Goddess of the Hunt Book Review *Tessa Dare*

Delightful, sweet and sexy are only a few words that come to mind when I finished reading Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare. This is Tessa’s first book and I applaud her for writing a lovely historical romance with the witty dialogue and lush descriptions of the setting and the character’s thoughts. I am not a big fan of long descriptive paragraphs, but with Goddess of the Hunt, all my senses were engaged. I wanted this book to go on and on because it was that good. Tessa Dare may possibly be my favorite debut author for 2009.

Goddess of the Hunt has one of the best openings I have read in awhile. A young man wakes up in the middle of the night because of a knock at his bedroom door. Thinking it is an emergency he opens it and is kissed by a female. The female is Lucy Waltham. Jeremy Trescott, the Earl of Kendall has known Lucy forever because he is friends with the family. He has been invited to stay at Waltham Manor for an annual sporting holiday. Jeremy is befuddled not only because he has been accosted in the middle of the night, but Lucy can’t kiss for anything. The reason Lucy is kissing Jeremy is because she needs practice. She wants to seduce Toby, another lord staying at the Manor who is friends with Jeremy and Lucy’s older brother Henry. Toby is practically engaged to a Miss Sophia Hathaway. Lucy has always had a crush on Toby and wants to stop the engagement. She thinks is she can seduce Toby, he will jilt Miss Hathaway and marry her instead.

Jeremy finds Lucy to be a silly, immature girl. She has no sense of decorum and does whatever she wants. This belief is in part because he feels like an older brother to her. Jeremy doesn’t want Lucy’s heart to get broken, but she is such a headstrong girl. Lucy can’t help but tease Jeremy and he gives Lucy a kiss that will change the dynamics of their relationship.

Lucy is very set on the course she has in order to gain Toby’s affections. But since Toby also has known her as Jeremy has, she has to change the way she does things. She will try to be a bit more like Miss Hathaway so Toby can love the new Lucy. Jeremy can see what she is doing and for some reason he doesn’t like Lucy to pretend to be someone she’s not. His opinion of Lucy begins to change. Gone is the gangly hoyden and thorn in his side as he always thought her to be. Now Lucy has become an enigma to him. All he wants to do is kiss her and touch her even though she believes she is in love with another man. Jeremy is now on a mission to make Lucy see that Toby will never be hers and he will use his own seductive techniques to change her mind. Lucy will not be convinced with words, so Jeremy will have to use his mouth in other ways to make Lucy see reason.

Jeremy’s talented ways with his hands and mouth confuse Lucy. She enjoys these intimacies but she is so set on Toby. Things between Jeremy and Lucy are building to the point where Jeremy has no choice but to claim Lucy through marriage. They both thinkthis is a big mistake, but Lucy is the one who will try to make it work between them. Unfortunately something from Jeremy’s past makes him place up a wall between them. Jeremy should know that Lucy will not allow Jeremy to walk all over her and become cold to the point where she will reject him. First she was on the hunt for another man but now that she has Jeremy she will do whatever she can to make him see she is worthy of his love and he can trust her with his heart and all those imperfections he feels about himself that he keeps bottled up inside.

Goddess of the Hunt is a darling historical romance and quite the feat for Tessa Dare. She had me hooked from page one with the innocent Lucy practicing her kissing with Jeremy. I am more of a fan of the hero in the books I read, but with Goddess of the Hunt it was all about Lucy. She may seem innocent in her thinking but Lucy can be sly at times but in an endearing way. Everything she does is in good faith. She is not cruel or heartless. Lucy is someone you would love to have over for tea and call your friend. Jeremy is a bit tortured, but his issues didn’t take away from the overall enjoyment in the story. His and Lucy’s interactions are nice and steamy. Remember when Stephanie Laurens would write those smoldering loves scenes that had us aching for more? Tessa has done that here. I was aching for more.

Count me as a Tessa Dare fan. I will not be surprised in the least if she is up for a few RITAS at next year’s RWA Conference as well as becoming a best selling author. She is the beginning of a great roster of historical authors to come and one with great promise. (Ballantine)

Final Grade: A-

*Mho Fho thinks she is great also. His heart bursts with pride for Tessa Dare*