#10 [2017/CBR9] "Midnight Angel" by Lisa Kleypas

Sometimes I crave romance novels. Whether it's because I've read too much serious literature and non-fiction or I just need the escapism, the best thing to do is curl up with a romantic novel as soon as possible. I'm pretty sure that's what happened with Midnight Angel (1995) by Lisa Kleypas. Feeling the need for some romantic distraction, I got on the library website, looked up Lisa Kleypas--because she's a good, reliable author--and picked a book that was available.

Tasia, a young Russian heiress. is about to be put to death for killing her cousin and fiance--something she does not remember. She is rescued by her uncle and brought to England in order to secretly work as a governess for the Marquess of Stokehurst, Luke. Lucas Stokehurst lost his arm in a fire while trying to rescue his wife and daughter from a fire nine years before. His wife died and Luke has never gotten over it. However, his daughter is now twelve years old and needs a governess. Despite his better judgment, Luke agrees to have Tasia as a governess without knowing her true identity. Tasia is grateful for the safe place, intrigued by Stokehurst, and adored by his daughter. She is also tormented by fear that her cousin's brother will follow her to England to avenge his brother's death.

I feel that I need to be honest here. I read this book in the beginning of the year, and then proceeded to not review any books for (almost) the rest of the year. Now going back to review this novel, I truly did not remember it at all. Even after I read the synopsis and started reading others' reviews, I could not remember it. It wasn't until I looked at the actual pages of the book that it rang a bell. However, I couldn't remember having any strong feelings about this one. On the one hand, it doesn't bode well for this novel because the one's I really like stick with me. On the other hand, it looks like there wasn't anything in this novel that was too irritating, or I would have remembered that as well.

What I do know is that Lisa Kleypas is a good author. You can always count on well-written material with her. Many of the reviewers who did not like this novel complained that Luke was an unfeeling, alpha male brute who treated Tasia horribly. I do remember disliking him at times, and it's good to be wary of books written back in the 90's when a horrible alpha male as a Hero was more acceptable. Another common complaint was that Tasia was super pious and religious in the beginning of the book but changed her tone a little too quickly once she became involved with Luke. They did not like her drastic change of personality without the groundwork. I think I found this to be some diverting fun in the moment, but it obviously did not affect me much.