The Wallflower’s Midnight Waltz
Collette Cameron
Historical Regency
A masquerade ball sets the stage for an American wallflower’s revenge against an English noble, only to be complicated by unexpected love…
American Eva Westbrook has had enough of English aristocrats looking down their snooty noses at her. Among these elite nobles is her neighbor, Peter Hartigan, a notorious rake she believes played a part in her cousin’s humiliation a few years ago. Disguised as a mysterious masked woman and seeking reprisal, Eva sneaks into a masquerade ball that Peter is hosting.
As Eva spends more time with Peter, she realizes he may not be the heartless blackguard she thought he was. She becomes torn between her duty to avenge the past pain and suffering of her dear cousin and the unexpected feelings for the very man who’d caused it.
As they dance the midnight waltz, Eva and Peter engage in a dangerous game of deception and desire. Eva struggles to maintain her facade while battling her growing attraction to Peter. Meanwhile, Peter is captivated by the enigmatic woman in his arms and is determined to uncover her true identity.
With her blossoming feelings conflicting with a quest for vengeance, will Eva decide to follow through with her vendetta or let go of the past and take a chance on a future with Peter?
Uncaged Review: A very sweet novella, that only takes a couple of hours to read. Peter Hartigan has returned after a devastating injury leaves him without a big chunk of his memories. Told he humiliated Althea Westbrook, the nearby neighbors, Peter is afraid but determined to give his apologies to the family, even not knowing what he did. So he holds a masquerade party and gives an invite to a servant at the Westbrook’s home…not knowing the servant he handed it to was not a servant at all.
Eva Westbrook is an American cousin visiting on an extended stay. She knows how badly Althea was hurt, and vows to go to the masquerade to humiliate Peter like he did to her cousin. But when she gets there, she finds he may not be the cad everyone made him out to be, and finds the attraction between them undeniable…
Will it work out for the two? And what really happened that night with Althea? This is nice fun read and although very short, and I’m not normally a fan of instant love type tropes, it actually works pretty nicely here. Reviewed by Cyrene
4 Stars