Customer Reviews

Lady Midnight (Signet Eclipse)

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

 

 

Once again Amanda McCabe shows her deft way with words building a lovely romance going from Italy to the English countryside. Full of rich, sensory descriptions, LADY MIDNIGHT tells the story of two people getting a second chance at happiness. McCabe has a way of creating heroes and heroines with pure hearts and spirits. This book has the bonus of a hoyden younger sister and a mysterious jilted lover whose story needs to be told.

A wonderful historical novel to transport the reader to another time and place.

Another winning historical romance novel from Amanda McCabe! It really looks as if one can count on Ms McCabe for a reliable, satisfying and engaging read. And although "Lady Midnight" does make use of a much used plot device, by focusing more on the developing relationships that Kate, the heroine, has with her charges and the hero, Michael Lindley, the author makes "Lady Midnight" a very novel and enjoyable reading experience.

On the very day that Katerina Bruni, the only daughter of the beautiful Venetian courtesan Lucrezia Bruni, was to follow in her mother's footsteps, tragedy strikes. Now, all alone and practically penniless, Katerina gets the chance to strike out on her own and to put the confining and unappealing world of courtesans behind her. And so she reinvents herself: Katerina Bruni died with everyone in the boating tragedy, and in her place lives Katherine Brown, an Italian widow of an English soldier, who has come to England in order to find work as a governess. Her first assignment is with the Lindley family who reside in the wilds of Yorkshire. Michael Lindley, the younger brother of the Earl of Darcy, is a widower, and needs to find a governess for his young daughter, Amelia, and for his fifteen year old sister, Christina. Bookish and budding botanist Christina especially needs help, for the young lady, who will make her debut soon, has no social graces whatsoever -- something that is driving Michael's mother wild with frustration. It is everyone's hope that Kate will help Christina acquire some polish. This is something that Kate is more than willing to do, especially since she's lost her heart to both Christina and Amelia. Unexpectedly, though, Kate also finds that she's dangerously attracted to her handsome and kind employer. And even though she senses that he is equally attracted to her, she knows that nothing can come of this mutual attraction, for her employer is an honourable man. And anyway, didn't she leave Venice in order to escape ending up as some man's plaything? As Kate tries to come to grips with her strong feelings, she also begins to find peace and purpose with her new life in Yorkshire as an instructress to both Christina and Amelia, that is until someone from her past suddenly reappears with the power to destroy her...

Although Amanda McCabe uses a much used plot device (the "young lady with a past masquerading as a servant" plot motif), by focusing more on the blossoming romance between Kate and Michael, as well as the easy and affectionate relationship Kate has with both her charges, the author makes "Lady Midnight" a much more complex and interesting read. So that even though the novel unfolds a tad slowly, the overall effect is one in which a more complete picture of how things progress for Kate and Michael from longing to a fully realised loving relationship is given. Also well done was the manner in which she developed her primary characters -- Kate, Michael, Christina and Amelia -- and the manner in which she would give us glimpses into what certain minor characters were feeling (like Michael's unhappy sister-in-law, Mary for example). Also much appreciated (by me anyway) was how the author avoided the entire BIG MISUNDERSTANDING cliche by actually having Kate confide her past to Michael before it is so spectacularly revealed. However, unlike one of the previous reviewers, I do hope that there is no future novel that will feature the deranged villain of this piece as hero. I thought that Amanda McCabe had done a fantastic job of portraying this character's dark delusions, his volatile emotions as well as his obsessive and possessive tendencies brilliantly, thus making him and excellent foil for the hero. So that on the whole then, I'd say that "Lady Midnight" was an extremely well written and moving romance novel that made for a very satisfying read and that was well worth the cover price.

What fun to discover a new author with a new book for the weekend! I enjoyed this historical fiction with the interplay between Michael and Kate. The whole story was enticing with the references to Shakespeare's romances. All lovers of Regency will have to read this story.

Katerina Bruni was the daughter of the infamous Lucrezia Bruni, a courtesan who wows the men in Venice Italy. After a boating accident, Katerina finds herself alone in the world. The only evidence that something had happened was a scar on the side of her face. Penniless, she decides that she isn't going to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a courtesan, she is moving to England to start a new respectable life.

Michael Lindley is a respectable model citizen. After his wife died in a carriage accident that was his fault, he quit his rake hell ways. Needing a governess for his younger sister and adorable six year old daughter, he hires Mrs. Kate Brown,(Katerina) a widow from Italy. There is something about her that makes him want to defy convention and take her in his arms. The scars that they both bare from their pasts are both physical and emotional, and they find kindred souls within each other.

This book only got 3 1/2 stars from me, because the beginning is execellent, drawing you in with the tragedies they both had to endure. However, the story just gets boring after that. There isn't much passion between the two characters. The secondary characters, (his sister and daughter) take up too much of the book and distract us from the h/h. Still, based on the beginning of the book, I'm going to try other by this author. If you like strong secondary characters and an emotional relationship borne of tragedy on both sides, then go pick up this book.

First of all, I was blown away by this author wonderful romantic proses. Her pasaages just flows off the tongue. The author does draw you into Katerina's plight from the first page and I'm deeply interested in what happens to her, but then somewhere around page 250, I grow tired of Kate's repeative ill-thought out behavior. The constant wandering in the house and bumping into Michael. I mean that must have happened six times. Then running out into a burgeoning storm and there conveniently being a hut nearby so the first love scene will take place. Other contrived situations. The elder Lady Darcy- who supposedly live for parties and the Town-conveniently gets a headache whenever they are scheduled to attend a lavish party--so then the Lindley's new governess has to attend. Around page 300, the author seem to realize that she doesn't have enough pages for her word count because she just starts repeating herself and the situation and a weird development blooms out of nowhere. Christina is falling for our dillusional psychopath...and what's worse, he's falling for her. I'll admit, I perked up to that. Wow, a villian will redeem himself with true love. (He never really did anything wrong--other than stare--oh yeah, and kidnap Lady Lindley. C'mon romance heroes are always forgiven of petty crimes like kidnap and borderline rape) Hey, there will be love all around. But alas, no. However, McCabe tosses us a few crumbs to hint for a new book for Christina Lindley--and because of this author's fluent writing style (and not original plots) I will buy it.

I just loved this book. The romance between the two tragic characters is lovely. I also totally fell in love with the two children;the independent Christina who longs to study botany, and the darling angel child Amelia. Even the villain tugs at your heartstrings a little by the end. I hope he is a future book with Christina when she is older. The best sign of a good bokk is when you finish it, as soon as you close the book you are already waiting for the next one. The story was an original, without the same plots that you see over and over again.

Lady Midnight is a longer Regency about an almost-courtesan who starts a new life after a shipwreck. Trained to be a courtesan by her mother, she's about to take her first protector, a man whose obsession with her makes her uneasy. After the shipwreck, her mother's ghost urges her to take the opportunity to build a new life for herself.

We find her in England, seeking a job as a governess in the country. Of course, the peace she finds there, even as she tries to avoid falling for the widower who's hired her, can't last, and she runs into people who know who she is.

Amanda McCabe has done a really good job with the emotions--I feel them right along with the characters, even the secondary ones. There aren't any black and white, 2-dimensional characters in this story.

I hope there'll be a sequel about the hero's younger sister. There's a story there. She's already a remarkable young girl. I can't wait to see how she grows up.