Customer Reviews

Moonlight Mist

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Moonlight Mist is one of Laura London's earlier efforts, and not bad, although compared to "The Windflower" falls far short of what "she" is capable of. Moonlight Mist is the story of two twins: Lynden--headstrong and wild and Lorraine--sensible and poetic and the men they come in contact with. Lynden is found in a compromising position with Lord Melbrooke and is forced by her unscrupulous relatives to marry him. The book continues with the development of their relationship, but that takes second fiddle to the antics of the two girls. There is a fun mystery, and Lynden and her sister spend the rest of the book trying to solve it. Lord Melbrooke stays mostly in the background until the end. There is little interaction between Lynden and Melbrooke, but it's a fun story all the same, with a mystery man for the twin sister Lorraine. A good story, but I would have liked to see more interaction between the protagonists. However, if you're a "Windflower" fan like me, you're desperate to read anything you can find by Laura London, so you'll find "Moonlight Mist" enjoyable as well. There are hints of what Laura London is capable of in this early effort.

People reminisce about Laura London (aka Sharon & Tom Curtis) as one of the great romance authors of "her" time. Since her highly praised novel the Windflower is deemed a classic by many, I decided to go back and read some of her other works. Moonlight Mist was my first venture into Laura London. The heroine, Lynden, is very sheltered and juvenile 17 year old girl who is forced into marriage after she is caught in a situation that appears compromising but is actually innocent. Lord Melbrooke, the hero, is a sensitive poet who not only agrees to marry Lynden to save her reputation but also takes in her twin sister to make her happy. There is little interaction between Lynden and Melbrooke throughout the book as she is mostly avoiding him and getting into mischief with her sister. The book didn't really show Lynden's character mature or develop the relationship between her and Melbrooke because a majority of the book was spent on the sisters' adventures. Moonlight Mist definitely showed potential and was well written; however, the story just didn't grab me. In my opinion, it would have been more successful as a romance had it been longer to allow for more character and relationship development and/or focused less on the sisters' relationship and more on the romantic one.

Having been a Laura London fan since the 1980s, I am blessed to have read (and own) all of "her" known historicals. It is evident this was a novel published during London's early years, and as such is worth reading, if only to see the metamorphosis of a truly brilliant writer from short novels to the masterpiece of the later published "The Windflower."
According to the credits, this novel is a collaborative effort of the two writers who are (nom de plume) Laura London. As an earlier novel, the style and content is bright, witty and entertaining, but is obviously formative, and will come up short when compared to the deep and mesmerizing saga told in The Windflower.
Lynden and Lorraine are 'poor relatives' in a rather unpleasant family. They are clearly unwanted and tolerated only as a "family duty." Thus, the two girls, who are very close, live largely unsupervised and enjoy great freedom for ladies of their era, as their invalid mother can't endure the stress of dealing with their exuberance and energy, and their uncle cares for them only out of a sense familial duty. Happily for all of them, act one begins with a convenient scandal that will take both girls off their guardian's hands: unconventional twin Lynden is married off to wealthy and handsome Lord Melbrooke, and she manages to persuade him to bring along her more conservative and quiet twin Lorraine into their new life together. A life which is wreathed in enigma and mystery.
The mystery involves another family scandal---that of [Lynden's new husband Justin] Lord Melbrooke's rather creepy neighbor in the "castle" on the hill, and his unpleasant but beautiful sister, who once was Melbrook's mistress. What follows is a rollicking romp involving the twins, an illusive but handsome rogue with different-colored eyes, a slightly batty, deceased maiden aunt who left clues written in rhyme for a complicated treasure hunt, and yes---even the creepy villain's evil sidekick, complete with Frankish name and beefy stature, who naturally has an intense physical confrontation with the hero just before the story's denouement. Of course, all comes out well in the end, justice is served, the mystery is solved and the hero and heroine (among others!) go on to convivial bliss.
This is an entertaining and harmless story, raised above the average by the author's unparalleled descriptive expertise and character insight. Truly, it is just too short a novel to enmesh a reader, and though the twins are lots of fun, they are hopelessly juvenile for this genre. In my opinion, part of the reason there is so little dialogue and interaction between hero and heroine is because madcap Lynden is rather more like a daughter to Melbrooke than a wife---and where can you go with that after all? It would have felt smoother if this book had been twice as long, giving the author the opportunity to develop the main characters into more mature adults. As it is, the emphasis is on the action and solving of a mystery rather than on relationships.
Nevertheless, this is Laura London, a writer of historical romance who is beyond compare, and this title is in my view, the best of her "short" regency romance stories.