Customer Reviews

Fire at Midnight

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

 

 

The year is 1703. Rachael Penrose has been imprisoned in the "Bedlam" insane asylum in London, where the conditions are deplorable. Her uncle, Victor, plans to dispose of her and her little brother so that he can inherit the family fortune.

With the help of a friend, Rachael manages to escape the mental hospital and sets out to find her brother before it is too late. Shortly thereafter, she meets Sebastian Falconer, a dashingly handsome, French privateer and smuggler. Masquerading as a friend, Sebastian offers Rachael his home as a refuse from danger, but in reality he is setting a trap for this woman he believes to be his mortal enemy. An intense, romantic love/hate relationship builds almost immediately between these two determined, and strong-spirited main characters.

Fire at Midnight has all the right ingredients: treachery, sexual tension, maniacal plotting, intensely passionate love scenes, and a clever story-line. Ms. Wilkinson has spun a tale of mystery that will keep the reader holding their breath from the first page to the last sentence.

I highly recommend this book--this is a wonderful debut book for this author- I look forward to reading more of her writing in the future.

I read a lot of romance books so I am going to get to the point and just say that this one was well worth my time to read--the heroine and hero were both likeable, refreshing and fun. Also, I liked this author's way of writing the sexual scenes into her story--she didn't go on and on and on for pages over the exploits, sizes, moans, groans, etc. that the couple experienced while making love. She let the reader use their imagination for a change which was refreshing.

I debated over 5 stars or 4.5 stars...I give this 4.5 stars -- it was very close to perfect!

I am an avid romance reader and this story grabbed me from the first page. This is one of those books you do not want it to end. You care about the characters and about what is happening to them. This was the first book I read from this author but she now has become an "auto-buy" for me. I give this book a well-deserved 5 stars!!

In 1703, her odious Uncle Victor Brightmore with the help of Dr. Elliot Macgulay places his eighteen year old niece Rachael Penrose in Bedlam Insane Asylum to keep her out of the way of his stealing her younger brother's inheritance. To insure his plan goes without a hitch Victor has abducted his nephew James and has spread rumors that Rachel told the authorities about smugglers like Frenchman Sebastien Falconer. Victor leads a more vicious smuggling crew than that of Sebastian.

Whereas Sebastien searches for Rachel, John Wyatt, a pal of her friend Tarry Morgan, breaks her out of asylum. However nine days and drugs have taken their toll so when he realizes they are followed, he places her in another carriage so that he can divert Victor's

thugs from her. Sebastien takes the woman to his isolated home only to learn his ailing guest is Rachel. She escapes to London where Tarry sent James after rescuing him. There she meets Sebastien's English customs officer estranged twin Jacques while Victor has John killed and the house belonging to Tarry's father burned to the ground. Soon all will converge in danger and love.

FIRE AT MIDNIGHT is an exciting Georgian romantic suspense starring a strong lead couple and a solid support cast. Though he has no redeeming quality in some ways the ultra villain Victor steals the show as his plots and actions are diabolical and deadly even when he is off the page. The rest of the secondary characters are also developed enough to either enhance the story line or the understanding of the two stars; especially Tarry who wants to be a hero to his beloved friend and to his larger than life father, but though he tries he lacks the skills. Fans will enjoy this fine early eighteenth century historical thanks to deep characterizations that hopefully include sequels.

Harriet Klausner

I love romance novels; I've read more than I should admit to. While there are various types of story lines that continually appear, the best novels take these themes and transform them into something different and unexpected. Wilkinson's book, unfortunately, does not do that.

The premise of the book is this: a young woman is in Bedlam (an insane asylum) by her cruel and vicious uncle who will only inherit after her infant brother's death. Since the heroine already knows too much, she must be killed as well. Why the uncle put her in Bedlam, of all places, though he always knew that he would have to kill her, is beyond me. Wilkinson tried exceedingly hard to create a villain to hate, but he becomes too cruel, too vicious, too completely unbelievable. However, he pales in comparison to the hero and heroine. The hero, Sebastian, I didn't always mind - however, he was a typical romance hero: tall, dark, a womanizer, family issues and a bit brutal. I felt like he was a poor imitation of an Anne Stuart hero, who's particularly known for creating compelling "bad boy" heroes.

As for the heroine, Rackel, Wilkinson tried to create a witty, independent woman, but all she did was create a character who seemed two-dimensional and a bit flighty. She doesn't do much in the book except be kidnapped (literally about 15 times), scream and lunge at people like a cat when they make her angry. Oh, and fall helplessly into the hero's arms, of course, while experiencing various "sensations" throughout her body which she is unable to define (answer: lust). And that's all their relationship is: lust. If you're a reader who likes a romance to feel as though there is a long future ahead for the couple, rather than bouts of lust disguised as love, you will find this book completely unsatisfying. As for the other characters in the book, None of them are flushed out sufficiently. Their motivations for their actions seem overly contrived and you never get to know or care about them.

The plot itself is sketchy. I already mentioned that Rachael was kidnapped repeatedly. Also, Rachael finds out that her evil uncle poisoned her mother. When she obtains actual proof of this murder (rather than her own speculation), she obviously is upset and emotional. Sebastian tells her to stop (though kindly) and that her grief is "old". Her brother is an infant... how "old" can this grief be? Rachael also always seems to have a convenient supply of money at hand when she needs it after escaping from her kidnappings.

The entire book is created with a wide degree of "misunderstandings" - except for the villains. As I read, I couldn't help but feel that Wilkinson was trying far too hard to create a "different" romance, throwing in Bedlam, privateers and wreckers (criminals that lured ships to rocky coasts) - but again, it just ended up sounding contrived, predictable and a little too "fantastical". Why then, did I give this book 2 stars? Basically, it was readable - and it definitely wasn't the absolute worst book that I've ever read. However, that doesn't mean that I recommend it. If my complaints above don't bother you, go ahead and try the book; you'll probably like it.

I bought this book based on several five star reviews and was very disappointed in it. There were several characters that were essential to the plot, but the author never developed them so that you got to know them.They were much too one-dimensional. The 2 main characters continually changed their feelings about each other. One minute they hated each other and the next they were making love to each other, only to hate each other a few pages later. I thought all of the plot twists were convoluted. It seemed as though the author threw in as many plot twists as she could think of. By the waythe editing could have been better...you murder someone in "cold blood", not "hot blood". This book started out pretty nicely, but quickly got to be ridiculous. I did finish the book because I felt as though I had made too much of a committment to the book to put it down, but I was left feeling extremely disappointed. This book could have been so much better if the author hadn't felt compelled to throw everything in but the kitchen sink!

Some of the things I love in a good story are interesting characters, a good love story, adventure, and interesting settings. Lisa Wilkinson's Fire at Midnight delivers all of the above in abundance with a gift for descriptive prose that pulls you right into the story and sweeps you along from the cells of Bedlam to the storm of the century without ever slighting characterization. The main protagonists were likeable and believable for their time period, and at least one of the secondary characters deserves a story of his own. I was left wondering what adventures what befall them next. Fire at Midnight was a real page turner that gripped me from the beginning, kept me engrossed until the end, and left me wanting more, thus earning a 5 stars from me and a place on my keeper shelf.

When I saw how many contests this book won, I had to check it out to see what all the fuss was about. It did not disappoint.

Most of the books I've read this year have been debut novels, and Fire at Midnight was one of the best. Outstanding, actually, in all aspects.

Full of engaging dialogue, Lisa Marie Wilkinson uses the right amount of French words interspersed throughout to characterize the hero as a Frenchman, and his pet name for the heroine, "my beautiful English girl," was quite endearing. If I hadn't known beforehand that this was a debut novel, I would not have thought so. The characters were fully developed, and I liked how the hero's GMC and resolution were so closely intertwined with the heroine's.

Reminiscent of the older historical novels I enjoyed as a teen with its accurately portrayed settings, it did not suffer for its lack of easy-to-use, modern-day terminology, which many authors of today's historical romances use for sex scenes and body parts. In fact, because of the wording, the intimate scene in the lighthouse was truly a love scene, both steamy and memorable. I also did not notice any typos, which I have too often spotted in print books (and magazines) over the past few years.

Fire at Midnight was one book in which the gorgeous cover matched the beautifully written love story inside. Finely paced action, danger, and suspense went hand in hand with the sexual tension and the tension from the conflicts. At no time did I feel I was rushed through a scene or that a scene dragged. It had a well thought-out plot, and I could not put this book down.

Ms. Wilkinson has a fan for life.

Julie Robinson

I just have to say WOW --- I could not put this book down. This book has everything I love when reading a book -- action, romance and suspense plus it has a great cast of secondary characters. I fell in love with Rachel and Sebastien. Sebastien is a hero to die for and Rachel is so full of determination to save her little brother.

Lisa congratulations for a fantastic debut book!!!