The Devil's Waltz

Stuart gives you a double-dose of true historical romance. She takes the old formula of the beautiful, arrogant rake who falls for the dowdy spinster heroine. With typical Stuart Magic that has kept me spellbound since my first Stuart book, To Love a Dark Lord, she takes the old and makes it new, yet once more. I love Stuart. She is the Resident Genius of Bad Boys. She makes no apologies for their dark, dangerous and often deadly nature. She knows men too well to try to do that. Her males are selfish, callused and often makes you wonder why anyone would put up with, much less fall for him. Something lasses raised on the kinder-gentler Historicals of today fail to understand - sexual attraction is the forbidden, the male that mama warns you against. Another of Stuart's sexy studs, Christian Montcalm is lethally sensual rake of the ton. He embraces his lack of morals, courts them, only he faces ruin unless he marries a rich heiress. Enters the perfect target, Miss Hetty Chipple. She is the lovely daughter of a got-rocks shipping magnate. Everything seems perfect to him. He is gorgeous and dear Hetty wants the prettiest pony daddy's money can buy. Should be a match made in ton heaven...right? Well, we all know there's going to be problems. This time it's Miss Annelise Kempton. She is the less-than-perfect spinster hired to chaperon Hetty and she feels a fortune-hunting pretty boy isn't what Hetty needs. Firmly on the shelf, Annelise is not pretty, too tall and had no money. Even so, our sexy lad still cannot help but be drawn by her intelligence, even though he wants to strangle her for interfering with his plans. I adore men, love their true nature, and Stuart always taps into that. Christian is another of her gamma rogue males you want to slap, then kiss. Naturally, Stuart paints with dark strokes his inner nature, though maybe with a slight more mellowness as some of her other dark and daring dudes. Stuart reminds us of the roots of historical romance, and shows she can still turn the deft party trick, and do it again in style.

I have to say this is one of the best romance historicals I have ever read. It reminds me of another Stuart book "To Love A Dark Lord" I love bad boys and only Stuart knows how to write about them and redeem them. I loved the way the hero called the heroine "dragon". Anne Stuart sucked me in from the very beginning and I couldn't stop reading until 3 A.M. Her characterization of the main characters is so real, I felt I knew them personally and I could see them in my mind's eye. This book is definitely going on my keeper shelf because I plan to read it again and again. I can only hope I don't have to wait a long time to read another historical by her.

In "The Devil's Waltz", Anne Stuart travels some familiar ground in the historical romance arena with the taming of a charming rakish hero by a virginal spinster heroine, but the story is so well-told and the characters so well-drawn that the end result does not feel like a romance cliche. Anne Stuart specializes in darker, morally ambiguous heroes, and when she writes a story featuring a "rake" hero, then he is sure to be the real thing. Christian Montcalm is a charming, lethally handsome aristocrat of loose morals and little fortune who has decided that he must marry an heiress to improve his finances. The heiress that he has picked is the lovely, very young Miss Hetty Chipple, the only daughter of a very wealthy shipping magnate. He meets an obstacle to his plans in the form of her unpaid companion/chaperon, the Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton. Annelise is plain, bespectacled, too tall and nearing her 30th birthday, but her acerbic wit and no-nonsense demeanor pique Christian's interest and he finds himself fantasizing about Anneline while courting the her pretty, frivolous charge. Annelise is aware of Christian's scandalous reputation and determined to prevent his marriage to the impressionable Hetty. When she engages Hetty's heavy-handed father's aid in discouraging Christian's interest, the situation takes a violent turn. Christian is an engaging hero, by turns brutally honest about his mercenary interest in Hetty and a bald-face liar when he pledges to not touch Annelise when she is left alone with him (through his own machinations.) He is given the requisite background of a tragic past including a brutal upbringing, but this is not over-used to excuse his wickedness and selfish behavior. He is a truly charming man who simultaneously can send precisely the right type of flowers to the ingenue that he is courting and her spinster companion and effortlessly please them both. Although Christian cold-heartedly plots to marry Hetty for her money and seduce her companion, he is not as mean-spirited as some of Anne Stuart's past heroes and the book is rather lighter in tone. Annelise is a starchy spinster heroine who really has some starch in her character. Left destitute by her reckless gambler of a father and too high-born to accept money for her services, she lives with others nominally as a "guest" but actually as an unpaid companion. Her role with Hetty is to act as a chaperon and advisor on matters of taste and manners (a challenging task.) She has trained herself to be calm and unflappable, but in truth her inner snob rebels against the atrocious taste of her nouveau riche "hosts" and she is a secret romantic. When the gorgeous Christian begins his flirtations with her, she is irresistibly attracted to him despite herself and the battle between her romantic inclinations and her own good sense begins. The plot moves along well and the dialogue is sharp and well-written. The villain is far too over-the-top villainous (

As one of my favorite authors, Anne Stuart never disappoints me. The Devil's Waltz was a delight filled with witty banter between Christian and Annelise and a lighter story than Ms. Stuart's usual darker tones. I loved every moment I spent with this book.

A long time fan of Anne Stuart, I bought this book off the shelf without really reading the back (okay, so I have to admit, the cover really was attractive and light purple is my favorite color ><). All I have to say, it was worth the money. Anne Stuart always writes about the sexiest black sheep, renegade man of the family (in this particular case, of England) and the right kind of woman to come along and reform him. As with all her other books, this book definitely kept me reading well onto the early morning. <br /> <br />Christian Montclam is in dire need of money to save his home in Devon, Wynche End (in shambles, belonging to his mother's side of the family). He's also in the line to get the title of Viscount (from his cold hearted bastard of a grandfather), but only the title, not the wealth and benefit that comes along with it. The story behind it is Christian's father had met a French woman while in France. He, of course, married her and remained in France with her. Because Christian's father had married a woman his grandfather did not approve of, and because he had left his English ancestry to remain in France, the Viscount disowned his father. <br /> <br />I won't reveal what happens next, but Christian managed to be the only sole survivor of his family, thus disowning his own French side and becoming completely English. <br /> <br />With no where else to get his money so he could rescue Wynche End, Christian decides to court a certain young heiress by the name of Hetty Chipples. Hetty's father had managed to come into a bit of money and wants his daughter to catch the eye of a respectable and titled man. It didn't matter that the man doesn't have any money, as long as he had a title that came with him. <br /> <br />Christian had been quite successful thus far, in capturing the attention of Hetty, but that's all about to change when Hetty becomes a charge of Annelise Kempton. <br /> <br />Fallen into bad times herself, the Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton refuses to go below her standard and work for money. Her family has bloodline going all the way back to the Magna Carta, and could never accept money for any services done. Instead, Annelise accepts the hospitality of others in return for her services. Thanks to her godmother, Lady Prentice, Annelise is now in charge of helping Hetty capture the attention of a titled man in society--and to keep her away from the rogue of a man, Christian. But it seemed Christian has his own agenda for wanting to seduce the Honorable Miss Annelise Kempton. He was most intrigued by her starchy nature and the way she hides herself in those dreadful ugly spinister clothes of hers. <br /> <br />Christian is no gentleman in here, one reason why I think he's just the sexiest guy ever. He doesn't claim to be what he is, and he will lie, seduce, steal, cheat, if he has to, to get what he wants. On the other hand, Annelise is the exact opposite of him, giving her the title of "The Honorable." <br /> <br