The Prince of Midnight

This is not a romance novel. It belongs in horror and murder mystery. I had to take breaks. The bad guys in this book are truly terrifying. Very compelling read.

God, I LOVED this. Leigh, a desperate English girl, has traveled alone across most of England and France in search of him... Monseigneur du Minuit: The Prince of Midnight. Leigh has lost her loved ones and is desperate and determined to track down and kill the man responsible for the murder of her family. She feels sure that this man known as the Prince of Midnight is the only one that can help her. However, when she does finally come upon him, he is nothing that she was lead to believe. She believed him to be dashing and dangerous, just as the legend of him claimed. What she truly finds is a troubled, lonely, dreamy exile. Left with no other choice, she accepts his offer of help and together they make their way back to where Leigh once lived, but what is now a town under the control of a madman. The same man that killed her family. Leigh and S.T.(her prince)face many obstacles and some of them were quite shocking, but when the book finally does come to an end, it is unbearably sweet. I absolutely fell in love with S.T. He was just so sweet and romantic, and ridiculous, and strong, and brave and just really, really, wonderful. Leigh was harder for me to warm up to. It took me a while to understand her, but eventually I did and her behavior began to make a lot of sense. The characters in The Prince of Midnight were very well developed and so real. I just loved this story. This is a keeper for me for sure.

This is a wonderful story of a heart-hardened heroine and a flawed, romantic, optimistic hero who rises to the occasion. Not only is this beautifully written, but there is a nice flip of roles. He is aching to be in love and she is desperately afraid if it, not just with him but with his horses and his wolf sidekick as well. The only really disappointing thing about this particular printing is the lack of respect for the written word. Whoever is responsible for printing this edition (eread.com) should be ashamed of themselves. I have never seen so many typos in anything. There must be well over a hundred mistakes in this book. Sometimes two and three on a page. Some of these mistakes made it hard to understand the intent of the author. Really a mess. If you can find an old issue read that. The one pictured here should be burned. If I were the author I would sue.

The highwayman is a staple of the romance genre, but this one manages to be at times repulsive, pathetic and then sexy and heroic and the heroine...this one is as tough and independent as I have seen. I can not stress how wonderful it is to have a story that moves in unpredictable twists and turns and really is tough to put down. The setting in France and England, incredibly detailed and well selected. Many other romance novels are so predictable that you know the ending before the middle of the novel. Laura Kinsale doesn't have any cookie cutter characters and she does her homework.

I am retired and have the time to read about 3 books a week. I found this book on our local library's free exchange rack. I had never read any of Ms. Kinsale's books and didn't realize till now what I have been missing. I have read a few 5 star rated books lately which can't hold a candle to her writing. So if I could I would rate this closer to a 10. The story covers so much of interest that I couldn't put this down and finished it in 2 days. S.T. is the sweetest hero ever. The story brings in training of horses like the famous Lippizan stallions, Marquis de Sade and the Hellfire Club, religious fanatics, inner ear damage leaving deafness and loss of equilibrium. A man hopelessly in love and a woman bent on revenge, quite the switch. As you can tell I loved this book and her spellbinding storytelling. I can't wait to find more of her books and this is going on my keeper shelf.{:o} But I will return another book to the library to keep me honest.