A Midnight Clear [Mass Market Paperback]

A new twist to getting compromised for the sake of the family. Roxy is a determined young lady that must do something to help her family out of the poverty caused by her father. The way she sets about doing it is hilarious at times but she is dauntless in her determination to have her own business to the cost of all else. You have to really admire her. I would readily recommend this book. Enjoy, I Did.

Leaves herself open for a sequel, which I hope she writes so you can have closure to this book too.

From the back cover:

Meet me under the mistletoe...

Roxana Winston requires a wealthy husband--and she's been packed off to a Christmas house party to find one. But from the start, her attempts are handily thwarted by Maximilian St. Claire, a duke with an inconvenient sense of honor. And to Roxana's dismay, he is fast becoming as attractive as he is infuriating...

Accustomed to privilege, the Duke of Trent has regarded lovely Miss Winston's schemes with amusement and growing infatuation...even to the point of nearly compromising her himself. Until, that is, he discovers the real reason for her actions. Now, he will risk everything to show Roxana how much he cares for her--and that theirs is a love for this season and always...

And my review:

I really liked the premise of this novel. Basically, the heroine's family is so poor that they are one meal away from starvation. The heroine is being sent to snare a rich husband and save her family, and she has only two weeks at a Christmas house party to accomplish her task. If that requires her to get herself compromised to force a proposal, than so be it. Of course, along the way, she falls in love with the one man forbidden to her; the Duke is the one whom she expects will force the man who compromised her to do the right thing and marry her. She can't set her sights on the Duke, because he will never marry a woman of her station.

An interesting premise, and this story being set at Christmastime is a bonus for me (I'm a sucker for a Christmas romance). However, I was never able to finish this book, for a number of reasons. The biggest one was the lack of character development. I never really felt like I knew who the hero and heroine were apart from their surface descriptions. This was especially the case with the hero.

Nor did I feel like there was anything other than sexual attraction drawing them together. Not that this was a lust-soaked book, but there wasn't enough tenderness or affection, just hormones. That's not enough for this picky reader. I want to know why they should be together, and I need more of a reason than that they can't keep their hands off one another.

Most of all, I need to see why a couple should be together to the exclusion of all others. What makes the hero and heroine so special that no one else will do? That's what makes the difference between a good romance and a great one. Unfortunately, when the character development is lacking, this is a question that is left unanswered. I was left feeling as if they were only together because they'd happened to be thrown together so much, not because they were destined to be together. And that feeling leaves me unsatisfied.

If you're a fan of this author, then you'll probably enjoy this anyway. Otherwise, I would recommend you try to borrow this from the library or look elsewhere for your Christmas romance fix.

Enjoyed the characters in this book, but a bit disappointed with it's finish. Coming to the last few chapters of the book it was decided to put alittle twist to it. For what reason I do not know. Will there be a sequal? I hope so. For I would love to hear how she brings back a character back to the living and for what reason was he pretending to be dead.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars