Tracy’s review of A Midnight Dance (Fiery Tales #3)) by Lila DiPasqua

Born into wealth, Sabine Laurent and her twin sister lived a life of luxury, their father’s prestigious theater frequented by royalty and aristocracy alike. And Sabine dreamed of her own prince charming—the devastatingly handsome Jules de Moutier.

That was before the loss of her sister and her family’s fall from grace—a disaster Sabine blames on the Moutier family. Now, with her father’s death, she’s inherited his sizable debt and the responsibility of caring for his spoiled long-time mistress and her two wastrel daughters. But with the help of Sabine’s eccentric friends—the balance of her father’s acting troupe—she plans to get very close to her old infatuation, seduce the rake—and make away with a fortune.

Resisting Jules’s skillful mouth and tantalizing touch is not as easy as Sabine supposed. And soon she must decide whether her desire for vengeance is greater than her desire for her one and only prince…

Sabine Laurent is desperate. After her family’s financial decline and her father’s death she’s the one keeping the family together. With the taxes so high there’s no way that they can survive for much longer. Sabine overhears talk of a cache of silver. She devises a plan where her and her two younger cousins will go to the camp of the men who are guarding the silver, have them drink tainted wine and then take the silver for themselves. The problem? Well, the men aren’t quite as gullible as Sabine and her cousins think they are. The head of the group, much to Sabine’s dismay, is none other than the nobleman she has pined over for years. When she finds herself stuck in a situation where she can’t seem to rectify she plays along and finds herself in the arms of the man she thought she once loved.

Sabine and her family eventually hit their mark and get the silver but Sabine has already relinquished her heart to Jules de Moutier. Jules is more than pissed that he’s been had and when he finds Sabine he tries to make her life hell. Jules has not only the silver theft to figure out but he also is trying to get his family’s honor back after his father was publicly hanged for treason, their lands and titles stripped and their money taken. Jules believes that his father was innocent and intends on proving that everything was a set up. Surprisingly he gets help from Sabine, her family and her sister’s journals. Jules finds himself having deep feelings about Sabine but their classes are so different there’s no way that he can marry her. How can they be together?

This is another of DiPasqua’s stories that is base around a fairy tale and it was a good one. This was not like any other tale of Cinderella that I had read before – it was so much better.

I think the main thing I liked about the story – besides the fact that it was well written – was the fact that the author didn’t try to stick to the norm of the Cinderella story. Yes, it was loosely based on that story but the whole book had a much darker feel to it – DiPasqua wasn’t afraid to add treason, death, and poverty into her romance – and it worked!

The characters were also wonderful. Sabine and her unending strength was wonderful. She did what she needed to do and she wasn’t afraid to stand up to those who thought she was beneath them. She had a fire in her and I loved that she just didn’t give in to what could have been a horrid life.

Jules, at first, was a terrible snob. He was the typical noble – not even looking at those he thought were beneath him. It really took him reading Sabine’s journal and a good look at himself to get him to realize that everything he wanted out of life before may not be what he wants now. I truly grew to like him more and more as the book went on.

The secondary characters were great as well and very three dimensional.

I very much look forward to reading the next fiery tale that DiPasqua decides to tell us, whatever that may be.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

The Series:

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This book is available from Berkley Trade. You can buy it here or here in e-format.