REVIEWBALL: Mine Till Midnight

Mine Til Midnight
Lisa Kleypas
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
0-312-94980-4
382 pages




Stephanie said: Finally we are given Cam Rohan’s story. For those of us who devoured the four stories of The Wallflowers (Devil In Winter, Scandal in Spring, It Happened one Autumn, and Secrets of a Summer Night) this is the story we’ve been waiting for since meeting Cam Rohan, the darkly mysterious and sensual half-gypsy. Most of us expected he would be Daisy’s match, but Daisy had plans of her own. I will admit to bitter disappointment when I picked up Daisy’s book and found that she would not be falling in love with Cam as expected. But Kleypas worked her magic and gave me a satisfying love story for Daisy and promised that Cam’s story was coming.

Cai said: And yet, I wasn’t disappointed that Daisy and Cam weren’t a match. I knew after reading Daisy’s story that she and Cam would have been a terrible pair. I wasn’t at all disappointed that they weren’t together, but I was disappointed that we’d have to wait for Cam’s story.

Stephanie said: So who would love Cam? Well, it turns out that a very determined Amelia Hathaway would be bowling him over. Her family has inherited, but her brother’s reaction to the money is to turn to gambling, drink and drugs. He truly is a wastrel of the first degree. She also has sisters, three of them, to watch over. She is a very sensible, responsible girl – a veritable Meg of “Little Women” fame.

Cai said: You have to admire Amelia from the very first. She’s determined that her sisters and brother will succeed, even if it means she’ll be the “maiden aunt” to the bunch.

Stephanie said: When Cam and Amelia first meet, there is an immediate spark that lets the reader know this will be no easy match. Kleypas likes to torture her characters and this is no exception. Amelia knows her duty is to her family and that marriage has passed her by. She has accepted this and is calm in the role life seems to have cast for her. Cam has decided to finally take up the life he knows he was meant to live – that of a Rom living out of doors like a free man and traveling with the Gypsies. When he meets Amelia, he denies the attraction even though they share a scorching kiss that leaves them both questioning what just happened.

Cai said: Cam’s reaction to Amelia is priceless. Though he truly wants to rid himself of his “curse,” he can’t deny his attraction to Amelia nor can he deny his desire to show her that she is not “on the shelf” as she appears to believe.

Stephanie said: Amelia and her family travel to their new estate that turns out to be in worse condition than her own brother who has been found in the hells of London and dragged out to detox in the fresh country air. From rockets to bees to near death, the country does not prove to be the idyllic setting Amelia had hoped for. Throw in a devious nobleman with plans of his own for the Hathaways and a past history with Amelia and you have a very typical Lisa Kleypas book.

Cai said: I love the scene with the rockets, and I’m sure you will, too. Having Westcliff, St. Vincent, Evie and Lillian return is just a bonus in this book. Ms. Kleypas brings us up to date on these characters in a most satisfying way.

Stephanie said: I found the story of Amelia and Cam to be more tense than some of Kleypas’ other books. I loved the tension between she and Cam and the introduction of the Hathaways seemed, to me, to be setting up another series with an intriguing family. There was a sub-story that never quite got finished between the ill Hathaway girl and their Gypsy family friend and servant. I wonder if we will be able to look forward to the story of Merripen and Win. And who will the mischievous Beatrix torment with loose lizards and kleptomania?

Cai said: The tension is palpable in this story, and I love Cam’s indecision. Will he go forward with his quest for freedom, or will he tie himself even more firmly to the gadjo world? What about his “curse,” will it break with his association with the Hathaway family? What will happen to Merripen, the mysterious half-gypsy who figures so prominently in the Hathaway family dynamic? As for the other Hathaway sisters, will Amelia find them “appropriate” husbands? They will need to be extraordinary men, and I’m sure Ms. Kleypas will tell their stories with the same enthusiasm she saved for Cam and Amelia.

Coming Soon...

Reviewball returns...

While at RWA's (Romance Writers of America)National Conference in Dallas I was able to obtain an ARC (advance reader's copy) of Lisa Kleypas' book - Mine Till Midnight. The long awaited story of Cam Rohan, first introduced in Devil in Winter, coincidentally the FIRST Reviewball we ever did. After I DEVOURED the book, I gave it to Stephanie. She read it, and we'll be reviewing it here very soon!

We each scored a ton of books at the conference, so we may be doing a LOT of reviewing here .

REVIEWBALL #1: Devil In Winter by Lisa Kleypas

The Devil in Winter

by Lisa Kleypas

Cai: Book three (four if you count Again the Magic) in the Wallflower series, this tells the story of Sebastian and Evangeline. At first glance, no one would put these two characters together – the dissolute admitted rake who beds a woman once and then forgets her existence and the shy-to-the-point-of-stammering virtuous young woman. But on closer examination, they’re great together. Evie needs someone with enough clout and physical strength to protect her from her mother’s family, Sebastian needs her wealth.

SL: I couldn’t get it. Why did chronically, painfully, paralyzingly shy Evangeline go after the man who had threatened one of her friends? I loved the two earlier books along with Against The Magic so I looked forward to Devil. I wasn’t sure Kleypas could hold on to the enchantment of the first two wallflower stories.

Cai: As the story begins, Sebastian believes Evie to be a simpleton, but as they discuss their “marriage of convenience” (BIG RED FLAG for romance readers everywhere (g) ), he realizes she’s actually quite intelligent and surprisingly quite attractive. Evie quite firmly tells him she will have sex with him ONCE (another BRF) to validate their marriage, and then she expects him to find his release elsewhere. Sebastian counters by telling her he’s fine with that arrangement as he’s easily bored, especially by inexperience – you just have to love a true rake!

SL: Personally I adore “marriage of convenience” stories with their conflict already built in. An author has so much room to play with. Where Kleypas really grabbed me was the setting. Did she put our erstwhile couple in a townhome in Mayfair? A country estate? Not even! She stuck them in the middle of a falling-down-around-their-ears gambling establishment. Ok, Ms. Kleypas, you now have my attention. And who is that dreamy Gypsy lad? Can I have two of him to go?

Cai: Now, every romance reader everywhere is going, “Okay, I get it. Marriage of Convenience. Of course they’re going to fall in love with one another, of course neither will admit it, and of course there are going to be several misunderstandings along the way to that HEA.” Well, you’re right. I’m not giving anything away by telling you that those expectations will be met. However…it’s the journey to that HEA that makes The Devil in Winter such an enjoyable read.

SL: But Cai… you have to tell the reader something about the book to get them to read it. You do want them to read it right? Can’t you tell them about the bath scene? Or the recovering from a bullet wound scene? Ok, I guess we really can’t, but trust me, they are GREAT moments in this book. After devouring the book in one night, I realized why this book leapt up the best seller charts.

Cai: You will cry with Evie at certain points in the book, which I will not elaborate on. You will cheer for Sebastian as he comes into his own as a responsible man. You’ll want a fan nearby when at one particular point in the book, Sebastian tells his bride just what he’d like to do to and with her! And, if you’re like me, you’ll lust after a certain Irish Gypsy (g) and be looking forward to his story.

There’s intrigue and evil aplenty in the form of Evie’s family. I LOVE the confrontation scenes.

All in all, I give this story a rousing CHEER.

SL: Good sex, funny tete-a-tetes between not only the hero and heroine, but the hero and his best friend and the heroine and her friends as well. So far, this is not my favorite of the Wallflowers, but I will give it a sitting in the bleachers CHEER. Stand-up cheers are my best.