there's only one bed" will probably enjoy this book, though I wouldn't recommend it if the reader hasn't read the other installments in the series.

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