Rating: 
Summary: A sit by the fire on a Saturday afternoon book.
Review: "Midnight Angel" is a quintessential romance novel that does not fall into the normal romance novel pitfalls. Tasia is quiet, resolute, guileless and totally overwhelmed. Tasia is neither vixen nor victim. Lucas is an unlikely champion who is dumbfounded at coming to care for someone so unlike his deceased wife. Lucas' daughter Emma is headstrong, but not spoiled; strong-willed and stubborn, yet she still retains a childish charm. Emma is both compassionately caring and painfully honest and fearless. And, the deceased wife is always respect, and never compared or demonized. Lisa Kleypas has a lucid and fluid writing style that carries you through this novel from beginning to end. Her characters, Tasia and Lucas, are multifaceted and interesting. One of the things that I like the best about her characters are that they have real, NORMAL, flaws that they struggle to deal with and to compensate for. Tasia, though a grown woman, is a very childlike character. She led a naive existence through her childhood and when thrown into an extraordinary situation wholly lacked the skills to deal with it. As the story progresses, Tasia's character matures and develops, constanting weighing and dealing with the competing influences in her life. When faced with a similarly extraordinary situation again at the end of the novel, she is far better adept and able to deal with it. The courtship and the chemistry between she and Lucas is a little contrived in the beginning. The author should have spent a little longer developing the relationship or delved into the mental processes of her characters in greater detail. I found this brevity of courtship/character development to be anomolous for Kleypas. Usually the realization of romance between her characters is more of a natural progression. However, Tasia and Lucas are so good together, I can understand the author's impatience to hurdle over the plot obstacles (Lady Harcourt, few encounters, etc. )to unite these two characters and begin their romance in earnest. The resolution at the end, again, is a bit of a sprint to the finish, but as always, Kleypas' strength is in her characters.
Rating:
Summary: A sit by the fire on a Saturday afternoon book.
Review: "Midnight Angel" is a quintessential romance novel that does not fall into the normal romance novel pitfalls. Tasia is quiet, resolute, guileless and totally overwhelmed. Tasia is neither vixen nor victim. Lucas is an unlikely champion who is dumbfounded at coming to care for someone so unlike his deceased wife. Lucas' daughter Emma is headstrong, but not spoiled; strong-willed and stubborn, yet she still retains a childish charm. Emma is both compassionately caring and painfully honest and fearless. And, the deceased wife is always respect, and never compared or demonized. Lisa Kleypas has a lucid and fluid writing style that carries you through this novel from beginning to end. Her characters, Tasia and Lucas, are multifaceted and interesting. One of the things that I like the best about her characters are that they have real, NORMAL, flaws that they struggle to deal with and to compensate for. Tasia, though a grown woman, is a very childlike character. She led a naive existence through her childhood and when thrown into an extraordinary situation wholly lacked the skills to deal with it. As the story progresses, Tasia's character matures and develops, constanting weighing and dealing with the competing influences in her life. When faced with a similarly extraordinary situation again at the end of the novel, she is far better adept and able to deal with it. The courtship and the chemistry between she and Lucas is a little contrived in the beginning. The author should have spent a little longer developing the relationship or delved into the mental processes of her characters in greater detail. I found this brevity of courtship/character development to be anomolous for Kleypas. Usually the realization of romance between her characters is more of a natural progression. However, Tasia and Lucas are so good together, I can understand the author's impatience to hurdle over the plot obstacles (Lady Harcourt, few encounters, etc. )to unite these two characters and begin their romance in earnest. The resolution at the end, again, is a bit of a sprint to the finish, but as always, Kleypas' strength is in her characters.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent story despite the gimpy hero
Review: I am not one for heroes or heroines with physical problems. Not that this took anything away from Lucas, he is still a great character, but the hook was kind of barbaric for the timeperiod. I am not sure why Kleypas chose to make him that way because the physical abnormality doesn't contribute to the storyline. But he uses the hook well. I like the fact that Kleypas included the part of the story about Lucas' previous lover. I think it was a nice wakeup about unrequited love without bringing the reader down. He is a true gentleman.
Anastasia is a great heroine as well. Her Russian ancestory gives her a mystical quality. With such an eccentric daughter it had to be a woman of a slightly different culture for Lucas. I did expect Emma to be a bit more selfish with her father than she was which makes me wonder if there had been much thought in her character. The real kicker in this book has to Nicolas! Just when you think the story is over Kleypas sets up an interesting beginning for another great story. As much as I liked Lucas, Nicolas is the bad boy I am waiting for.
Rating:
Summary: excellent story despite the gimpy hero
Review: I am not one for heroes or heroines with physical problems. Not that this took anything away from Lucas, he is still a great character, but the hook was kind of barbaric for the timeperiod. I am not sure why Kleypas chose to make him that way because the physical abnormality doesn't contribute to the storyline. But he uses the hook well. I like the fact that Kleypas included the part of the story about Lucas' previous lover. I think it was a nice wakeup about unrequited love without bringing the reader down. He is a true gentleman.
Anastasia is a great heroine as well. Her Russian ancestory gives her a mystical quality. With such an eccentric daughter it had to be a woman of a slightly different culture for Lucas. I did expect Emma to be a bit more selfish with her father than she was which makes me wonder if there had been much thought in her character. The real kicker in this book has to Nicolas! Just when you think the story is over Kleypas sets up an interesting beginning for another great story. As much as I liked Lucas, Nicolas is the bad boy I am waiting for.
Rating:
Summary: Good writing, better characters, and incredible romance!
Review: I believe this to be Kleypas' best work yet. It is the story of a vibrant young Russian noblewoman, Tasia, who must flee to the manor of a British nobleman, Lord Stokehurst, in the guise of a governess to save herself from a death sentence. Unlike other books that I have read by Lisa Kleypas, this one truly puts her talents to use with a likeable, exotic heroine who is beautiful, smart, strong, and subtly sexy. Stokehurst shows remarkable pomposity, but still retains that dignified manliness that simply can't be resisted. In addition to having wonderfully explored characters with both beauty and faults, Ms. Kleypas ensures the reader a smooth read with her excellent writing, which is not to be taken for granted in the realm of romance novels. Although the plot leans a bit towards the unlikely (even unbelieveable) in the latter part of the book, it is balanced out by the fantastically delicious love scenes that help to make Midnight Angel a glorious trip into the sultry nights (and days) of old England.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: I cannot share the former comments about this wonderful book. To me, a book is really great when it can make me think about it(even unvoluntarily at times)after finishing it.
Midnight Angel is definitively such a book.
I loved the way Luke was changing throughout the whole book (just a bit like the male heroe in Then came you) and the way Tasia recovered from her former nightmares.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent story, but not my favorite
Review: I did enjoy this story, but it wasn't my favorite. Lisa Kleypas is a wonderful writer, but I kept wondering, what did he see in Tasia? There wasn't enough to build a relationship. I'd say more like 4 1/2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Worth your time
Review: I have to agree with the reader from Northern California... I don't understand why so many readers didn't like this one. I thought it was great how Luke protected Tasia. They both needed each other. He needed to get over his first wife and she needed someone to love her. I enjoyed knowing that although he didn't know who she really was, he fell in love with her thinking she was just a governess. Emma, the tall redheaded daughter was delightful. I loved it that she didn't like Luke's mistress the haughty bit--. I'm glad she was put in her place early on. Overall, I think it was a good storyline. I'm glad I decided to judge this book for myself and read it. The reviews for A Stranger In My Arms weren't that good either, but I'm glad I read that one too. Of course, my favorites were Someone to Watch Over Me and Dreaming of You. I don't think I will read Prince of Dreams, the sequel as it is a time travel with reincarnation (at least that is what the reviewers are saying). I'll stick to non-fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: I just loved her book "Someone To Watch Over Me" so I went out and bought this one. What a huge mistake. I disliked both characters intensely and did not care for the plot. Way too much psychological junk cluttering everything-I got to the point that I had to stop reading the book after I had read about a quarter of it. Save your money and wait for her next book.
Rating:
Summary: NOT A KEEPER!
Review: I rank this book with "Prince of Dreams." I was extremely disppointed with the portrayal of the characters and the plot. I guess if you were Dr. Laura you might enjoy it because there does seem to be an overbundance of analysis getting in the way of romance and it just kills any sort of relationship. I might have expected too much since I read "Someone To Watch Over Me" prior to starting this novel. Save your money and buy the other book instead.
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