Customer Reviews

Stealing Midnight

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I loved Stealing Midnight. The heroine is unusual, outspoken, and incredibly brave, the hero is quite honorable. The storyline is excellent and original too.

Stealing Midnight has a fantastic first and second chapter. Resurrection men have brought to Heroine Olwyn Gawain's home two bodies. One is bloated and almost putrid the other is a handsome man, recently pronounced dead. Olwyn's father is obsessed with dissecting corpses to discover the mysteries of life. He keeps Olwyn a virtual prisoner and the one time she did try to escape her home, her father loosed his ferocious dogs on her. She is rightfully terrified to try to escape again. Autopsies are performed in the keep dungeon and here the author does an excellent job of creating the ghoulish, dark morgue. Her descriptive narrative was chilling.

Olwyn feels a sense of kinship with the handsome corpse her father is about to dissect. He is beautiful. However he is not dead, to be discovered only when the first dissection cut wells up with blood. This is not a detriment to her father, who has every intention of murdering this man and carving him into pieces. Olwyn will not have it and she quite literally throws herself over the unconscious man and manages to escape with him. This was an incredibly brave and selfless act on her part as her father is screaming all kinds of curses at her, promising revenge.

Hero Aidan Mullin awakens days later to find himself in a small hut with a beautiful woman. The two spend only a few days together before Aidan's twin brother finds them but they are surely enchanted days. For the first time Aidan finds peace in female company. His father is a Duke and so often he wonders if he is really admired and sought after for himself or his forthcoming title.

Olwyn is enamored with Aidan but knows nothing permanent can come of her feelings as he has a fiancé, named Mira who is completely self centered, shallow and manipulative. Aidan is completely drawn to Olwyn but honorable too. This tension plays out throughout the novel and one aspect of Aiden's character which I truly enjoyed was that he was not blind to his fiancé's faults. Neither is Olwyn who stands up to Mira's sniping quite admirably. The leads share an uncommon longing and even the people around them recognize their close bond. There are some very sweet moments in this novel demonstrating their devotion and attraction to one another. Olwyn sees her time with Aidan as a fairy tale come true.

Ms. MacNish has created conflict from both outside characters, (Olwyn's father is out to harm her and Mira is venal) and inner struggles (Olwyn wonders about her self worth and ability to fit into an aristocratic family). There are times the protagonists act a bit rashly but the lovely trait about these characters is they recognize their mistakes quickly without having half the book transpire before they self correct.

This is a marvelous story; I stayed up late into the night to finish it. I just had to know what was going to happen on the next page. The protagonists are kind, patient, and supportive of one another and the story never stalls. There was strong tension throughout the entire novel and the author has great descriptive language. This book is a delight.

This story has everything. I loved the history on commas and the amount of live burials. My favorite part of the story was when Olwyn saw herself in the mirror for the first time. It's hard to imagine what life would be like with out mirrors.

I did blush and laugh when Olwyn explored the Aidan's body while he was in a coma. I loved this book and will be putting it on my keeper shelf.

This was a refreshing gothic romance- the unique heroine and fairy tale like story brought new life into your typical Regency. We find Olwyn living as a virtual slave with her father, a madman anatomist obsessed with the answers to life and death. Olwyn spends her days and nights watching her father autopsy stolen cadavers in a crumbling estate in Wales. When a handsome young man is set to be dissected, but is found to be alive, Olwyn finds the courage to stand up to her father at last and escape, with the young man in tow.

What follows is an interesting love story between the unlikely heroine (Druid-like and medieval with a dagger at her hip and a streak of blond in her long black hair) and the very normal hero- a young man set to (possibly) become a duke... depending on who was born first, he or his brother.

Aidan is mesmorized with Olwyn - she hypnotizes him, she understands him, she soothes him and her exotic nature is irresistible to him. You might find yourself, as I did, becoming frustrated with Aidan's inner-turmoil as he oscillates back and forth between a passionate love for Olwyn and his contradicting ideas of "what is proper and right" for society. And you might find yourself frustrated with Olwyn's ability to be forthright and unbelievably honest and modern with her thoughts and then the next moment offer to be Aidan's mistress.

That being said, these two eventually find their way and the ending is satisfying indeed. The honesty and communication between the two main characters as they get to know each other is nice- as well as their ability not to hold grudges with each other. The falling-in-love chemistry is believable as well. Very good read!

i thoroughly enjoyed this book - the story line was different and I enjoyed reading something other than the typical. Good read.

One always holds their breath when reading a sequel, hoping that it will be every bit as good as the one that came before it. Surprise! Surprise! It's even better than than the then the last one! Let me just say "I loved it!" As I read the novel Olwyn was such a likeable heroine, so interesting and yet believable and Aidan was so easy to fall in love with. The descriptive passsages made it easy to feel as though you were really there. The best novels are always the ones you are sorry to finish because the characters are so real that you miss them. If you read this novel you will find yourself wishing for it not to end.

In 1806 in Pemarlag, England Rhys Gawain uses grave robbers to supply him the corpses he studies at night on his crumbling estate. The "medical researcher" who drove his wife away a decade ago leaves the details of paying the venders to his daughter Olwyn while he dissects the bodies in his lab. Olwyn also draws pictures of body parts.

The latest delivery from the Chester grave robbers proves a bit of a problem when Olwyn finds Lord Aidan Mullin breathing. He is totally confused with what happened and how he ended up with his angel. Olwyn absconds with the living corpse before her dad can practice on a live subject as she vows to escort him home. On their trek they fall in love, but he conceals a secret from her and her obsessed father follows them; she is unsure whether it is to bring his daughter home or his latest subject.

Although the lead couple is a terrific pairing especially with how capable the heroine is as a chip off her maternal block, her father brings a sinister sense of doom as he instills chills and thrills to the story line. Regency romantic suspense fans will want to travel with Rhys and Olwyn as she takes him home while her dad is in deadly pursuit.

Harriet Klausner

I found this book in one of the amazon forums in which a reader was recommending it to another. Anyways when i searched for the book the first thing that caught my eye was the cover. While not extremely cheesy (Lord knows we've see worse) i still thought that there was going to be more sex than anything in the book. I was proved very wrong. Here is a romance novel that is very well written, one gets to know and understand the characters. The plot was extremely refreshing, especially amongst the romance genre where things are overdone. MacNish allows her characters relationship to develop on it's own and at a very natural pace, this romance novel is also not taken over with silly misunderstandings. Lastly MacNish is a gifted writer, her words flow beautifully. IT's rare to find great romance writers, but MacNish has bough me. Her writing is reminiscent of Balogh, Putney, Lindsay, and a few other heavy weights in this genre.

Continuing on with the her 4th book, Tracy may have outdone even herself. I find myself questioning which is my favorite. I am left wanting more every time. This family is hypnotic and Tracy is using that to her advantage. Once you start on this journey with her, you must follow her until the end. And all I can hope is that this book IS NOT the end. Please, keep them coming, don't keep me in suspense! This is romance and adventure at it's best!

'Stealing Midnight' was definitely a cut above the recent run of historical romances that I've read. The main reason being that its hero and heroine came across as real characters with flaws, strengths and believable conversations. The author was also able to write a convincing love story where the reader can believe in the romance and appreciate it.

The story starts in rather a gothic manner with two corpses being dug up by resurrectionists and taken to a mysterious Keep in Wales where they are going to be dissected. We meet Olwyn Gawain, a young woman who has to work for her mad father as he works on dead bodies to try to find the spark of life. When Olwyn realises one of the corpses isn't actually dead, merely in a coma, she decides the time has come to escape for good and to take this man with her.

When duke's son Aidan Mullen wakes up naked in a mud-floored hut with a woman wearing odd garb he's not sure if he's travelled backward in time. However, he soon discovers what's going on and agrees to help Olwyn to get away from her father. Aidan is engaged to a society woman but somehow can't get Olwyn out of his mind. When he takes Olwyn to his home with his family - and his fiancée - he doesn't realise the danger that might be coming to the household. But is the special relationship developing between him and Olwyn more important, and can he get out of his engagement?

I did very much enjoy this story, both the setting and the writing style. The plot didn't always entirely work, particularly with regard to Olwyn's tendency to behave rather recklessly, and the historical accuracy suffered in terms of modern American dialogue at times, but overall it was a very good read with a convincing love story and an interesting cast of characters.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

Rhys Gawain is a pathetic old man who is close as to being insane as one can be. He wants to solve the mysteries of death and thinks by experimenting on corpses from the local cemetery he will be able to find the answers he seeks. He pays grave robbers to supply him these bodies. He uses his daughter, Olwyn, as his assistant even though she is sickened by it. Her father's mind is slowly deteriorating and she wants to escape her father's harsh, cold estate where she'll be free from ridicule. The people of Chester believe Olwyn is a witch with her long black hair that has streaks of white running through it. And because she has no mirror to look at herself in, she believes her father when he tells her she's ugly.

Olwyn is in for a shock when the latest body that has been uncovered is actually still breathing! Rhys doesn't care and wants to operate on the unconscious man. Olywn is able to stop her father, run away and carry the strange man on her horse drawn cart to a secret place where no one will be able to find them. Olwyn will be in for even more surprises when the man wakes up and accuses her of trying to kill him.

Lord Aidan Mullin has no idea how he has found himself naked and being taken care of by a woman who looks to be from another time because of the way she dresses and speaks. Aidan is grateful to Olwyn for rescuing him after she explains how he came to be in her safe keeping. For some reason he finds peace with Olwyn, away from all the responsibilities he must endure as the son of a Duke and a betrothal to a woman he doesn't love but must marry because he ruined her. He wants to be someone else for a short while. She he tells Olwyn his name is Lochrann, a nickname his deceased father gave him and what his twin brother Padraig now calls him.

Olwyn is not used to being around such a virile and handsome man. She will help him recover and when he is well enough, she will find a ship to take her to America where she can start a new life. But Lochrann wants Olwyn to stay with him, and when his brother Padraig finds him and brings him home, Lochrann refuses to let his beautiful witch out of his sight. She has placed a curse on him where he only wants her and no other woman will do. Not even his fiancée, who will do whatever she can to keep them apart.

Stealing Midnight does have an interesting plot regarding grave robbers, a mad-scientist type of father, and a heroine who is very unique in her personality and looks. It also has an atmospheric gothic feel to it. With these combinations, you would think I would be impressed by this latest historical romance by Tracy Macnish. I wasn't. I had such issues with Olwyn and the way Aidan treats her that I could barely finish it.

It's bad enough that Olwyn's father is crazy, but the reasoning behind it is pretty silly.He went off the deep end because of the death of Olwyn's brother. Her mother decided that the Gawain household was not worth staying in and disappeared, leaving her daughter to the whims of her abusive father who, in order to keep Olwyn in line, tells her she is horrible to look at. He makes sure she has no one to turn to for help because of all the gossip about her being a witch.

I was not at all sympathetic to Aidan's problems. They are so small when you compare them to what Olwyn goes through. He moans and groans because he has so much responsibility on his shoulders and what he has to deal with, especially in regards to Mira, his fiancée, who may look like an angel but isn't. She's a nasty piece of work. And I almost choked on my laughter because at one point Mira is described as being as adorable as a kitten.

Aidan is the worst kind of hero because he strings Olwyn along. One moment he can't be with her and must stay away because she is not meant to be for him; then suddenly he is overcome with lust for Olwyn and comes to her at night to sleep with because she helps him sleep. He uses Olwyn as a body pillow just because it suits him. I was insulted for Olwyn, who really has no spine to speak of. Her reactions to things make more sense because of the way her father treated her but because of the type of woman she is, if Aidan wanted to treat her horribly, she would allow it.

Along with the purple prose descriptions of what the characters look like and the actual sex acts, as well as the secondary plot with Olwyn's father wanting revenge, Stealing Midnight is more a sad comedy if anything. What should have been a luscious Regency romance where a woman finds her self-worth in the arms of a wonderful hero fell flat. From Olwyn and Adian's traits, it's hard to see them having any happily-ever-after, and for this reader, a HEA is so very important when reading a romance. Stealing Midnight fails in this regard.

Katiebabs