Review of A Lady By Midnight by Tessa Dare

Title/Author: A Lady By Midnight (Spindle Cove #3) by Tessa Dare
Publisher/Date published: Avon Books, August 28th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

Goodreads summary: "A temporary engagement, a lifetime in the making...
After years of fending for herself, Kate Taylor found friendship and acceptance in Spindle Cove - but she never stopped yearning for love. The very last place she'd look for it is in the arms of Corporal Thorne. The militia commander is as stone cold as he is brutally handsome. But when mysterious strangers come searching for Kate, Thorne steps forward as her fiancE. He claims to have only Kate's safety in mind. So why is there smoldering passion in his kiss?
Long ago, Samuel Thorne devoted his life to guarding Kate's happiness. He wants what's best for her, and he knows it's not marriage to a man like him. To outlast their temporary engagement, he must keep his hands off her tempting body and lock her warm smiles out of his withered heart. It's the toughest battle of this hardened warrior's life... and the first he seems destined to lose."

I must confess I've never read one of Tessa Dare's novels before, even when I've heard good things about them. What can I say, too many books, not enough time to read them AND make a living. So I was excited to start this one and I must say that as far as first impressions go, this one was enjoyable enough!

There's this classic plot of a warmhearted heroine and a hero who has closed off his heart to anyone but despite his best efforts doesn't manage to keep the heroine from breaking down his walls. Guys, I love this plot. I do. Call me sappy, but isn't it a terribly romantic idea that a man would change his view of love for you?
And most of this plot was executed in a way that made my heart happy, though at the end I kinda wanted to slap the hero and tell him to snap out of it, because seriously, you can go too far in the whole 'I'm not good enough for her' way of thinking.

I really liked Kate. She's not perfect and she's not always perfectly nice to everybody, but she knows when she's made a mistake and she's not afraid to own up to it and I respect that in a person. I really liked that while she needs her share of protection, as most historical romance heroines do, she's not afraid to speak up for herself and take matters into her own hands when she wants something.

Corporal Thorne is such a broken hero! He denies himsel so much and I liked seeing him transform from this withdrawn man to one who is fully in the moment when he's with Kate. Though I did think the whole tortured past they shared put a bit of a damper on the sweetness of the lovestory.

Also, there was a cute puppy who played a huge part in the story. What else could you possibly want??

A Lady By Midnight was a sweet, sexy lovestory that for once didn't involve glamorous ballrooms which was refreshing (though I do REALLY like those kind of novels as well). It's an old-fashioned breaking the iceberg story that had me rooting for the main characters to figure everything out. I'm definitely checking out some of Tessa Dare's other books!

My rating: 4 stars