If you read the synopsis for this book and were like "who are these people", you wouldn't be alone. Elinora Browning and George Travers (aka, Lord Dashwood) have never ever been mentioned in any Spindle Cove book before now, and we will all promptly forget about them as soon as we read Charlotte's book. Honestly, I'm not sure why this book was made. I'm sure Dare put a lot of hard work into it, but the characters were so random and the romance was so measly that it felt like a filler story to buy the author more time before she released her next, full length work. Let me explain.

First, half of the story isn't even dedicated to Elinora and Dashwood. Half of it is basically a sequel to Dare's last novel, Any Duchess Will Do. Pauline is hosting Elinora at her library, who's essentially a motivational speaker, but Griff is just mucking everything up. So, he and the other men go on an adventure because Dare thought there suddenly needed to be more testosterone in her books but then skimps on the parts with the most testosterone. If you're going to throw me a bone, at least make it one of the bigger bones.

The parts that were about Elinora and Dashwood were flimsy. There was fabricated drama, a rushed romance, a boring sex scene (it has to be said), and the grand gesture lacked pizzazz. First, why did Dashwood love Elinora? Why did he come back for her now as opposed to sooner? Or later? How did he know where she was going to be for them to run into each other? What if she'd actually died during his little scheme? Why is he called "Dash" like a superhero from the 1950s? And why isn't he the least bit guilty for being a manipulative jackass for the past 12 hours? So many questions in so few pages.

In addition, for a woman who's supposed to be preaching that your worth isn't determined by a man's willingness to marry you, I felt remarkably uninspired. This has nothing to do with the fact that she winds up married at the end. No, it has to do with the fact that Elinora clearly didn't even believe in her own concepts. She literally says at the end that the only reason she's as great as she is today is because she's trying to spite the man she loves. By that logic, women will never amount to anything unless they have a difficult man at their side making them pluck their eyes out.

If you want to read about the least-convincing motivational speaker ever and the gang of the least macho Fabios in existence, then this is the story for you. ( )

terrible. at least Colin and Minerva showed up for the lulz. ( )

The ending redeemed this one for me, and I think it catches me up on Spindle Cove, since the first one I ever read was book 5 (and still my favorite). I loved seeing the characters from other books, especially Colin, Griff, Thorne, and Bram and their search party. Colin is such a delightful ninny, and the names he proposed for their group made me smile so much. What a dork.
Dash was kind of a meanie at the beginning, and I’m not sure his explanation really justified how he talked to Nora, but he still made up for it in the end. I liked that Nora remained true to herself, both with who she had become and who she remained.
A nice little ditty for Dare fans, especially fans of this series. ( )

Nice quick read. I usually don't like it when a heroine is so certain she is "the one" for the hero (I skip over romances where the woman chases the man), but this one wasn't really like that. The plain and spinster aspects are barely referenced but they're there. I liked this installment! ( )

Enjoyed this novella mainly because it was good to catch up with previous characters from the Spindle Cove series. But the story itself is short and fun. ( )