Another enjoyable historical romance from Tessa Dare, but from a different series this time. From what I gather, having only read the first volume, all the stories are set in a place called Spindle Cove, which is a sort of feminist enclave in Regency England. The idea behind it is that it passes itself off as a destination for convalescent and otherwise unwell young women. These poor creatures, who would otherwise be subject to the gruesome and stupid medical practices of the time, which centre around mercury and bloodletting, instead are allowed to indulge themselves with decent food, plenty of exercise, and geology. Basically, they're allowed a bit of freedom to have a life, and no surprise, their health improves, because swimming, decent conversation, and a bit of cake do more for general wellbeing than being confined to bed, having scalpels taken to one, and never being allowed to hunt for fossils. Anyway, a small group of army officers is billeted nearby, and their leader quickly butts heads with the woman in charge of Spindle Cove... and, unsurprisingly, they even more quickly fall in love.

As has been my experience with Dare, both protagonists are decent people, with actual friends and storylines of their own. Notable, too, in the three volumes of hers I've read, is a ridiculous and entertaining animal. First it was a vicious ermine, then it was an ancient and decrepit dog, and this time round it's a pet sheep called Dinner. I find the animals an entertaining little quirk, but much as I liked a lot of this, I did think it went a little over the top at the end, what with the whole cannon subplot. Still, it's streets ahead of a lot of the romances I've been reading lately: Dare is consistently entertaining, and I cackled my head off at poetry night at the tea shop.