Customer Reviews

The Perfect Waltz (Merridew Series)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Much as I enjoy Anne Grace's novels, I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy the second installment in the Merridew sisters' series, "The Perfect Waltz" mainly because I wasn't sure if the beautiful and (almost) perfect Hope Merridew would be able to sustain my interest. I worried needlessly: Hope may be the almost perfect heroine, but Anne Grace made her intelligent, compassionate and determined enough to make her an interesting heroine and one that it was easy to root for -- add this to an extremely interesting storyline and a secondary romance subplot that possessed sizzle as well, and you have a fairly memorable romance novel that is sure to win raves!

Beautiful and lively Hope Merridew's days of suffering abuse from her grandfather are long over. These days, she and her sisters are able to enjoy lives of luxury and ease thanks to the generosity and love of their granduncle, Oswald, and to the splendid and advantageous matches that her two elder sisters made ("The Perfect Rake"). No, these days all Hope has to worry about is which ball to attend and which gown to wear. That is until she meets the dark and enigmatical Sebastian Reyne. Rumour has it that he is a pushing mushroom and an illegitimate son of some sort who may have murdered his first wife -- not the sort of man a much sought after diamond should be interested in! And yet, something about Sebastian intrigues and fascinates Hope (much to her chaperone's dismay). After all this is one man who seems to be able to tell her and her twin apart! And yet, much as he seems to practically devour her with his eyes, Sebastian seems to be courting another lady. What should Hope do? Should she concentrate to meeting other, more eligible gentlemen or hold out in the hope that Sebastian will come to his senses? She knows that she and Sebastian are meant to be, but how to convince him?

"The Perfect Waltz" could have ended up being a book all about a young woman's determination to nab the man she wants. Fortunately, it was not. By factoring in Sebastian's and his younger sisters' unhappy histories and his attempts to make things right for them, and Hope's unhappy memories of what life was like before she and her family escaped to London, Anne Gracie packs her book with enough backstories to give structure to the romance that develops between Hope and Sebastian, thus making it more believable and credible. And speaking of romance, I esp liked the one that developed between the lady that Sebastian was ostensibly courting and his best friend. It had quite a bit of sensual heat. The pacing was smooth and unfrantic and characters, well all fairly well developed -- and these two vital ingredients, along with the absorbing storyline really did contribute to making this a very enjoyable and riveting read for me. So that all in all, I'd say that that fans and romance readers are in for a treat with "The Perfect Waltz."

I had a little trouble with this author's writing style, but I enjoyed the basic storyline and liked all of the main characters. The story's hero is Sebastian Reyne, a self-made man who has to fend for himself after being orphaned at the age of fourteen. Destitute, young Sebastian must work long hours at a local factory. He pays for his two young sisters to be watched by a neighbor, who then disappears with them. Ten years pass before Sebastian, now a wealthy manufacturer, finally locates his sisters and rescues them from a London orphanage. The sisters - now twelve and fourteen - have extreme difficulty adjusting to Sebastian and their new life, so he decides to look for a wife who can act as a mother to them. He sets his sights on Lady Elenore Whitelaw. She is a self-disciplined and serious-minded spinster who overseas a home for girls and Sebastian feels that she will therefore be ideally suited to handle his sisters. While at society dance in order to pursue Lady Elenore, he meets the lovely debutante Hope Merridew. Sebastian is instantly smitten (as is she), but he rigidly resists Hope because he mistakenly believes that she does not have the background or disposition to make a strong mother for his troublesome sisters. However, circumstances continuously throw together Sebastian and Hope, and he is forced to reevaluate his preconceived notions about her.

I felt Ms. Gracie's prose did not always flow smoothly and the love scenes were sometimes awkwardly worded. That said, Sebastian is an admirable hero with a compelling background and I found his sisters' tale quite absorbing. Also, the author injects some nice humor into the story through Sebastian's friend Giles Bemerton. In fact, the secondary romance between carefree Giles and the tightly wound Lady Elinore, is the highlight of the novel.

I just finished this incredible book and had to comment on it. I'd never heard of the author and bought the book on a whim (as in I needed more books for my TBR pile). Without giving away the story, this book was the absolutely BEST romance I've read in a year's time. Since I'm a Writer WannaBe, I eat up books and probably have read one hundred since last February and this one stands head and shoulders above even the others that I've loved. The hero is very different from most heros and is more human with greater appeal, depth and compassion than most romance characters. He isn't even handsome, yet I fell in love with him and can so understand why the heroine did! As for the heroine, I am normally not that excited about heroines, but this one was just wonderful. Rather than the normal feisty, childish spitfire you read about in so many romances, Hope was truly a mature, compassionate (yes, they both were), winsome and very sympathetic heroine and she won my heart. An amusing background romance goes on and it is also quite amusing with good humor. I can't wait for her next book, and am going to order "The Perfect Rake," her first novel. This is one multi-gifted author!

By 1818 once impoverished Sebastian Reyne had become very wealthy through hard work. His motivation was to find his two sisters Cassie and Dorie to bring them home so they can be a family again. He succeeds, but his preadolescent siblings are out of control behaving anything but lady like. Sebastian decides he needs a wife to supervise his sisters as the latest governess fails besides which he objects to the woman using force on his beloved sisters. He chooses Lady Eleanor as the perfect candidate to marry.

However, Sebastian runs into a problem when he dances with Hope Meridew as he finds he desires her even as he pursues another. Hope shares his deep regard, but feels there is little she can do since he still plans to marry Eleanor out of a sense of duty. As his hearts and other unruly body parts sends him one way, his brain keeps telling him to go in the other direction. Of course Sebastian never factored in that his siblings have their own agenda as to whom they want as their new "sister".

This is a terrific Regency romance due the strong characterizations. Hope and Sebastian are a fine couple, but he makes the tale because even though he knows what he wants, his desire clashes with what he believes he needs. Duty vs. love is brilliantly battled as Anne Gracie writes the perfect historical.

Harriet Klausner

This is the 1st Anne Gracie book I have read and I felt it was enjoyable, although the back cover is misleading to what the story is about. The romance in the book is secondary to the child abuse issues that the book revolved around. This is the story of Sebastian Reyne a bachelor in society who has just been reunited with his 2 younger/orpahned sisters who aren't very obedient. Sebastian can't keep a governess for the girls because their behavior isn't "acceptable", so he decides to find a practical, rational wife who will help him bring them up in society and to show compassion towards their unfortunate pasts. Sebastian isn't looking for a wife to love, but a wife who will help him raise the girls. He decides on Lady Elinore who is all the things he's looking for in a mother to Dorrie and Cassie (his sisters). She's practical, not necissarily pretty and works at an orphanage helping indigent girls. He believes she'll be perfect so he decides to court her. Little does he know he is going to meet Hope Merridew and fall in love with the ravishing beauty, who, according to him, is nothing the girls need because she's probably a spoiled little society brat who has never experienced hard times in her life. Apparently he doesn't know her or her situation well because Hope does know how it is to live a hard life and as he slowly gets to know her her past slowly unfolds. Sebastian finds himself in a sticky situation as he realizes he's falling for Hope, but courting Elinore at the same time.

I liked this story because it took you places you don't normally go in a romance novel. It was much deeper and darker than most so I felt myself being sad quite a bit while reading it. The characters are written realy well...Hope is a great character. She's fiesty, mature, not whiney at all, compassionate, patient, and understanding. Sebastian is brooding, withdrawn, sweet, quiet, loving and has the best of intentions for his sisters. The secondary characters I liked as well, especially Giles. I felt that I liked the ending of the book better than the beginning and middle because I liked the scenes with Hope and Sebastian together where they could focus mostly on themselves. I wanted to cry the first time they made love because they really waited and did it at the right time and it was so sweet. Anyway..I like this author and I hope to read more of her books soon.

Also....the book is named the Last Waltz because Hope always had a dream that she'd meet her dream man during the last waltz at a ball so she always kept her last waltz open on her dance card, then she met Sebastian and saved him for her last waltz..it was really sweet.

"The Perfect Waltz" as a title is a misnomer. The title leads one to believe this will be a light, breezy, romantic tale. It's not. While some waltzing does occur, this book is really quite heavy and serious with storylines involving child kidnapping, rape and prostitution. Not topics I want to read about in an historical romance. Hardly the escape from reality I was looking for.

This book takes the story of another of the Merridew sisters, Hope. Now that her two older sisters have made good matches and she and her twin and younger sister are being taken care of by her great uncle, Hope's days consist of riding in the park and deciding what ball to go to, or other entertainment. I felt that she was written really well - she was strong, independent, but very caring and warm.

Sebastian Reyne is just trying to find a wife that can take care of him and his traumatized younger sisters. He's got the perfect candidate picked out, but when he sees Hope for the first time he has a hard time sticking to his plan.

Hope had so much to offer Sebastian and his sisters and the story played out very well. As with the previous book (The Perfect Rake) there was humor as an added bonus.

I'm anxious to get started on The Perfect Stranger to find out what happens with Hope's twin, Faith.

I loved the "Perfect Rake" unfortunately the "Perfect Walz" fell short of it's first book in the series. But overall this was a good read, not my favorite but good. I can't seem to pinpoint what made this book good and not great, maybe it was the lack of longing, sexual tension that was in her previous book. I thought Hope a sweet heroine and Sebastion equally good but I felt no spark. The chemistry seemed not to flow very well. I felt that when Hope's sister Faith was explaining about her hand that it felt thrown in to the story with no closure afterwards. Sebastion never asked Hope about it and you would not of really known that she had a problem with her left hand if you had not read "The Perfect Rake". I felt that if he really cared about her he would have been curious about her life. And Hope to me seemed too sweet, I would have liked her to have alittle more backbone. I felt more interested in the second romance going on in the story and wished Gracie would have written more about them. I still think that Gracie is a great writer but this was not her best work but it was good none the less.

Sebastian Reyne is in need of a wife, preferably a matronly woman with child experience to care for his traumatized and strong-willed younger sisters, Cassie and Dorie. After months of search, his trusted solicitors have recommended a spinster of thirty years, Elinor Whitelaw. She is a stern woman who won't be seen in anything but the color gray and spends much of her time caring for orphaned girls at an orphanage in London. Sebastian is all set to court Elinor until he sees Miss Hope Merridew, one of the Virtue Twins and also one of the most popular and beautiful heiresses in London.

Despite his attraction to Hope, Sebastian is determined to court and marry Elinor. He convinces himself that Hope is nothing more than a pampered, sheltered girl who knows nothing of hardship. Sebastian comes to find out that she is a deeply compassionate and strong woman who is more than capable of caring and loving his two sisters.

I love the characters in this book. Hope is such a magnanimous character; strong, resolute in her convictions and determined to live the best life she can because of the horrors she endured as a child. Sebastian is also a strong character who is seemingly dark but is merely haunted by what he considers his failures at caring for his younger siblings. By the time Sebastian was a teenager, he was the sole supporter of his two sisters. He worked in a mill and paid Widow Morgan what he could to care for them. But then one day, Widow Morgan left with the two girls for destinations unknown and with no word for Sebastian. Since then, he's searched for them for years. When the story opens, it's six months after Sebastian's people found Cassie and Dorie. They are in their teens and are traumatized children, exposed to constant hunger and the ugly side of life.

I thought this was a pretty good story. It's entertaining, heartfelt and wonderfully romantic, but I have a couple of complaints. There are gaps in some of the subplots that I wish the author had filled in. For example, Widow Morgan's brother is pursuing Sebastian's two sisters to kidnap them. The only mention of his intentions is through dialogue. There's nothing else to explain what kind of character he was or the details surrounding his relationship with the girls. Another example is Dorie's refusal to speak. There isn't a clear explanation of the events that led to her loss of speech. Other than that, the story thoroughly entertained me.

The Perfect Waltz is not a typical romance novel in some ways, and in many ways it is. The difference in this novel and so many others is that it deals with some difficult subjects. Our wonderful hero Sebastian has two sisters; his sisters were kidnapped before he could protect them properly. You see Sebastian didn't start out as a rich man in ton society, he married into it. Due to what happened to his sisters they are a hard pair to deal with, they run off governesses one straps a knife to her thigh the other doesn't talk. What is he to do? Find the perfect wife, of course. Ah, yes this is where we find it is a typical romance novel.

But fate and Sebastian will find themselves at odds, he wants a sensible, older, do good wife who will be able to handle his sisters. Fate wants him to have a lively, fun, chipper young woman. Sebastian of course rails against this. He won't list to his friend who tries to tell him that Miss Hope Merridew is probably the best match he could find because hope has suffered too. Hope suffered under the brutish hand of her grandfather who was abusive. Truly what better woman than that to help care for some battered children?

The story is written well, and over all I enjoyed it better than the first one. It still has a few small moments where it drags, but over all I did enjoy it. I liked the subject matter, and I liked that it was not afraid to go into deeper topics. The nice thing about this book as well is that it is a stand a lone there are some references to The Perfect Rake, but not many. You will still be able to know what's going on. And enjoy getting to know Hope Merridew. If you're looking for a historical romance, I recommend this one.