Customer Reviews

The Devil's Waltz (Mira Historical Romance)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In "The Devil's Waltz", Anne Stuart travels some familiar ground in the historical romance arena with the taming of a charming rakish hero by a virginal spinster heroine, but the story is so well-told and the characters so well-drawn that the end result does not feel like a romance cliche.

Anne Stuart specializes in darker, morally ambiguous heroes, and when she writes a story featuring a "rake" hero, then he is sure to be the real thing. Christian Montcalm is a charming, lethally handsome aristocrat of loose morals and little fortune who has decided that he must marry an heiress to improve his finances. The heiress that he has picked is the lovely, very young Miss Hetty Chipple, the only daughter of a very wealthy shipping magnate. He meets an obstacle to his plans in the form of her unpaid companion/chaperon, the Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton. Annelise is plain, bespectacled, too tall and nearing her 30th birthday, but her acerbic wit and no-nonsense demeanor pique Christian's interest and he finds himself fantasizing about Anneline while courting the her pretty, frivolous charge. Annelise is aware of Christian's scandalous reputation and determined to prevent his marriage to the impressionable Hetty. When she engages Hetty's heavy-handed father's aid in discouraging Christian's interest, the situation takes a violent turn.

Christian is an engaging hero, by turns brutally honest about his mercenary interest in Hetty and a bald-face liar when he pledges to not touch Annelise when she is left alone with him (through his own machinations.) He is given the requisite background of a tragic past including a brutal upbringing, but this is not over-used to excuse his wickedness and selfish behavior. He is a truly charming man who simultaneously can send precisely the right type of flowers to the ingenue that he is courting and her spinster companion and effortlessly please them both. Although Christian cold-heartedly plots to marry Hetty for her money and seduce her companion, he is not as mean-spirited as some of Anne Stuart's past heroes and the book is rather lighter in tone.

Annelise is a starchy spinster heroine who really has some starch in her character. Left destitute by her reckless gambler of a father and too high-born to accept money for her services, she lives with others nominally as a "guest" but actually as an unpaid companion. Her role with Hetty is to act as a chaperon and advisor on matters of taste and manners (a challenging task.) She has trained herself to be calm and unflappable, but in truth her inner snob rebels against the atrocious taste of her nouveau riche "hosts" and she is a secret romantic. When the gorgeous Christian begins his flirtations with her, she is irresistibly attracted to him despite herself and the battle between her romantic inclinations and her own good sense begins.

The plot moves along well and the dialogue is sharp and well-written. The villain is far too over-the-top villainous (something that seems to be a common problem with recent historical romances) and his motivation is at times unfathomable.

In summary, "The Devil's Waltz" is an entertaining, well-written historical romance with a gorgeous, charming ne'er-do-well hero and a sensible, ugly duckling heroine (who refreshingly never transforms into a swan for anyone except the hero.)

Highly recommended for lovers of historical romance--particularly for Anne Stuart fans.

Stuart gives you a double-dose of true historical romance. She takes the old formula of the beautiful, arrogant rake who falls for the dowdy spinster heroine. With typical Stuart Magic that has kept me spellbound since my first Stuart book, To Love a Dark Lord, she takes the old and makes it new, yet once more.

I love Stuart. She is the Resident Genius of Bad Boys. She makes no apologies for their dark, dangerous and often deadly nature. She knows men too well to try to do that. Her males are selfish, callused and often makes you wonder why anyone would put up with, much less fall for him. Something lasses raised on the kinder-gentler Historicals of today fail to understand - sexual attraction is the forbidden, the male that mama warns you against.

Another of Stuart's sexy studs, Christian Montcalm is lethally sensual rake of the ton. He embraces his lack of morals, courts them, only he faces ruin unless he marries a rich heiress. Enters the perfect target, Miss Hetty Chipple. She is the lovely daughter of a got-rocks shipping magnate. Everything seems perfect to him. He is gorgeous and dear Hetty wants the prettiest pony daddy's money can buy. Should be a match made in ton heaven...right? Well, we all know there's going to be problems. This time it's Miss Annelise Kempton. She is the less-than-perfect spinster hired to chaperon Hetty and she feels a fortune-hunting pretty boy isn't what Hetty needs.

Firmly on the shelf, Annelise is not pretty, too tall and had no money. Even so, our sexy lad still cannot help but be drawn by her intelligence, even though he wants to strangle her for interfering with his plans.

I adore men, love their true nature, and Stuart always taps into that. Christian is another of her gamma rogue males you want to slap, then kiss. Naturally, Stuart paints with dark strokes his inner nature, though maybe with a slight more mellowness as some of her other dark and daring dudes.

Stuart reminds us of the roots of historical romance, and shows she can still turn the deft party trick, and do it again in style.

I have to say this is one of the best romance historicals I have ever read. It reminds me of another Stuart book "To Love A Dark Lord" I love bad boys and only Stuart knows how to write about them and redeem them. I loved the way the hero called the heroine "dragon". Anne Stuart sucked me in from the very beginning and I couldn't stop reading until 3 A.M. Her characterization of the main characters is so real, I felt I knew them personally and I could see them in my mind's eye. This book is definitely going on my keeper shelf because I plan to read it again and again. I can only hope I don't have to wait a long time to read another historical by her.

I have yet to read a book by Anne Stuart that I have not adored and "The Devil's Waltz" is no exception. I loved the sexual tension between the two main characters - the spinsterish "Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton" and the charming "bad boy" Christian Montcalm! I loved how Annelise (small note: I fell in love with the heroine's name) wasn't your typical heroine in that she was no great beauty and was considered to be "on the shelf" by everyone, including herself. This did not cause her to shy away from society and sit timidly by. Nooo! Annelise simply accepts her lot in life. She isn't easily intimidated by Christian either and the banter between them is another strong point. Christian was simply a hero to die for - a bad boy who made no apologies for who he was.

I teared up towards the end when everything came together and that in itself made this a definite keeper for me. If Anne Stuart can write anything less than satisfying, I have yet to read it.

A long time fan of Anne Stuart, I bought this book off the shelf without really reading the back (okay, so I have to admit, the cover really was attractive and light purple is my favorite color ><). All I have to say, it was worth the money. Anne Stuart always writes about the sexiest black sheep, renegade man of the family (in this particular case, of England) and the right kind of woman to come along and reform him. As with all her other books, this book definitely kept me reading well onto the early morning.

Christian Montclam is in dire need of money to save his home in Devon, Wynche End (in shambles, belonging to his mother's side of the family). He's also in the line to get the title of Viscount (from his cold hearted bastard of a grandfather), but only the title, not the wealth and benefit that comes along with it. The story behind it is Christian's father had met a French woman while in France. He, of course, married her and remained in France with her. Because Christian's father had married a woman his grandfather did not approve of, and because he had left his English ancestry to remain in France, the Viscount disowned his father.

I won't reveal what happens next, but Christian managed to be the only sole survivor of his family, thus disowning his own French side and becoming completely English.

With no where else to get his money so he could rescue Wynche End, Christian decides to court a certain young heiress by the name of Hetty Chipples. Hetty's father had managed to come into a bit of money and wants his daughter to catch the eye of a respectable and titled man. It didn't matter that the man doesn't have any money, as long as he had a title that came with him.

Christian had been quite successful thus far, in capturing the attention of Hetty, but that's all about to change when Hetty becomes a charge of Annelise Kempton.

Fallen into bad times herself, the Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton refuses to go below her standard and work for money. Her family has bloodline going all the way back to the Magna Carta, and could never accept money for any services done. Instead, Annelise accepts the hospitality of others in return for her services. Thanks to her godmother, Lady Prentice, Annelise is now in charge of helping Hetty capture the attention of a titled man in society--and to keep her away from the rogue of a man, Christian. But it seemed Christian has his own agenda for wanting to seduce the Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton. He was most intrigued by her starchy nature and the way she hides herself in those dreadful ugly spinister clothes of hers.

Christian is no gentleman in here, one reason why I think he's just the sexiest guy ever. He doesn't claim to be what he is, and he will lie, seduce, steal, cheat, if he has to, to get what he wants. On the other hand, Annelise is the exact opposite of him, giving her the title of "The Honorable."

What happens when two exact opposite people clash? Why, they attract each other, of course! Add a little bit of suspense and elopment attempt, and you've got The Devil's Waltz!

My only problem with the book is the fact that after Hetty and her childhood lover, William Dickinson disappeared into the countryside to get an elopment, they truly did disappear forever. There were no more mention of them, but Hetty's father continued to play an important role. I would like to know how Hetty and Will end up.

Overall, the book was well worth it, and I was reluctant to put it down, but all good thing must come to an end, and it was a satisfying ending indeed!

As one of my favorite authors, Anne Stuart never disappoints me. The Devil's Waltz was a delight filled with witty banter between Christian and Annelise and a lighter story than Ms. Stuart's usual darker tones. I loved every moment I spent with this book.

Anne Stuart has been writing romances for some time and it shows. The Devil's Waltz was a intelligent, witty and emotional Regency romance.

Some may not "get" the hero of the story, and think he's a jerk. That's because he IS a jerk and is meant to be that way. Stuart writes a TRUE rake.

Not a slightly disillusioned hero that really wants to be a good guy. Instead, he's a true cad-womanizing, stealing, killing, blackmail-you name it, he's done it. He's made many enemies and has very few true friends. He's terrible, has his reasons to be terrible, and is desperately in need of something good in his life. But Anne Stuart realizes that someone has to love these guys too, and it's takes a no nonsense heroine like Annaliese to tame the rake and put him in his place-at her side.

Adventuresome, dramatic, sensual and a happy ending-what more could you want?

4 stars.

Annelise Kempton is 29, on the shelf and happy to remain that way. Though highborn, she's pretty much destitute and accepts a post at the Chipple residence where she will guide young Hetty Chipple, an extraordinary beauty who is clueless when it comes to matters of respectibility, so that she will find a reputable husband. Annelise has her work cut out for her. Hetty may be the most beautiful creature alive but she's also young and naive and too tempting a morsel for a destitute rake named Christian Montcalm. Annelise is bound and determined to keep Hetty away from those tempting lips of Christian and is annoyed when she finds herself attracted to him (guess she thought she was immune). Christian is just as attracted to Annelise but then Christian seems to be attracted to anything female . . .

This book has wit and sparkle and a nice battle of wills that most of the romances I've tried to read in the past few years lack and held my attention from beginning to end. The hero continued to be an unapologetic jerk throughout the story but I think that's what made him so attractive to me. I couldn't wait to turn the pages to see what awful thing he was going to say and/or do next ;) If the end wraps everything up a little too unbelievably for me that's okay because it entertained me and that's why I continue to read.

This book was very good! Christian was the real deal. A rake that was actually developed as such. His speech and actions stayed true to his character. I also loved the fact that Annelise's rival and charge wanted him for his looks and nothing more. It was very believeable since he was dead broke.

Annelise was a great heroine. She didn't let her charge walk all over her like they do to the governesses in most romance novels. And it was hilarious that a plain spinster such as herself had such a foul mouth.

I wouldn't have mind Christian and Annelise spending a little more quality time to get to know one another better, instead of just stealing kisses here and there, and I would have liked the villian to have a little more dept, but I cannot deny that I really enjoyed this book.

Viscount Christian Montcalm needs to pay his bills off soon or face disgrace. He decides gambling will keep the collectors at bay for a short time; instead he needs a biddable wealthy wife. He chooses seventeen years old Hetty Chipple, daughter of a rich shipping magnate Josiah who wants his offspring accepted into high society.

Josiah hires Annelise Kempton to teach his daughter how to behave amidst the Ton and serve as her escort. Annelise believes she is on the shelf because she is too tall, too smart and too outspoken for her male peers. When she catches Hetty trying to sneak off with Christian, she intercedes and rips his skin off. To his surprise he finds himself attracted to the "Dragon" and plots to wed her charge and bed her. Annelise knows her job is to keep the undesirable fortune hunting wolf away from Hetty. As Annelise and Christian battle, they fall in love, but they both know they are too poor to marry besides which neither trusts the other. That is until she rescues him from the teen chatterbox.

This Regency gender war is a well written romantic romp starring two wonderful enemy combatants fighting over a spoiled teenager. The story line is at its best when these two strong protagonists go toe to toe and lip to lip. A late smuggling suspense is also well-written, but seems unnecessary as the skirmishes between the lead couple makes for a delightful historical romance.

Harriet Klausner