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Midnight Angel

(The Stokehursts #1)

Lisa Kleypas (Goodreads Author)

3.64 · Rating details · 6,125 ratings · 349 reviews

A noblewoman of frail beauty and exotic mystery fakes her own death to escape the gallows. And now she must flee. In disguise and under a false identity, she finds unexpected sanctuary in the arms of a handsome and arrogant yet gallant British lord—who must defy society to keep her safe . . . and overcome a tragic past to claim her as his own.

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Paperback, 373 pages

Published January 1st 1995 by Avon

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Aug 11, 2013 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-review

This book is about a cross between Jane Eyre and the Anastasia legend, with a Mary Sue as a main character and so much Angst (yes, it needs to be capitalized) that you can cut it with a knife, and I won't deny I loved every fucking moment of it.

Lisa Kleypas writes feeeeeeeeeelings and angst and tortured heroes and heroines so well. No matter how much I dislike her characters, her writing is absolutely superb. She is among the best HR writers that I've ever read.

How is it like Jane Eyre?
1. Orphan ...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Beth rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2009, russian, historical-romance, tnbbc-winter-2008

This book had several elements of a bad soap opera: selective amnesia, opium abuse, a homosexual love triangle, psychic abilities, child molestation, crazy Russian kin and a tiger. Yes, a tiger. ROAR! Pretty ridiculous all in all, but if I’ve learned one thing from this book it’s that even a klunker from Lisa Kleypas is a more enjoyable read than the average historical romance.

The first half of the book flew by and was quite enjoyable but the second half fell to pieces once ridiculous antic aft ...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Rane rated it it was ok

Shelves: victorian-era, historical, regency-napoleonic-era

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lady Anastasia is on the run for her life as she’s found with blood on her hands and her fiancée dead at her feet with no memory of her killing him or how it happened. With no way out then death, Tasia takes a potion to fake her death and travels to England to try and start her life over on the run. When his close friends tell Luke Stokehurst they found a perfect governess for his wild-child daughter, he dismisses it with a shrug only to be stopped in his tracks at the sight of this beautiful y Lady Anastasia is on the run for her life as she’s found with blood on her hands and her fiancée dead at her feet with no memory of her killing him or how it happened. With no way out then death, Tasia takes a potion to fake her death and travels to England to try and start her life over on the run. When his close friends tell Luke Stokehurst they found a perfect governess for his wild-child daughter, he dismisses it with a shrug only to be stopped in his tracks at the sight of this beautiful young woman with amazing eyes and a past hidden in the mist. Determined to find out more of this young woman’s past, he finds himself falling in love with her and would do anything to keep her. Tasia feels drawn to Luke, but knows her past deeds will no doubt catch up with her in the end. Only her heart keeps her from running away and has her running toward Luke.
Luke and Tasia fight their past pains as they struggle to find the happiness they know they can only find in each other.

As a couple I never felt a true connection between Tasia and Luke. I didn’t care forLuke at all with him acting more like a hard head and pushing his way to make Tasia do what he wants even after knowing the truth of her past. He never trys to comfort her into understanding why he asks these things of her from not contacting her mother etc, he only tells her what to do period. Never seeing it from her side, as of a young woman lost and alone from her homeland, scared out of her wits and trying to come to grips with the things around her. Even when he knows she loves him he still acts like a jealous fool toward the end of the story making it drag even more.
Tasia was an unusual female lead with strength and wisdom beyond her years; I could clearly understand her actions and thoughts and found myself wondering what she truly saw when she found her dead fiancée.

Midnight Angel started off on a great foot with a tortured hero finding love again, I didn’t noticed or pay much heed to his hook hand but never came to like Luke even in his good moments. (Good example: after saying I love you to Tasia, goes to say she wasn’t a likely candidate and had women throwing themselves at him for years-oooh so romantic *gags*)
The one moment that threw me for a loop was when the true age of Tasia was reveled. I don’t mind older man and younger woman story, but when is said Tasia is only a hand full years older then Luke’s own daughter, I couldn’t help but be jerked from the book with a confused look, looking around and asking “EHHHH?..um why?”
I felt it was fine when they made her in her early twenties, but to make her closer to Emma’s age? I felt was totally unnecessary and kinda on the yick factor of gross. I wouldn’t have been to surprised if Emma brought that up in a fight between her Dad asking why she couldn’t kiss a guy when he was bedding a young woman that was close to her own age and could have well been his daughter.

The pace afterward went down hill, and pretty much everything else in the book was predictable with nothing really holding my attention with parts that only annoyed me greatly.

Overall: a fair book from LK with nothing all that great but, I forgive her as she’s written more awesome books that overshadow the bad ones. ...more

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Sep 28, 2012 kris rated it did not like it

THIS BOOK.

1. The tone shifts, dramatically. Tasia starts out as this quiet, reserved girl who has a great deal of faith. And then, without any sort of segue-way, she's a lusty temptress who trembles every time Luke touches her. Her faith fades like mist. And then, again, she goes balls-out and demands Luke's support and respect.

2. The "alpha"-ness of Luke. There were so many instances of Luke using force against Tasia. He, at one point, kisses her until she tastes blood immediately after she te ...more

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Feb 16, 2008 Julianna rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Lisa Kleypas Fans

Shelves: read-2007, historical-romance

Reviewed for www.thcreviews.com

Midnight Angel is not, in my opinion, Lisa Kleypas best novel by far, but it is a worthwhile read. As in most of Ms. Kleypas's other novels, the characters are rather dark, but they just didn't evoke the depth of emotions that the characters in some of her other books did for me. I found Luke to be a fairly likable hero, though perhaps a bit too arrogant and heavy-handed at times. I've heard that some readers are bothered by Luke having a hook in place of a missing Reviewed for www.thcreviews.com

Midnight Angel is not, in my opinion, Lisa Kleypas best novel by far, but it is a worthwhile read. As in most of Ms. Kleypas's other novels, the characters are rather dark, but they just didn't evoke the depth of emotions that the characters in some of her other books did for me. I found Luke to be a fairly likable hero, though perhaps a bit too arrogant and heavy-handed at times. I've heard that some readers are bothered by Luke having a hook in place of a missing hand. I was not disturbed by this in the least. In fact, I think Luke was portrayed as so handsome and confident that I frequently found myself forgetting that he even had this physical flaw. I thought his most endearing qualities were his devotion to and hands-on involvement with his daughter, Emma, and his loving adoration of his first wife. I've never quite understood authors who seem to feel a need to make the first wife unbearable. I really like the idea of a past love that was very strong, yet the hero still has room in his heart for another equally deep love. In this respect, Ms. Kleypas is masterful in creating a picture of two very different, but no less loving relationships, something she also did extremely well in Lady Sophia's Lover.

Tasia was a little harder for me to relate to though. Her personality seemed pretty contradictory at times. Sometimes I really liked and admired her, such as when she was befriending and teaching Emma, or when she decided to defend a pregnant housemaid. Other times, she seemed overly stiff and her passive/aggressive tendencies with regards to Luke's love seemed a bit extreme for the circumstances. I realized that she had been through a lot of hardships on her own and as such had learned to be rather solitary and independent, but since there were a few people who had helped and supported her, the whole self-isolation thing just didn't make much sense to me. If someone had been wooing me the way that Luke did her, I would have melted away. Admittedly, it was a bit of a role-reversal from the norm of romance novels to have the heroine be the one who is resisting love and affection, and perhaps this is why I had a hard time with it. I also found the hero and heroine together to be a bit too aggressive and angsty, arguing a little too much and having too many anger-turned-to-passion moments for my taste.

The secondary characters were very well rendered. I thoroughly enjoyed Luke's daughter, Emma. She added a lot of spice to the book and had a great personality. At 12 years old, she was the perfect blend of a little girl still wanting to be a child and yet being on the cusp of young womanhood. Prince Nikolas is a darkly brooding young man who obviously has a very sordid past, but showed a few glimmers of a gentler side. I didn't really want to like him, but found him rather intriguing in spite of myself. Midnight Angel, is the first book in the two-book Stokehurst series, with the second book being Prince of Dreams, Emma and Nikolas's story. After getting a very good look at both characters in this book, I'm really interested to see what kind of young woman Emma becomes and how the rest of their story plays out.

The storyline of Midnight Angel was generally appealing. I began the book hardly being able to put it down and thinking I had another surefire Kleypas winner on my hands, but about halfway through, the story, I thought it started to loose some steam. It did pick up a bit, later on and had a nice but not extraordinary ending with part of the final chapter and the epilogue easing the reader into the next book, giving it a kind of “to-be-continued” feel. Part of where the story bogged down for me was when Tasia started fighting Luke's love, and the other part was their first love scene which seemed to come almost out of nowhere. I also felt like there was a hole in the sub-plot of Tasia's kidnapping. I just couldn't figure out why Luke would leave her unprotected. This is unusual for Ms. Kleypas, as her plots are usually pretty tight. In addition, the love scenes did not really contain the beautiful sensuality that has become one of Ms. Kleypas's hallmarks. I don't generally care if the love scenes in romance novels are subtle or scorching as long as they (and the book in general) are well written, and they fit well within the context of the story. Unfortunately, in my opinion, neither of these was really the case. These scenes just seemed to keep popping up out of nowhere and sometimes just didn't flow well, either within the scene itself or within the context of the story as a whole. The biggest flaw though is that it really lacked the exquisite depth of love and emotion that I have found in most of Ms. Kleypas's other books that I have read to date. I would not recommend this book for first-time readers of Lisa Kleypas, because it really isn't the best example of her wonderful writing talents, in my opinion. However, if you are a fan like I am or are just looking for something different to read, then by all means check it out. ...more

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Sep 24, 2010 Kelly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-read, favorites

Lisa Kleypas has done it again! A simple love story that has won a place among my favorite shelves!

This tale reminds me of some of my all time favorite love stories, Romeo and Juliet with the sleep potion, The Bronze Horseman for the Russian elements (that were very interesting and described perfectly) Though Tasia is not studying for the nunnery her faith is strong and she does become a nanny......The Sound of Music also comes to my mind!

Luke is so in love with Tasia that I was jealous! As wit ...more

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Apr 24, 2015 Zoe rated it liked it · review of another edition

It's a classic Lisa Kleypas type of love story. This means the romance is sweet, hero and heroine are both likeable characters and a sweet romance. I think if you have just started reading romance, it is a good book. But I must say, Lisa Kleypas has done much better than this book and I hope she will again soon.
There are things I didn't understand in this book:
1. Why does the girl have to be Russian?? Ok i get it, it's the theme and yes England has been done overmuch. But the girl could have be ...more

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Jun 19, 2017 Rachel- Goodbye Borders rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-2017

If you liked this book.....don't read this. Rant ahead. You have been warned.
Taisa was found guilty of a murder she has no memory of. Sentenced to death, she manages to fake her death and travels to England to take refuge with her cousin and her husband. She finds employment with a friend of theirs as a governess to his 12 year old daughter.
I love LK books. This sounded like my cup of tea. Well, this sucked ass instead and I found myself still reading. It was like that car accident that everyone If you liked this book.....don't read this. Rant ahead. You have been warned.
Taisa was found guilty of a murder she has no memory of. Sentenced to death, she manages to fake her death and travels to England to take refuge with her cousin and her husband. She finds employment with a friend of theirs as a governess to his 12 year old daughter.
I love LK books. This sounded like my cup of tea. Well, this sucked ass instead and I found myself still reading. It was like that car accident that everyone slows down to look at, because you can't not look at it!
My complaints:
Their ages. I was fine when I thought she was 22 to his 34. Then I find out she's really 18 and her closeness in age to Emma (Luke's daughter) is brought up. A lot. I wasn't crazy about reading about the hero having sex with someone else. I didn't believe in their romance. At about 20% in and they don't like each other to about 40% in and they are in love. Give. Me. A. Break!
I HATED Luke. He is mean, inconsiderate, stupid (there's still a kidnapping!), and overall Alpha-asshole. This is a description of his for Taisa: "She was sly, mysterious, haughty....all the qualities of a cat. He hated cats." There's the confrontation with Tasia when he dismisses Nan for getting pregnant- but the baby daddy gets to keep his job. "Luke strode around his desk with a snarl, catching the front of her bodice in his large hand. She gave a whimper of fear. Luke shook her briefly, like a dog with a rat. You obey me without question." It goes on to say how turned on he gets holding Tasia off the ground. "There was a responsive ache in his groin....."
Then there is this before the fall in lust (oops, I mean love). "He had deliberately ignored her. Beneath his cool self-possession there had been something tightly reined and threatening."
Then (yes there's more) the threat of assault and rape: "I'm coming to your room tonight," he said after one particularly heated episode..." "I'll lock the door." I'll break it down." and this towards the end: "I'll tough you whenever and however I want," Luke said harshly. "Don't push me too far, Tasia...or you'll regret it." "He won't beat me," Tasia said, though privately she had her doubts." Luke's a catch don't you think?
The best thing about this book was Emma. I read some reviews for her book and I'm not going to read it since I think I will have similar issues with it. I won't be reading LK's earlier books. This sucked ass. ...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Bekah rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-own, 2011-reads

Anastasia is a Russian beauty accused of murder and sentenced to death when she fakes her own death and escapes to England. There she meets Lord Luke Stokehurst and his daughter Emma and finds a new place to call home.

I really enjoyed this book. More than I thought I would. I really love the governess themed books. They always have that great element of forbidden lust and the tension is so awesome. This was done quite well in this book, so much so that I wish it had lasted longer. Where I think Anastasia is a Russian beauty accused of murder and sentenced to death when she fakes her own death and escapes to England. There she meets Lord Luke Stokehurst and his daughter Emma and finds a new place to call home.

I really enjoyed this book. More than I thought I would. I really love the governess themed books. They always have that great element of forbidden lust and the tension is so awesome. This was done quite well in this book, so much so that I wish it had lasted longer. Where I think everything about this book was sort of average or slightly above average, the story line itself was quite engaging and it flowed along nicely and quickly and kept me interested.

Luke our hero was yummy though not as yummy as other great Kleypas heroes. This story was so centered around Tasia that he was prominant in the story but not as prominant as she was. He fell pretty hard pretty quickly and that was nice to see. His devotion to Tasia and his love for her was easy to believe and see. His determination to their love was powerful and he was just so driven to keep her that it was so sweet. If he were to have lost her, its very possible that he just would not have been able to survive it. I give him a 5/10 on the Kleypas hero scale!

The steam factor in this book was quite yummy. There were a lot of well placed love scenes with Luke and Tasia and they progressed nicely in the story. One thing I appreciated was that Tasia was no wilting little flower. She was lusty and proud of it and didn't hide from her attraction for Luke. That honesty was nice to read about in a heroine for once. No complaints on the steam here. 5/10 on the Kleypas steam scale.

The romance/sigh factor was probably the lowest in score here. It was romantic and they belonged together, but it sort of just happend so quickly that we didn't get to fall with them. Tasia was the one who struggled with the committment which made sense - she was quite young and had a lot on her plate. The romance didn't feel awkward or misplaced, it just happend quickly. All of a sudden he loved her and though it all felt right, it would have been nice to have a little bit more from him particularly. That being said, there were many romantic moments between them. Though their journey to be together was not necessarily easy by any means, their love was easy. It was comfortable, meant to be and beautiful in its own way. Just not fireworks beautiful. I give it a 4.5/10 on the romance/sigh factor.

In the end, this was a great fun read and a nice progression in the flow of Lisa's work. Her books are at this point only getting better and thankfully not going backwards in talent! I'm QUITE interested in Nicholas and Emma's story. He's been an interesting character so far and I've heard lots of controversy over him as a hero that I can't wait to see what I think of him! I'm so dying to start his book right now because I think I'm gonna love him, but it's 2:30 AM so tomorrow it will be Nicholas, Emma and I!

Of course, I'll let you know what I think of him! :-) ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Lisa rated it it was ok

Shelves: caveman-hero, asshole-hero, relationship-makes-no-sense, hero-with-a-disability

One of the things that I admire about Lisa Kleypas is her willingness to tackle multiple sub-genres within romance. She's written contemporaries, paranormals and historicals. And unlike some romance authors I could name (cough-Jayne Ann Krentz-cough) who write the same story over and over with just the barest tweaks to justify calling it a new book, Kleypas strikes out in a variety of directions and I applaud her courage in doing so.

Unfortunately, when an author steps outside her comfort zone an One of the things that I admire about Lisa Kleypas is her willingness to tackle multiple sub-genres within romance. She's written contemporaries, paranormals and historicals. And unlike some romance authors I could name (cough-Jayne Ann Krentz-cough) who write the same story over and over with just the barest tweaks to justify calling it a new book, Kleypas strikes out in a variety of directions and I applaud her courage in doing so.

Unfortunately, when an author steps outside her comfort zone and tries unconventional things, it doesn't always work out. And I'm afraid that's the case with Midnight Angel. Although this book had an interesting base plot, with the heroine, Tasia, faking her own death to escape execution for murder, the romance just didn't work. They went from "barely know each other" to "we're in love" in the blink of an eye and with nothing to justify it in the story. And the ending was extended well beyond where a normal romance novel would have ended in order to set things up for the sequel. Normally that's not a big deal, but in this case, Kleypas chose to use the time to show our hero physically and sexually brutalizing his pregnant wife for no reason at all (not that any reason could justify the behavior), which just ruined the whole HEA. And, for the record, it was pretty squicky that the sequel Kleypas was setting up involved a man in his mid-twenties lusting after a twelve-year-old girl who'd only just gotten her first period. Yuck.

(view spoiler)

So the romance just didn't work for me. Both Luke and Tasia behaved in contradictory and unjustified ways throughout the story and that made it hard to believe the romance. And Luke was a violent psycho at some parts. Tasia, on the other hand, went from being a quiet martyr to a bluestocking within the space of about a week. The author made it a point to say that Tasia was raised in an outdated tradition of keeping her isolated from society so that she'd grow up calm and poised and ready to be the perfect, dutiful wife who obeyed her husband implicitly. And much was made of how she did indeed have a quiet inner grace that made her stand out from a crowd. She had this right until the day after she and Luke had sex for the first time. After that, the quiet Tasia vanished and she was 100% on the "I deserve to be treated like an equal" train. One night of sex transformed a lifetime of behavior for her. Riiiight.

The plot was kind of all over the place too. For one thing, Luke was missing a hand and had a hook instead. This was hardly ever mentioned after the initial introduction. There were multiple times where he'd be doing something and I'd wonder just how that would work with only having one hand, for example, when he was training his high-spirited horse at the villa, but it's never addressed. Also, at the beginning much is made of the fact that Luke expects Tasia to be afraid of or disgusted by the hook "like most people are," but for the rest of the book, not a single person has a negative reaction to it. He's still considered one of the best catches in all of London and can have his pick of women. So, basically the hook was much ado about nothing which begs the question of why it was included at all.

So, all in all, it just wasn't a very good book. I do recommend the audiobook version, however. The narrator was very good. ...more

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Jun 23, 2019 Becky rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-romance

I didn’t realize when I picked this book up, I had read it years ago. It was one of those readings where everything that happens, I was like, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” But I couldn’t recall what would happen next. I remember really loving this book when I first read it, but I guess it’s not my thing anymore.

Lord Lucas Stokehurst has a 12 year old feisty daughter on the cusp of womanhood. She’s his world and in desperate need of a governess and a motherly figure to guide her through the coming ...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Aimee rated it really liked it

Shelves: made-me-cry, made-me-laugh-out-loud, own-it, historical-romance, lisa-kleypas

I had almost forgotten how much I loved Lisa Kleyas' writing! This book was so refreshing after all of the grittier books I tend to read.
One of the things that seems to draw me into Lisa Kleypas's books, whether historical or contemporary, is the completely believable romance. She has the ablility to build a relationship that makes you route for the characters like you know them personally. It could be a sea slug falling in love with a space alien. But Ms. Kleypas makes you believe it! ...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Nonieღserenity2bliss rated it really liked it

The story starts strong but looses its charms midway. I don't know if it's because Luke and Tasia got together sooner than I expected or it's because I'm not entirely convince how fast Luke fell for Tasia.

And the age gap between them bothers me more than it should (he's 34, she's 18). Had she been 20 and he's 36, I'd probably be okay with it. He has a 12 year-old daughter, for heaven's sake! In today's society, he would be call a cradle robber. ...more

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Sep 24, 2016 Al *the semi serial series skipper* rated it really liked it

The beginning blew me away, it was so gripping i had to keep on reading. I'm surprised i never read this before. There were instances where things were just too much but still i enjoyed it overall. ...more

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Jul 25, 2018 Olga Godim rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, historical

This is one if this author’s earlier books, and I didn’t like it as much as the more recent ones. Lucas is an arrogant British nobleman. Tasya is a Russian girl from a rich aristocratic family, but she is living under an assumed identity. She had been convicted of murder in St. Petersburg. She escaped the gallows, but she is afraid her past will catch up with her.
The story takes place in 1870. It’s very melodramatic but actually not bad. The tension and pacing of the narrative keep the reader at ...more

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Sep 19, 2020 Irene rated it liked it

Shelves: regency-romances-and-bodice-rippers

The Good: I really liked the fact that Luke had a hook for a hand. And no, he's not a pirate. I also liked the fact that there were some great steamy scenes. The ending was also good but I think we need to retire scorned homosexual lover as the villain because it is homophobic.

The Bad: I just can't with age gaps. Luke is in mid-thirties and Anastasia is 18. Ending is homophobic. Luke's character development.

Luke is cold and completely uninterested in Anastasia as a person. Of course, he becomes ...more

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Oct 24, 2014 Deb rated it really liked it

Another Lisa Kleypas winner

With a few of her books under my belt it feels good and I can confidently say that when I need my Historical Romance fix, this is the author that I will run to. I enjoy a little Downton Abbey meets Pride and Prejudice aired on a cable channel to for the right to show a little steam. What I like about this authors books is that not only do you get those key elements but you get a bit of a meaty story as well. One could technically rip out all the special romance sce ...more

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Aug 11, 2013 LaFleurBleue rated it liked it

Shelves: e-book, romance-histo

This was not Lisa Kleypas's best book by far, though not the worst.
I rather liked the heroine, I liked the way her relationship with Lucas evolved, their love for each other and how she managed to handle Emma. I also really liked how Lucas managed to learn to care and love someone other than his deceased wife.
However the partial amnesia was a bit too much and not cleverfully managed by either of those. I kept wondering when they would get the mind-reading woman back to be clear on what had happ ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Julz rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-romance, audiobook, child-by-ow, amnesia, deceased-wife-or-ow

This one was ok, I guess. Chick running from a crime she doesn't remember if she committed and lands her a tall rich dude with a hook for a hand. Lots of syrupy mush and a pseudoalpha male. No hard limits for miles around. ...more

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Jun 15, 2019 Joano rated it really liked it

Shelves: alpha-male, old-school-romance, historical-romance, married-life, hero-heroine-with-disability, religious-undertone, series, family, tragedy, setting-europe

I’ve being a fan of Lisa Kleypas since I first came across her novel, Then Came You. Back then, reading a historical romance novel where the h is a single mother and not a virgin was refreshing. I started looking for a backlog of her novels, read some, knew this one existed but was never too keen due to the average reviews on Amazon.

Before I begin, I just want to say, this book is a page turner. It’s a cross between many tropes- governess/employer (at one stage, it was almost similar to Jane Eyr I’ve being a fan of Lisa Kleypas since I first came across her novel, Then Came You. Back then, reading a historical romance novel where the h is a single mother and not a virgin was refreshing. I started looking for a backlog of her novels, read some, knew this one existed but was never too keen due to the average reviews on Amazon.

Before I begin, I just want to say, this book is a page turner. It’s a cross between many tropes- governess/employer (at one stage, it was almost similar to Jane Eyre), older H, younger h, and the Russian aristocracy which was also popular in other historical romances around the time. At the beginning of the book, Lisa dedicated it to her friend who took her to Russia. There is plenty of details about Russians and Russia supported by research or her travels which made the Russian elements of the story believable.

Plot: Anastasia (Tasia) is about to be hanged for the murder of her fiancé, a distance cousin from a family of wealth and influence. She escapes prison by faking her own death and is taken to a cousin in England by her uncle. Her cousin’s know a friend, the H, who is looking for a new governess for his daughter. This was a great way to hide her in the country without drawing attention to her.

This is what I would call a “Transition historical romance” with the softer elements of the 70’s-80’s old romances. There is plenty of forced seduction and the amount of sex in this book is common based on when it was published. There is a “bodice ripping” at the very end which was consensual as she was trying to gain the upper hand in their argument. A truely alpha H, domineering, with a non-stop sex addiction moving from mistress then straight to the h.

I gave this 4 stars because the H’s personality was a bit off. It was like a flick of the switch turning him from hate to love. With insta love, you know what you’re getting into, but this was a bit unrealistic or can be viewed as dishonest- maybe it was insta but falling in love with them because they shouted at you just seen weird. The h turns to jelly the moment the H touches her and all she wants is sex. They’re like a pair of runting teenagers even though the H has a 12 year old daughter.

Having said all this, I quite enjoyed this book. Maybe the bunch of other romance novels I’ve been trying to finish recently made this one seen entertaining even with the plot holes. It’s definitely a page turner and I recommend to any Lisa Kleypas fans. ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Kathleen rated it it was ok

Shelves: rome-ance, meh, dislike, set-in-england, fluffy-cheese-books, historical

This book was first published in 1995 and it shows. I never appreciate how much the romance genre has grown more so than when I read books from any time earlier than 1999, let me tell you.

The only reason this book didn't get one star is because the bare bones of the story itself is very interesting. It (loosely) reminded me of A Countess Below Stairs, one of my favorites of all time, because of the aspect of a Russian girl coming over to England and learning about the culture and people and foo ...more

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Jan 01, 2018 Katherine Coble rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Not your typical romance, as there's quite a lot of focus on the Russian politics of the late nineteenth century. That adds a richness to the plot. If you're looking for a standard love story, this will give you that, plus it will also give you a melodramatic unsolved murder, fake death, revenge killer and samovars. ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 Jenn rated it really liked it

Shelves: borrowed-library, historical-romance, romance, read-2020

Definitely a pleasant read with a bit of intrigue and silliness swirled around. The huge age gaps always seem weird to me but Tasia was definitely older in spirit. Poor girl.

I’m not waiting to dive into to the next book. I wanna see where life has taken them.

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Nov 16, 2019 Lois Keller rated it liked it

This was probably my least favorite Kleypas romance. I do like how she sets the stage for the next book, but I just didn’t find the relationship between tasia and Luke to be believable.

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Aug 31, 2020 Regina M rated it liked it

That was a fun book. It made me curious enough to want to read the second one.

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Feb 08, 2017 Feminista marked it as never-to-read

Gross age gap with hero's daughter being closer in age to the heroine. ...more

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Dec 28, 2020 Morgan & Many Books rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Midnight Angel was an early Lisa Kleypas so I can forgive the misstep on this one. It's a bit of a mess, in style and tone and the characters aren't clearly defined. Therefore it is difficult to connect or follow the progression of the love story, let alone find it plausible. There are much better takes on this particular mixture of tropes (Lucinda Brant's Noble Satyr, Mary Balogh's The Secret Pearl etc. etc.). ...more

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Mar 07, 2018 Blossom rated it really liked it

I absolutely loved the heroine in this book. The way she was consistent in her beliefs even if she had a few hang ups and the hero....he grew on me. I mean he went to Russia for her. He faced down anyone to get her back. It was a fairy tale story I really enjoyed reading.

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Oct 27, 2014 Paranormal Romance rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal-historical-romance, 4-star-rating

Escaping prison for a crime she may or may not have committed but unsure due to amnesia, the heroine flees her native Russia to her cousin living in London. There, she is thrust upon the family friend who has need of a governess for his teenage daughter. The hero is much displeased with the arrangement and vows to send the attractive but dangerous woman on her way as soon as she is deemed unfit. Unfortunately, the heroine takes to the young girl and all of those around her especially the hero hi Escaping prison for a crime she may or may not have committed but unsure due to amnesia, the heroine flees her native Russia to her cousin living in London. There, she is thrust upon the family friend who has need of a governess for his teenage daughter. The hero is much displeased with the arrangement and vows to send the attractive but dangerous woman on her way as soon as she is deemed unfit. Unfortunately, the heroine takes to the young girl and all of those around her especially the hero himself. A widow still grieving the death of his wife and the lose of a hand in the fire that took her, he's torn between his wife's memory and the beautiful young girl who's captured his attention as no other woman has. At first he is mean and harsh and altogether unwelcoming. He does and says things to hurt her but immediately feels guilty for it. He does it to push her away; to distance himself from her but no to avail. I loved the fact that though he is an amputee, he never dwells on the loss. He's not the brooding tortured figure and at times I forgot he was evening miss a hand because it was never a big deal to the characters or the story. The heroine is waif of a girl, petite fair skinned and possessing some paranormal psychic abilities. She lives in constant fear that the brother of the man she's convicted of killing will find her so she hides who she is, living as a lowly governess when in fact she is royalty and is used to silk and pearls. But she is kindhearted to a fault, a saint to those around her but innocent is the ways of men and horribly prudish at first and skittish around the hero. He is defiantly aggressive. He pushes her away one moment but draws her in the next. He is possessive and defiantly has a darker side to those who cross him. But he's loyal and will absolutely anything for those he loves. I really liked this book. It had a lot of heart and my goodness the hero's daughter was a riot. She's bold and sassy and funny and there is a hint that she will get her own book with the villain has the hero. That's another thing I loved about this story, the whole book is spent with the cousin being this boogeyman who's relentlessly pursuing the heroine but in the end, he's a victim as well. He isn't cruel or anything like the heroine feared him to be and I can't wait to see if he's in the next book. I found this book to have quite a lot of sex scenes, I would venture to say maybe too much. And the characters were in love by half way through the book. I prefer to have the anticipation of will they won't they drawn out a bit further, it adds to the tension. But I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This author is a new favorite- defiantly. ...more

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Jul 21, 2013 Quiet~truths rated it it was amazing

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

description

I loved everything about this book, from start to finish...

The Plot

The story began with a look inside Tasia or "Miss. Billing's" life in Russia. We see her desperate struggle to leave and her attempts (with aid from family) to make for England. She plans to evade execution from the Russian Government. She is being accused of murder, which she believes to be true - having no recollection of the night her fiance died. Everyone believed it was her, as she was the ea ...more

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About Lisa Kleypas

Lisa Kleypas

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LISA KLEYPAS is the RITA award-winning author of 21 novels. Her books are published in fourteen languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in Washington State with her husband and two children.

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Quotes from Midnight Angel

“I don't need any trinkets or pictures to remind me of my faith—all I need to do is stare out the window at the woods, and see how beautiful they are.” — 3 likes

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