The Moonlight Wish

Edwina Langston will be disinherited by her grandfather if she doesn't marry his heir Viscount Ashstead. Eddie wishes nothing more than independence, but without an inheritance, she has nothing. Enter Xanthe the fairy godmother, dispensing visions of dancing creatures--and wishes. Eddie wishes for an independence, and Xanthe helps her find a way to get that independence--and gives her a magical make over as well. Ashstead wants anything but to obey his great-uncle's will, but he also needs money, and his great-uncle threatened to give all the properties that aren't entailed to charity if Ashstead doesn't marry his granddaughter. So he says he'll marry her while in a drunken stupor and chased her away to her fairy godmother. So he goes after her to Brighton... and there the story begins! A rare and charming work by a veteran author.

Lady Edwina Langston has been under her grandfather's thumb all her life. When he informs her that she must marry his heir, The Viscount Ashtead, or forfeit her inheritance, she flees her home in a fit of anger.Of course, she really doesn't have anywhere to go and is getting soaked in a rainstorm, but fortunately her fairy godmother, Lady Xanthe Simms, turns up and offers her the opportunity to gain her independence. She will stay in Lady Xanthe's magical home in Brighton and have eight weeks to find a way to earn the ten thousand pounds required to finance a small cottage and a companion, thereby avoiding the necessity of being under any man's thumb again.The only way Edwina can think of to respectably earn ten thousand pounds in eight weeks is to win at cards. However, she needs someone to introduce her to the "right" gentlemen--those who have money to lose and who are willing to play for high stakes--and her rejected suitor, Lord Ashtead, comes to her aid.As Edwina's pile of winnings grows, she and Lord Ashtead find themselves more and more attracted to each other. But it looks hopeless for them, because Edwina is too stubborn to give in to her grandfather's wishes, and Lord Ashtead knows she will never believe that his desire to marry her is motivated by anything other than the promise of a large inheritance from her grandfather.My favorite Regency heroines are strong, independent women determined to make their own way in the world in spite of the odds against them. Lady Edwina is a wonderful Regency heroine and the Viscount Ashtead a dashing hero. I am not crazy about fairy godmothers and other magical elements in Regencies, but if that's not a problem with you, this one may well be worth five stars.