Midnight Angel

Stokehursts, Book 1

By: Lisa Kleypas

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

A noblewoman of frail beauty and exotic mystery fakes her own death to escape the gallows. And now she must flee. In disguise and under a false identity, she finds unexpected sanctuary in the arms of a handsome and arrogant yet gallant British lord—who must defy society to keep her safe . . . and overcome a tragic past to claim her as his own.

©2009 Lisa Kleypas (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

A peculiar mélange of an irascible lord and mysterious mystic Russian governess

An unfortunate plot replete with too much religion and an unlikable and sometimes brutal lord of the manor. Not Lisa Kleypas’ usually reliable novels.

I look forward to part 2 already

This book was all out great. The characters were rich and vivid. The plot was a little predictable, but that's okay; it makes for a light interesting read.

Midnight Angel

Lisa Kleypas has done it again! I enjoy all of her novels immensely. She has a gift that keeps on giving. Thoroughly enjoyed this novel!

A Russian flair

I liked the mixture of Russian culture, mixture of accents, and a bit of danger.

A little too far fetched

I found it hard to see how Luke, who had gone so many years without falling in love, could be attracted to this strange waif who came into his home. From the description, I kept picturing Natasha, the Russian spy in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. Just didn’t seem like a likely pairing. She also is one of the less likable protagonist compared to so many of her later ones, e.g., The Wallflowers series. I read it because it was a Lisa Kleypas and Rosalind Landor but I think I’ll go back and reread The Wallflowers next.

Not up to par of other LK books

So we know in Victorian times and prior age differences such as described in this book were commonplace. So let’s move off that point. The way he forces his will on her was cringeworthy and probably also happened. It takes away from their love though when he physically shows he’s stronger and “ in control”.
The narrating is always excellent.

Loved it!

It was a nice listen. A tiger, can't wait to start the second in the series.

I love the whole series

I liked the narration and the story. What I like about this author is that she’s is very methodical and accurate when it comes to introduce historical facts into her stories.

Intriguing

As always, Rosalyn Landor is perfect. The story was intriguing, looking forward to the second book.

Kind of ick

I might have enjoyed this more 20 years ago, but now having learned about coercive control and various other manifestations of abusive relationship, this one just made me uncomfortable.

Too big of an age gap between the male and female protagonists. Male MC is at times way too controlling of the female MC. The male MC can physically dominate the female MC, which is also ick. Two subplots involve underage characters as inappropriate objects of interest to older characters.

I know all these things happen in real life, but they are not what I read romance novels for.



However, narrator Roslyn Landour can apparently do no wrong, and even her Russian accents were outstanding.