A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove, #1)

by Tessa Dare

Spindle Cove is a haven for women. A haven which is led by Susanna Finch with the goal of providing a safe place for those with delicate constitutions, overbearing family members, scandalous secrets or outlandish hobbies. There are few year round residents and even fewer male ones. Until Bram and his men turn up and are tasked with starting a militia.

I enjoyed this. It was a well written feel good romance with a decent plot, fun setting and swoon worthy relationship. There's nothing overly original but what's there is done well. I loved the schedule the women had. Mondays are country walks, Tuesdays are sea bathing, Wednesdays they work in the garden, Thursdays are for shooting! And Fridays they climb to the castle and picnic, chat, plot, scheme etc. The town is charming and the residents are hilarious.

I really liked Susanna. She was intelligent and fierce and I loved her take charge attitude. I felt sorry for her, losing her mother and then, basically, losing her father, being left with strangers and told off for not being happy and then being bled for getting unhappier. I mean jeez. A weaker person would've broke. Considering she's basically a fully function adult, that's impressive. Mental illness is barely discussed or understood now. And her father is an ass. At least he took her somewhere she could recuperate, but he should've offloaded her in the first place. But different times and all that. I would've liked to see Susanna interact with the females more, it's discussed but not really shown and I would've liked to see a few more scenes with her confiding in them or something.

Bram was interesting. I liked his determination to recover from his leg injury and his reasons for wanting to get back to the front lines of the war. (The last letter he received from his father sympathised how hard it was to write condolence letters to families of the men under his command. His father died a week before he received the letter. Bram is worried that if he is no longer on the front line, his dad will no longer understand and accept him.) I liked his consideration of Susanna, although his outburst when Finn was injured and he dismisses her medical knowledge was pretty rough. Susanna totally should've made him grovel a hell of a lot more. I adored his relationship with the lamb named Dinner! It cracked me up that the lamb kept turning up everywhere.

The relationship between Susanna and Bram was good. I liked that Bram appreciated her intellect and didn't want her to be quiet when she had an opinion. Even if he doesn't agree with it. I loved that Susanna was willing to put him in his place but that she was also willing to let down her guard and let Bram take charge as well. They were both hilarious and they made a great team when they decided to work together and compromise for the best of the town.

I liked Thorne and Finn and Rufus were sweet. Colin was amusing. Minerva was brutal with her rocks. I can't wait to read Colin and Minerva's story. Strong beginning to an interesting series. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.