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| Samhain Publishing Ltd. |
Or, How to Catch a Wild Viscount
Tessa Dare
2009
The Summary
"She's on the hunt for a hero...
"Luke Trenton, Viscount Merritt, returned from war a changed man. Battle stripped away his civility and brought out his inner beast. There is no charm or tenderness in him now; only dark passions and a hardened soul. He has nothing to offer the starry-eyed, innocent girl who pledged her heart to him four years ago.
"But Cecily Hale isn't a girl any longer. She's grown into a woman--one who won't be pushed away. She and Luke are guests at a house party when a local legend captures their friends' imaginations. While the others plunge into the forest on a wild goose....stag chase, Cecily's on the hunt for a man. She has only a few moonlit nights to reach the real Luke...the wounded heart she knows still beats inside the war-ravaged body...or she could lose him to the darkness forever."
The Good
Portia and Mr. Brooke were probably the best thing for The Legend of the Werestag. Personally, I liked them more than I liked the main hero and heroine.
The Bad
Oh my gosh. Why did I read this novella?
I've enjoyed Tessa Dare so far; however, The Legend of the Werestag was a little...unusual. And not in a good way. It's not a supernatural adventure story/paranormal romance, if that's what you're thinking; rather, it's just an erotic Regency-esque romance. It's only 80 pages or something like that (longer if you're reading from an electronic device), so it doesn't really have much to tell and no real way of building up the story.
It's amusing, it has it's sweet and tender moments, but I wasn't particularly impressed. (I supposed that shouldn't come as a surprise with werestag in the title, but, you know, hope springs eternal.) Moreover, I wasn't exactly impressed by Cecily's relationship with Luke. Cecily feels very...malleable, maybe even naive. She's got her heart set on a man that seemingly wants nothing to do with her--and then he breaks her heart, not just once but multiple times.
It's irritatingly repetitive.
I didn't like Luke. As a hero, he's more than a brute; in fact, he's intentionally cruel. I get it: he's tortured. He has pinned so much belief and significance to pretty little Cecily and, now, he's afraid of tearing her apart, because war has turned him into a monster. (This is much the same plot as Dare used for A Lady by Midnight and When a Scot Ties the Knot.) Love is there, but it's just simmering beneath the surface.
It's enough to turn your legs into goo.
However, I just didn't like Luke as a hero. Sure, he saves her from a malicious beast; sure, he kisses her with an unbridled passion that sends her heart to fluttering. But, personally, he's not a lover. A protector, yes, but passionate and gentle and understanding are not in his vocabulary. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I just couldn't find much I liked about Luke.
Or Cicely, for that matter. She's a bit...colorless. Pale, pretty, and endearingly determined, she is the quintessential romantic heroine. She's doting, passionate, kind, and she has the capability of doing the unexpected, like loving someone as crass and cruel as Luke. She is, in all appearances, perfect.
I don't like perfect. I like realistically flawed.
Truth be told, I really wanted to hear more about recently widowed Portia with her scandalous plans to write tawdry Gothic novels, take multiple lovers, and, in essence, flout social expectations. I really liked Portia and I wanted to learn more about her--and her relationship with the scathingly cynical Mr. Brooke.
I loved listening to their arguments. It was probably the highlight of my entire reading experience.
The Ugly
It's a bit explicit. It's a romance novel--a "bodice buster," if you will (a term my co-worker gifted to me, and I love using it)--with a half-nude male on the front. I mean, you can't exactly go into this novel expecting chaste kisses and sweet professions of love.
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