Thief of Dreams

It's Cassandra's twenty-first birthday, and she's blissfully happy. Having inherited the Earldom of Worthing in her own right (she's the countess), she's looking forward to the freedom of managing her own property without interference from her relatives - all of whom she loves, but who persist in treating her as a child.But an unexpected guest arrives: Nigel, Viscount Wroxley, who claims to have been a friend of Cassandra's late father. Nigel charms Cassandra, much to the disgust of her relatives, and she finds herself very much drawn to this handsome, charming and very attentive man. So when he asks her to marry him, she has little hesitation in saying yes.Balogh lets her readers know early on that Nigel has at least one ulterior motive for coming to Kedleston and for wanting to marry Cassadra. I guessed relatively early what these motives might have been, but I was very unsure, certainly with regard to the second, of whether I was correct. Balogh plays her cards very close to her chest in this book, leaving the readers, as well as Cassandra, guessing as to whether Nigel is really a villain in need of reforming, or a very badly-misunderstood good guy.Balogh very cleverly doesn't allow her characters to sink into uncommunicative misunderstanding in this book; although Cassandra is furious when she finds out part of the truth about Nigel, she doesn't lock herself into her room and stay there. Instead, she decides that she will not be afraid of him, and as a result we get some wonderful scenes in which her love for him - and his for her - battles with her dislike of what he did.There are also a couple of delightful secondary romances in this book, something I always like. Oh, and as for the reader from San Diego who didn't like Nigel as a romantic hero, isn't it a bit shallow to expect all heroes to be tall, dashing, well-built and devastatingly handsome? As it happens, Balogh, does write about heroes and heroines who do not fit the usual mould - but on the other hand, read the book carefully. Nigel *is* tall. He has dark hair. He is handsome. And, although he is slender, his valet comments at one point that he needs to fill out still, after his experiences. As for the 'Zounds' and 'Egad', this book is set in Georgian (just pre-Regency) times, and such vocabulary, along with long, bagged hair and powder, was common.

I usually don't like Regency novels but this was much better than I had hoped. At the very beginning, I thought - uh oh - very stiff characters with very stiff, formal situations and conversation. Just like all the other Regency stuff.But then I started to pay more attention to the dialogue. The lines were very witty and the characters started to grow on me. The hints of impending doom were a bit heavy handed but it did add to the suspense. Just who was Nigel and what had really happened to him? How was he going to hurt Cassandra? The mystery became intriguing. I really liked Cass and Nigel: they were good together whether they were happy or miserable. There was an unbelievable twist near the end and what a MAGNIFICENT ENDING!! Probably the best I've read in a long time. Sometimes the very last pages are a real let down but not here. Just goes to prove what really TRUE LOVE can achieve. Super book! Highly recommended. (Sorry, one small criticism: I hate the words Egad and Zounds and they appeared much too often.)

I agree with BLOOMINGTON. Balogh is an original, and her skill far surpasses that of almost all her competitors. This book is a remarkable study of human nature, and how one's character can strengthen under pressure. Far more than just a romantic fairy tale.

I very much enjoyed this story; it was hard to put it down. I think the author is very good at character development and understands human nature and the forces that shape it. I am grateful that she doesn't write a formula best-seller, like Putney or Quick. I may not like every book she writes but at least they are all original.