Jennifer Blake

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!

Today I’m offering up my ARC copy of Jennifer Blake’s latest release, Midnight Waltz.  I was offered this book by Sourcebooks and I’d like to pass it on to someone else so that it can be enjoyed! After reading my review, if this sounds like a book you are interested in, fill out the form that can be found below my review.  US and Canada addresses only please!

Midnight Waltz by Jennifer Blake
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3849-9
Release: July 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Inc.
Source: I was given an ARC from the publisher to read and review
Re-issue

Who was this man who came to her in the dark of the moon…
Amalie’s arranged marriage that made her Julien Declouet’s bride and mistress of his magnificent Louisiana plantation is not what she expected. By day, her new husband is polite but strangely aloof and far from romantic. Yet when he comes to her in the dark of midnight, he is passionate and tender, almost a different man…
Troubled by the contrast, confused by white-hot emotions that alter between daylight and dark, Amalie learns to be mistress of Belle Grove. She is aided by her strong-willed mother-in-law, who requires an heir at any price, and her husband’s dynamic cousin Robert who is enough like him to be his twin. And her doubts increase with the summer heat. As hurricane winds begin to stir, the mystery gains in strength, becoming a storm that could destroy them all.

Midnight Waltz by Jennifer Blake is her latest release. I found it to be a engrossing read!  Amalie is a new bride to Julien Declouet in a story set in the 1800s Louisiana.  Although Amalie isn’t as young as some new brides of her era, she comes to her marriage quite innocent. She hardly knows her new husband as is quite common to the time and the culture.  After some floundering she finds her place in the household but doesn’t seem to have her husband visiting her bed at night.  She keeps herself busy running the house filled with some pretty colorful characters, helping in the slave clinic and trying to understand the undercurrents in the house.  After overhearing a rather heated argument between her mother in law, commonly known as M’mere and her husband’s cousin, Robert, she starts being visited by her husband in the wee hours of the morning.  She is puzzled by the differences between her sensual inventive lover that visits her at night and the distant, proper husband she has during the day.

This story is filled with richly detailed characters and a subtle description of places and history that are needed to understand the story.  I, for one, have not read a book set in Louisiana in a lot of years, and appreciated the little tidbits of geography, notes about the culture of the Creole population and even the snippets of French thrown in to the conversations.  The relationship between Amalie and her midnight lover is steamy and rich; drawing the reader into the descriptions of Amalie’s feelings and subsequent confusion.

This is the first book of Jennifer Blake’s that I’ve read in some time.  It wasn’t a light an airy romance.  This book was a dark and steamy as the climate it is set in.  The subject matter doesn’t really lend itself to lightness.  I don’t want to give away any of the plot so that readers can experience the story without any fore warning.

As mentioned above, if you are interested in winning a copy of this book, fill out the form below.