Ames’ review of A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James.
Miss Kate Daltry doesn’t believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after.
Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he’s anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.
Gabriel likes his fiancée, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn’t love her. Obviously, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.
Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after.
Unless a prince throws away everything that makes him noble . . .
Unless a dowry of an unruly heart trumps a fortune . . .
Unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything.
I love reading Eloisa James’ books but for some odd reason I’ve been dragging my feet on reading her Fairy Tales series. It’s a funny quirk of mine to put off reading books by authors I really enjoy. I’m weird, I know.
The blurb is a bit misleading though. To me, it makes it sound like Gabriel has already met his fiancée and that they’re friendly with each other by the time he meets Kate and falls for her. But this isn’t the case.
Kate’s hateful step-mother is forcing her to masquerade as her step-sister, Victoria, to impress Prince Gabriel. You see, Victoria is engaged to the Prince’s cousin, and he must give his approval to the match for it to proceed. But Victoria can’t meet the Prince herself at the moment because one of her little lapdogs bit her lip and it is swollen and infected and gross. So Kate is forced to act as Victoria.
This presents a bit of a problem because Kate isn’t sure she can act like a lady. Her mother passed away before she could mold and shape her behavior and acting as the estate’s steward since her father died doesn’t exactly make her ready for the ballroom. She’s better haggling with men at the market than dancing.
Prince Gabriel is in England because his brother, Prince Augustus, has turned out all his relatives that don’t kowtow to his new religious rules at court. And Gabriel, the honourable man that he is, sets up a castle in England and takes in all his exiled relatives (and various wild animals). But in order to continue supporting his family, he needs to marry an heiress. And so a Russian princess is found for him. She’s on her way to England for them to meet, but in the meantime, Kate and her future brother-in-law arrive.
Kate doesn’t think too highly of Gabriel when they first meet. And the feeling is mutual. But Kate’s lack of respect for his position intrigues him and he’s drawn to her. The contradiction in her character, as opposed to what he’s heard about her is a riddle he wants to solve. And he does so quickly. I liked that Kate masquerading as her step-sister is not something that’s drawn on for a long time. And I loved the dynamic between Kate and Gabriel. They both know that whatever is developing between them cannot last. Kate is not an heiress and Gabriel is too good a person to leave his quirky relatives to fend for themselves if he was to marry for love instead of money.
I really enjoyed A Kiss at Midnight. It had a delightfully quirky cast of characters from Kate and Gabriel, to his butler Berwick, to the little dogs Kate has to drag around while pretending to be Victoria. I liked the progression with Kate and Gabriel’s relationship as well. Kate is a practical kind of heroine, the ones I really enjoy the best. She goes with the flow. She’s got a wicked step-mother? She adapts. She doesn’t like the way her life is going? After this favor to Victoria, she’s outta there! Except you know, she finds out she has a godmother and she was a great character too. LOL
Also, things aren’t so cut and dried when it comes to her step-mother and step-sister. I was shocked at the news about those two and felt so bad for Kate. Just like Cinderella, she really needed a fairy godmother.
I know I’m making a muddle of this review, but I enjoyed A Kiss at Midnight. It has James’ signature cleverness and great characters. I loved the way things developed between Kate and Gabriel and was very happy with the resolution.
4.5 out of 5
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
Fairy Tales series order:
A Kiss at Midnight
When Beauty Tamed the Beast
The Duke is Mine
The Ugly Duchess
Once Upon a Tower
this one sounds cute and i love it when the characters don’t get along. i have only read one book by eloisa james before and i didn’t love it. however, i think i will give this one a try. thanks for the review!