Tessa Dare: Three Nights with a Scoundrel

In Tessa Dare’s dazzling new trilogy, the men of the Stud Club live and play by their own rules—until passion changes the game.

The bastard son of a nobleman, Julian Bellamy is now polished to perfection, enthralling the ton with wit and charm while clandestinely plotting to ruin the lords, ravish the ladies, and have the last laugh on a society that once spurned him. But after meeting Leo Chatwick, a decent man and founder of an elite gentlemen’s club, and Lily, Leo’s enchanting sister, Julian reconsiders his wild ways. And when Leo’s tragic murder demands that Julian hunt for justice, he vows to see the woman he secretly loves married to a man of her own class.

Lily, however, has a very different husband in mind. She’s loved Julian forever, adores the man beneath the rakish façade, and wants to savor the delicious attraction they share—as his wife. His insistence on marrying her off only reinforces her intent to prove that he is the only man for her. Obsessed with catching a killer, Julian sinks back to the gutters of his youth, forcing Lily to reach out with a sweet, reckless passion Julian can’t resist. Can her desire for a scoundrel save them both—or will dangerous secrets threaten more than their tender love?

Read my reviews of Stud Club Book One and Book Two.

As a whole series, I think the Stud Club books were a fun foray into the Regency, where you get a big variety of H/Hs. These aren’t rom coms, and although there is an element of mystery, I can’t really say they are mystery/thriller. But there is enough of the mystery element to tie together very different H/Hs with a common thread, giving the reader a triology of diverse, steamy historical romance.

That being said, Book 3 was my least favorite. I checked in on GoodReads, and other readers LOVED this one, so I think my own biases limited my connection to the book.

Hero Julian is a jerk. His backstory provides good rationale, but he is kind of a dark character. With a rakish history, an obsessive focus on solving his friend’s murder, and the fear that someone is after him, Julian is kind of a bad boy. He also has long loved, and tried to bury that love, for Lily.

Lily is a sweetie. She is gentle, kind, and bright. After an illness has left her deaf, her ability to read lips has allowed her a limited social life. She is deadset against marriage…unless it is to Julian.

Much of the plot focused on Julian’s masquerade/buried secrets and how they will overcome it as individuals and a couple. There is also sense of danger that hovers over them as they try to unravel Leo’s (Lily’s brother’s) murder.

I think some readers will love these two. I didn’t connect with the hero, the intimate scenes, or really the action and was kind of ready for it all to be over. The solution to Leo’s death seemed pretty obvious to me by Book 2, so I was also impatient to have that finally be revealed. I think the middle was a bit draggy and saggy, but the ending redeemed a bit because it was sweet.

Tessa Dare is smart, talented, and really can write a diverse set of characters with different backstories and motivations. She also didn’t use the books to endlessly plug or set up the next in the series, which is a personal pet peeve.

I think readers on the hunt for a steamy, yet vanilla series with a bit of mystery and something slightly different from the norm will love the Stud Club Triology.

I will definitely be on the look out for more Tessa Dares!

5 Stars 4 out of 6 Friends to lovers amid a mystery