Midnight Angel

Rating:
Summary: I can't remember enough I liked to give it 2 stars
Review: I didn't particularly like the characters; it all felt too contrived. The "mystery" was both convoluted and too easily solved. The romance was neither heartfelt or sensual. The book was simply "blah." I was often bored, and though I finally made it through, my advice is "Don't waste your time."

Rating:
Summary: Completely Mad
Review: I didn't particularly like the characters; it all felt too contrived. The "mystery" was both convoluted and too easily solved. The romance was neither heartfelt or sensual. The book was simply "blah." I was often bored, and though I finally made it through, my advice is "Don't waste your time."

Rating:
Summary: A Bit Disappointing
Review: I love Julie Beard, and I just wrote a glowing review for her book, the Duchess' Lover, of which this is a sequel of. I started Midnight Angel with high hopes, and while it's not a complete waste of time, it doesn't measure up to the first book. There is some good stuff here, but there were a lot of weak points as well.

Hugh and Lydia share a past, and it's always nice to see the hero pining away for his true love. :-) It was different that we watched him battle his drug addiction and we found out about Lydia's painful past. And for once we see, in Lord Beaumont, what the price is for being a rake and bedding all those prostitues. It was nice to see Clara and Todd again, from the Duchess' Lover. I hope she makes it through this pregnancy okay.

But there were problems here too. The pace was a bit odd. They started out only having a few days to solve the crime, but you never really feel the urgency. And then a week or two later we have the show down. And I was left feeling that Hugh really didn't do a whole lot. He didn't find the girl...he was led around by the nose by the villian. There wasn't a whole lot of characterization in this story with more focus being on the murder plot. The whole channeling of Sherlock Holmes was very obvious though not a terrible thing. I never really believed anyone could mistake Lydia for a man and I waited with baited breath for some smallest mention of the beloved Duchess from the last book...but in vain.

So I guess, it's a matter of, not the worst book I ever read, but not nearly as good as I was expecting. Better luck next time.

Rating:
Summary: A fun, light read
Review: I'll admit it. I bought this book for the pretty cover. Though, a few pages in, I wondered why the designer bothered to change Dante's "Proserpina" from a brunette to a redhead considering that the heroine of the book was also a brunette. But I digress.

Our heroine has a secret identity. Once a prostitute, she is now undercover as the Midnight Angel, who rescues women from the streets and helps them return to respectable work. She becomes embroiled in a crime investigation, and winds up working with her former lover, and sparks fly as they race against time to rescue a young girl from a twisted Druidic cult.

What worked for me: The heroine wasn't innocent! I loved the conflict within her as she desired to be passionate with her lover but felt compelled to hide her experience from him. It was a realistic struggle that was more interesting than the parade of virgins who simper their way through most romance novels. Also, I liked the cult. Twisted version of paganism as it was, it was still fun to see White-Goddess-ish material in the novel.

What didn't work for me: Mostly, the whole idea of the Midnight Angel sweeping hookers off into "real" occupations. I've read several novels depicting the same period, very well-researched ones like *The Crimson Petal and the White* and *Slammerkin*. Many of the women who were prostitutes during this period got into "the life" not because they had no other opportunities, but because the other opportunities were even more grueling and degrading. I just can't see these women gushing, "Oh, Midnight Angel, thank you so much for saving me from prostitution so I can work 20 hours a day in a sweatshop instead!"

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Victorian romance
Review: In 1880 London, everyone wonders about the MIDNIGHT ANGEL, an apparent wealthy aristocrat, who helps fallen women start anew at her shelter Stone House. Unbeknownst to everyone who speculates about this benefactor is that though he dresses like a man, MIDNIGHT ANGEL is Lady Lydia Beaumont, wife of an earl dying from syphilis.

Actress Louise Canfield visits Beau and Lydia to obtain help as someone abducted her teenage daughter from the theater. Louise informs a stunned Beau that Sophia is his child from a long ago tryst. Beau's friends Todd and Clara Leach obtain the services of Lord "Clue", Hugh Montgomery known for solving cases. However, he and Lydia know each other from when they fell in love five years ago when she was known as Addie Parker. He thought she was dead while she felt he deserted her. As they work together, their love remains strong, but before either can think of the future a young girl needs rescuing.

Readers will enjoy this Victorian romance starring two intrepid females trying to break the mode that leaves women in lesser roles. From the start, the story line grips the audience with Louise dressed as a man trying to rescue an aging whore who just lost her teen child to a nasty John. Though the personal relationship between Louise and Hugh is heated, resolution is simplified with Beaus' deteriorating health. Still fans will relish this powerful historical romance.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Completely Mad
Review: It's rare that one reads a book and at the conclusion decides the author was completely mad at the time of writing it, but this is one of those cases. The plot is terribly convoluted, and the novel features characters that are highly unsympathetic. For instance, the heroine is a former prostitute and the hero a drug addict. Top this off with a bizzare club for homosexual men that defies the realms of ordinary imagination, and you've got the ingredients for a terrible book. PLEASE don't read it. I feel like Ms. Beard owes me four hours of my life spent wasted reading the drivel she calls a novel.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable One Sitting Read
Review: Lady Lydia Beumont, the young wife of an earl dying of syphalis, knows knows what it is like to be without options and left to fend for oneself in London. So she masquerades as a man, the Midnight Angel, a hero who helps fallen women start anew at a house she runs for falled women.

When her husband's previously unknown daughter is kidnapped from the theater her mother works at, Lydia steps in to help find the young girl with the help Lord "Clue", Hugh Montgomery, Lydia's one love and the cause of much misery.

The story line is gripping, if a bit overwrought, and the charecters are likably flawed.

Rating:
Summary: Actually a 1 rating is too high.
Review: Lydia Parker and Lord Hugh Montgomery share a past of pain and shattered dreams. Now Lydia is the wife of the Earl of Beaumont, and she must put all the anger and distrust she feels for Hugh behind her in order to find her husband's kidnapped illegitimate daughter, for Hugh has become one of England's topnotch criminal investigators, and if anyone can help them find the missing girl, it's Hugh. But while putting aside her feelings of anger and injury may not be as difficult as she had foreseen, can Lydia also sweep aside the treacherous feeling of passion and tenderness she seems to still harbour for Hugh?

It's not an easy thing to do -- writing a novel, that is. And it is even more difficult to write an evenly paced and balanced novel that has two subplots that have to share equal prominence. And unfortunately, in spite of the many promising plot premises, ultimately, Julie Beard's "Midnight Angel" proved to be a bit of a bland read for me. Part of the problem, I felt, was that things were stretched out too thin. Where the kidnapping subplot was concerned there was no sense of urgency. Lydia and Hugh had only a few days to find the missing girl, and yet because of the poor pacing there was no sense of urgency or tension(or if there was, I definitely did not sense this). Clues fell conveniently into their laps with very little investigating on their parts, and given that the authour had gone through the trouble of setting up a rather interesting alter-ego for Lydia, the very fact that this entire plot gambit was very poorly featured throughout the novel was rather frustrating. Also, as the book reached it's finale, the entire kidnapping/mysterious deaths subplot took on elements of the farcical that almost beggared belief mainly because that entire subplot had not (in my opinion) been properly developed.

The other problem with this novel was the supposed romance subplot. For me, this subplot lacked energy. We know about the painful history that lies between Hugh and Lydia, and that Lydia feels a lot of anger towards Hugh. No matter if this anger was justified or not, if Lydia had held onto this anger for at least half the book, it might have made for a more exciting read. As it was, one had to settle for Hugh languishing looks of longing and tenderness for Lydia, and her alternately melting and pushing him away.

Unfortunately, in spite of the rather promising subplot premises, "Midnight Angel" didn't exactly take off. The entire novel lacked focus, proper character development and energy. And this was a shame because the book could have been a rather engrossing read.