The Governess Game

The Governess Game (2018) Tessa Dare

Set in England in the early 1800s

Alexandra Mountbatten has been struggling to make a living tending clocks, but a mishap sees her taking a position as governess to the wards of Chase Reynaud, one of the most notorious rakes in London.

Her friends have opinions.

“It doesn’t matter whether he recalled me or not. I’ll be looking after his wards. I will scarcely see him.”

“Oh, you will see him,” Penny said. “Especially if you go wandering about the house at night. Try the library first.”

“Lock yourself in your room,” Nicola countered. “I’ll make you a deadbolt.”

Chase never meant to become heir, and has no interest in keeping his line going. But he inherited two young girls when he became the heir, and he needs someone to educate them.

The girls are the best part of the story, and how you quickly see that despite his reputation, Chase is truly a good guy.

“Almighty Father,” he began in a dispirited tone, “we commit to your keeping the soul of Millicent. Ashes to ashes. Sawdust to sawdust. She was a doll of few words and yet fewer autonomous movements, yet she will be remembered for the ever-present— some might say permanently painted— smile on her face. By the grace of our Redeemer, we know she will be resurrected, perhaps as soon as luncheon.” He added under his breath, “Unfortunately.”

Even if the girls try his patience abominably.

Daisy gave him a sweet, innocent look. “But we don’t have a governess at the moment.”

He groaned. “Don’t tell me the new one quit. I only hired her yesterday.”

Rosamund said proudly, “We were rid of her in seventeen and a quarter hours. A new record.”

Unbelievable.

Chase strode to the world map on the wall and plucked a tack from the border. “There.” He stabbed an unsuspecting country at random, then pointed at it with authority.

“I am sending you to boarding school there. Enjoy”— he squinted at the map—“ Malta.”

The other thing that I LOVED was this bit that popped up out of nowhere.

Take the manananggal.”

“Magana-what?”

“Manananggal.” Alex made her voice dark and mysterious. “She’s a lady vampire who can cut herself in two. Her legs remain rooted in the ground like a tree stump, and the rest of her flies out into the night. Her intestines unwind like a string behind her, and she goes hunting for mothers and their children.

I love folklore.

I also appreciate the bits that are slipped in.

“What did he do?” He must have caught the tense note in her voice. “Tell me.”

“It was mostly just leering,” she whispered. “A pinch or two. You know, the usual.”

“The usual?”

“The usual for him. Chase, it was years ago.

Some things never change.

As I said, the girls were the heart of the story. There was more boinking than I prefer, but I really liked that Alex wanted to be an astronomer and was the smarter of the two.

Publisher: Avon
Rating: 7/10

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