Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare

I just adore this series!  I love the fact that I am laughing within the first couple of pages and that is exactly what I was doing, reading the interaction between Griffin York, Duke of Halford, and his mother.  His mother who has taken him to Spindle Cove to find a wife (she wants grandbabies desperately).  To thwart her, he chooses the girl that stumbles into the room covered in sugar...a barmaid.  If she can turn Pauline Simms into a duchess within a week, he will marry her.  However, he is not going to fall in love with the smart-mouthed woman.  He is going to overlook the fact that he can talk with her, really just talk.  He is going to help her achieve her dream of opening her own shop...even if returning to Spindle Cove to open her dream separates them.  Because a duke can not fall in love with a barmaid and be happy...right?

Loved it, plain and simple.  There is something magical about Tessa Dare's writing and she can not write fast enough to make me happy!  I adored watching the romance and friendship grow between Griff and Pauline.  She talks to him like he is a normal person and not a duke and her boldness and proud demeanor appeal to the generous, decent, good-hearted Griff.  Pauline can see that Griff is burying something very hurtful from his past and it has caused him to change.  He has not told his mother, with whom he has a good, though not talkative, relationship with and the distance is putting a strain on things.  Pauline, for her part, knows she will never be a duchess but she can not help falling for Griff but even after she does, she knows there can be no true future for them together.  I thought the difference in class situation was handled well in the end.  Yes it was all tied up neatly in a bow, but it was a pretty, sigh worthy bow.  Every time I read a Tessa Dare romance, I know I am going to laugh, sigh, cheer and fall in love with the characters she has created and Any Duchess Will Do is the perfect example of this!  A perfect romantic delight!  4 1/2 stars

eARC provided by Avon Books via edelweiss

Spindle Cove series
Can be read as stand alones, but most enjoyable in order as characters are recurring