Taming Tessa

Rating:
Summary: fine fox and hounds historical romance
Review: In 1816 England Lord Anthony Northrup, owner of the Odd Sock Club, a hunting club, is riding his horse while escorting a second nervous steed home when the new horse panics. A woman races past Anthony and gains control of the runaway. She calms the horse down.

Anthony tells his three friends what happened and soon identifies the woman as Tessa Seaton of Wheatstone. The four pals visit Wheatstone where they meet Tessa's father wheelchair bound George crippled by a hunting accident, her Uncle Mercer and Cousin Emery who trains the horses. At a hunt Anthony quickly affirms that Tessa, a rare female participant, is the expert with a heavenly touch with horses while Emery is a brute. As Tessa and Anthony fall in love, he must persuade her that her odious relatives have lied to her about the fragility of her father's health if he wants to marry her.

This engaging Regency romance stars two nice protagonists who readers will care about as each wants to do the right thing for family, friends, and loved ones at the expense of their own happiness. Anthony is a caring soul and his three pals share his best traits of championing the underdog like an abused horse, a taken advantage of young lady, or even a stalwart fox. Tessa is his perfect counterpart as her love for her dad makes her sacrifice her desires. Though why she trusts her odious uncle and repugnant cousin when it comes to the health of her father and their stable is hard to accept. Still in spite of two villainous losers, the lead couple and their friends make for a fine fox and hounds historical romance.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Really fence sitting on this one
Review: On the plus side: Great writing (except for the seemingly now standard over use of the entirely redundant phrase "of course"). Wonderful characters. They're very real, and you LIKE them. You want things to work out for them (or not, in the case of the villains, who are marvelously nasty, in a believable fashion).

On the down side: Heroine's "magical" relationship with horses. Ick. I'd SOOOOOOOOOO much rather read about someone who was simply good at what she does. A gifted trainer. Not a "GIFTED" trainer. I want my heroine to be competent, not supernaturally talented (or at least WARN me that I'm wading into the shallow end of the paranormal pond before I buy the book). As if the heroine's "abilities" weren't enough, we also get a horse that is part bloodhound, and can track down other horses on command! I kid you not. I couldn't stop snickering. And then you get generally bad horse care from people who are supposed to know better: if your horse is gashed open and requires stitches, you don't wait all night in a crofter's cottage before having the gash attended to, it's too late to stitch it then.

If the utterly ridiculous aspects of the heroine and her tracking horse don't repulse you, it's an ok read. If (like me) you find yourself irritated by supernatural overtones in a book that was sold as an historical romance, then skip this one.