Midnight Angel [Paperback]

Julie Beard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2003

Lady Lydia Beaumont may seem like the perfect lady, but she has a secret that could destroy her flawless reputation. She spends her nights disguised as the Midnight Angel, prowling through London's seediest parts to save unfortunate women from the dangers of the streets. But when a 14-year-old girl is kidnapped, she must turn to a man who once stole her heart-and nearly ruined her life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Lady Lydia Beaumont and Lord Hugh Montgomery share a scandalous past that has driven Lydia, disguised as a gentleman, to patrol the seediest sections of Victorian London in an attempt to rescue other women from the dangers they face as prostitutes. But after her husband's illegitimate daughter by an actress is kidnapped, Lydia must put aside the fear of exposure and the pain of betrayal to join forces with her own former lover, now a highly respected criminal investigator, to save the child. This second-chance-at-love story concentrates more on the evils of opium addiction and the sexual excesses of the dissolute nobility in 1880s England than on the character development and relationship-building Beard accomplished so masterfully in Duchess' Lover (2002), but her fans will welcome the reappearance in supporting roles of Clara and Todd Leach, now married and residing in London. Lynne Welch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (December 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425194396
• ISBN-13: 978-0425194393
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,422,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Victorian romance, December 2, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Angel (Paperback)

In 1880 London, everyone wonders about the MIDNIGHT ANGEL, an apparent wealthy aristocrat, who helps fallen women start anew at her shelter Stone House. Unbeknownst to everyone who speculates about this benefactor is that though he dresses like a man, MIDNIGHT ANGEL is Lady Lydia Beaumont, wife of an earl dying from syphilis.

Actress Louise Canfield visits Beau and Lydia to obtain help as someone abducted her teenage daughter from the theater. Louise informs a stunned Beau that Sophia is his child from a long ago tryst. Beau's friends Todd and Clara Leach obtain the services of Lord "Clue", Hugh Montgomery known for solving cases. However, he and Lydia know each other from when they fell in love five years ago when she was known as Addie Parker. He thought she was dead while she felt he deserted her. As they work together, their love remains strong, but before either can think of the future a young girl needs rescuing.

Readers will enjoy this Victorian romance starring two intrepid females trying to break the mode that leaves women in lesser roles. From the start, the story line grips the audience with Louise dressed as a man trying to rescue an aging whore who just lost her teen child to a nasty John. Though the personal relationship between Louise and Hugh is heated, resolution is simplified with Beaus' deteriorating health. Still fans will relish this powerful historical romance.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Disappointing, January 21, 2004

By 

C. Cox "MarineMom" (Georgetown, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Angel (Paperback)

I love Julie Beard, and I just wrote a glowing review for her book, the Duchess' Lover, of which this is a sequel of. I started Midnight Angel with high hopes, and while it's not a complete waste of time, it doesn't measure up to the first book. There is some good stuff here, but there were a lot of weak points as well.

Hugh and Lydia share a past, and it's always nice to see the hero pining away for his true love. :-) It was different that we watched him battle his drug addiction and we found out about Lydia's painful past. And for once we see, in Lord Beaumont, what the price is for being a rake and bedding all those prostitues. It was nice to see Clara and Todd again, from the Duchess' Lover. I hope she makes it through this pregnancy okay.

But there were problems here too. The pace was a bit odd. They started out only having a few days to solve the crime, but you never really feel the urgency. And then a week or two later we have the show down. And I was left feeling that Hugh really didn't do a whole lot. He didn't find the girl...he was led around by the nose by the villian. There wasn't a whole lot of characterization in this story with more focus being on the murder plot. The whole channeling of Sherlock Holmes was very obvious though not a terrible thing. I never really believed anyone could mistake Lydia for a man and I waited with baited breath for some smallest mention of the beloved Duchess from the last book...but in vain.

So I guess, it's a matter of, not the worst book I ever read, but not nearly as good as I was expecting. Better luck next time.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable One Sitting Read, December 4, 2003

By 

Shawna Lanne "Shawna" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Midnight Angel (Paperback)

Lady Lydia Beumont, the young wife of an earl dying of syphalis, knows knows what it is like to be without options and left to fend for oneself in London. So she masquerades as a man, the Midnight Angel, a hero who helps fallen women start anew at a house she runs for falled women.

When her husband's previously unknown daughter is kidnapped from the theater her mother works at, Lydia steps in to help find the young girl with the help Lord "Clue", Hugh Montgomery, Lydia's one love and the cause of much misery.

The story line is gripping, if a bit overwrought, and the charecters are likably flawed.