How do you outwit a Twit? Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything -- except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds to put in their Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. But the Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don't just want out, they want revenge.

The Twits by Roald Dahl was probably my least favorite Dahl book to date. If you’ve been following the blog for awhile, you may remember that I’m trying to work my way through Dahl’s back list.

The Twits is a short book at 76 pages. The first half of the book is spent showing us how gross and disguisting the main characters are. I know that if I didn’t think badly of them, I wouldn’t have been satisfied with the ending. It just felt grandiose to me.

The second half of the book is far more entertaining. There are monkeys, birds, and lessons to be had. Justice is served. While I enjoyed the ending, I just didn’t enjoy the journey to that ending as much as I should have.

Other posts with a 2.5 star rating

• Stephanie Reviews The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

A handsome and reclusive horse breeder, Spencer Dumarque, the fourth Duke of Morland, is a member of the exclusive Stud Club, an organization so select it has only ten members—yet membership is attainable to anyone with luck. And Spencer has plenty of it, along with an obsession with a prize horse, a dark secret, and, now, a reputation as the dashing “Duke of Midnight.” Each evening he selects one lady for a breathtaking midnight waltz. But none of the women catch his interest, and nobody ever bests the duke—until Lady Amelia d’Orsay tries her luck.

In a moment of desperation, the unconventional beauty claims the duke’s dance and unwittingly steals his heart. When Amelia demands that Spencer forgive her scapegrace brother’s debts, she never imagines that her game of wits and words will lead to breathless passion and a steamy proposal. Still, Spencer is a man of mystery, perhaps connected to the shocking murder of the Stud Club’s founder. Will Amelia lose her heart in this reckless wager or win everlasting love?

Opening Thoughts:

Stephanie:
One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare has been sitting in my TBR pile roughly since it was published…in 2010. When Alexa mentioned wanting to read it since she had a copy too and she suggested we read it together, I said why not? Now I have a friend to squee with if it’s fantastic or to rage with if it’s horrible. Plus I get to knock out a TBR book. It’s a win/win. Except that it ended up being a win/win/win because, you guys, this book if fan-freaking-tastic. I laughed, I cried (but only a little), and was reminded why I love the historical romance genre.

Alexa:
Lately I have been trying to find the time for more historical romances. I use to love this genre and for some reason in recent years I have stopped reading it. I’m so happy that Stephanie sent me a copy of this book several months ago and that we decided to read it together so we could support each other through the outcome of the book. I have to agree with Stephanie that this is a great novel!

What We Liked:

Stephanie:
Oh my goodness! What wasn’t there to like. I really do love this book. Amelia was a wonderful choice for a heroine. I think that I probably love her so much because we both share similar personality traits. She is not as skinny as society deems she should be, she enjoys a quiet life, she likes to read and stitch. Amelia is dedicated to her family and would make her own life uncomfortable to see her family safe and secure. Even if they don’t acknowledge or appreciate it. I will stop her to say that I’m not nearly as self sacrificing as Amelia. I love my family and would gladly help them out but this girl takes it to the extreme.

Spencer, oh Spencer. He falls in love when he doesn’t intend to. He’s what I describe as an accidental asshole. He can be such a jerk and he doesn’t even intend to be. It’s almost sad really. He tries so hard to love the people he cares about and messes it up royally. He’s horrible at conveying his feelings but as the reader you get to experience his thought process. I think that’s what won me over for him. Spencer and Amelia together are just too much to hope for. Amelia sets boundaries and Spencer respects them. Their marriage is a marriage of convenience but Amelia doesn’t let that be the sole purpose of their marriage. She wants love between them and until she can wholeheartedly trust him she doesn’t go to bed with him. Dare builds up the suspense until you just about can’t take it. She can also write herself a love scene. Not only will the sex scenes melt you but she writes them in a way that will melt your heart.

Alexa:
I have to say that at the beginning of the story I was not in love with the book. For the first hundred pages I was interested but I wasn’t really loving anything about the story. It took time for me to really love Amelia and Spencer but once I started to like them I really started to love them really quickly. There were so many scenes in the beginning of their marriage that just broke my heart and made me love where the author was going with the story. I feel that I connected with Amelia for the reason that she just wanted her husband’s attention, she wanted to be treated as well as he treated his prized horses. I felt bad for her and loved her because I know what it is like to be with a guy and want him to want you so badly but it just didn’t work out. I’m glad that for Amelia she was able to win Spencer over with time. As for Spencer he really is an ass at the beginning of the book but I feel like he just didn’t know how to express himself and what he wanted. As time went on I was able to better understand that he wasn’t an ass that he was a great gentleman who deserved to find love in his marriage.

I have to agree with Stephanie that Tessa Dare knows how to write some great scenes. I enjoyed watching the romance develop as well as the mystery behind the story and all of the little pieces along the way that added to the book overall. Although a girl can’t complain when there are great love scenes.

Closing:

Stephanie:
I’m so glad that I finally picked up this book One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare! It brought me back to a fantastic genre, was a fantastic story, had characters that I can’t wait to explore in the next two books, and in general was a fantastic book! If you love a good romance, set in the time of the Ton in England, with a little suspense do yourself a favor and pick up this book! You won’t regret it.

Alexa:
I’m also glad that I picked up this series and I can’t wait to see what Tessa Dare has in store for me with the rest of this series as well as her other books. I’m thinking I might just become a huge fan of this author once I read a few more of her books!