A Real Disappointment:
Before reading this book, I didn?t think Lisa Kleypas was capable of writing a ?stinker.? MIDNIGHT ANGEL proved me wrong; this book is disappointing. I kept wondering, ?What was she thinking??
Tasia is a member of Russian royalty who has been convicted of killing her fiancée. People help her escape her pending death and spirit her away to England. A cousin helps her get a job as governess to Lord Lucas Stokehurst for his daughter, Emma.
In the first half of the book, Tasia is a deeply religious woman who sounds more like Mother Theresa than a breathing-and-living person. Lord Stokehurst is still deeply in love with his dead wife although he has a mistress. It seems a bit strange that Stokehurst is still grieving 9 years after Mary?s death; he swears he will never marry again.
It doesn?t take long for Lord Stokehurst to change his mind and decide that he loves Tasia and wants to marry her. They have wild nights of passion ? a bit strange for a deeply religious woman to jump into bed so quickly with a man nearly twice her age. She also knows he has a mistress.
The character Emma is a saving grace of the book. She is precocious and charming. Emma loves her father and seems to know everything that goes on in her father?s life (including info about his mistress). Later, she has no problem accepting her governess as her new mother.
Luke Stokehurst vacillates from tender lover to overbearing brute. Tasia begins the story as a pious woman and later tosses that aside to become a wanton lover of Luke.
The story was inventive and unique. However, the main characters don?t explain why they change so radically. The book just doesn?t flow smoothly; hold on, it?s a bumpy ride. 2.5 stars
