Beauty and the Blacksmith is a novella in the Spindle Cove series that
features the fair and beautiful Diana Highwood and the local blacksmith, Aaron Dawes. Fans of this series may have been hoping that Diana would get a full-sized novel, but I'm perfectly happy with their shortened story as I'm not really sure why these two chose each other in the first place. Admittedly, however, I may have missed any clues Tessa Dare had planted in previous Spindle Cove books.

While not completely dark, Beauty and the Blacksmith is a much more angsty tale than the previous books in the series, so don't think that this is going to be the same light and fluffy tale as we've been primed to expect. Diana and Aaron have significant hurdles to overcome, what with her being a lady and expected to marry a gentleman of substance and Aaron being the local blacksmith. Aaron, naturally, feels unworthy next to Diana, but Diana seems not to care about such things. Seemingly Diana only cares about how strong Aaron is and that she feels protected near him, but I wish that Dare had addressed some of the more pertinent ramifications of such a mismatch in social standing. Perhaps that's too heavy for a novella. Overall, I liked this, but it wasn't my favorite entry in this series.