But the usual stops when quite unexpectedly-as these things usually are-a disheveled and bloody man stumbles into the ballroom, lurches across the room only to collapse at Violet’s feet, all the while muttering in a foreign tongue.

Her last night in town coincides with a Christmas ball which features young men from the militia to dance with and the usual sorts of entertainments provided at balls. Tomorrow she must climb aboard a carriage and join her family for Christmas and then the Season. Unfortunately, Violet’s reprieve is at an end. The Disappointment resulted in Violet fleeing the ton to Spindle’s Cove, aka Spinster’s Cove, where those young ladies of quality who are awkward, scandalous, or otherwise de trop amongst Society may go for reprieve. It was such a disappointment that it took on a definite article and a capital “D”. Violet Winterbottom has suffered a disappointment. My liking for spinsters outweighed my dislike of the medium in which they were conveyed and thus I decided to give Once Upon a Winter’s Eve a try. And you provide bucket loads of them-a whole town full of them! This sparked my interest enough to overcome my perfectly sensible dislike for the novella. Being, like most people, supremely interested in anything having to do with myself I will nearly always read a story that features spinsters.

Or it does so rarely enough that I have come to view the novella with leery and suspicious gazes, especial those that are offered up in between books in a series. Neither the novella nor the short story offers an adequate length for the development of either of those two central aspects, in my experience. I find both lacking in character, particularly in romance where that is the key to any relationship development. Neither am I quite keen on the short story. In the usual way of things, I am not a fan of the novella. Lazaraspaste B+ Reviews Historical Romances / novella / Samhain-publishing / spinster / Tessa Dare 8 Comments DecemREVIEW: Once Upon a Winter’s Eve by Tessa Dare

Once Upon a Winter's Eve by Tessa Dare