A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James

Summary: Miss Kate Daltry doesn't believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after.
Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he's anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.

Gabriel likes his fiancée, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn't love her. Obviously, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.

Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after.

Unless a prince throws away everything that makes him noble . . .

Unless a dowry of an unruly heart trumps a fortune . . .

Unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything.

I don't really have too much to say about this book really, except that I enjoyed it and it served its purpose.
When I'm in a reading slump, aside from just whining and being miserable and waiting, there are two kinds of books that can sometimes snap me out of it--really amazing books (those ones that are insta-favourites and just leave you with that wow feeling)...and books like this one (predictable, mindless entertainment that don't have much substance beyond being ridiculously addictive).

I loved the book. It was exactly what I needed it to be. It hooked from the first page to the last, it had me smiling a lot, I became attached to the characters (even the dogs), I liked that it wasn't one of those stories that portray the step-sister as ugly and awful or makes the "competition" catty and mean, and I just really enjoyed reading it. I read it in one sitting (when I'm in a reading slump, that is normally a struggle).

The book wasn't perfect but the flaws didn't bother me much because I wasn't reading it expecting a literary masterpiece, I didn't care if the writing was wonderful or if the story was original, I just wanted to read a book that would keep me entertained with a romance that would be predictable and fun to read about, and this was exactly that. I really want to read the rest of the books in this fairy tale series, hopefully the others will be just as good.

I'm not going to rate the book, because I judge books like this on a different scale--if I measured it against the standards I hold my favourite books to then the rating wouldn't be great, but for what it was and what I wanted it to be, the rating would be higher. So...yeah, if you want some fun, predictable, historical romance then I recommend this one. And if you like these sorts of books, are there any you'd recommend?

On a kind of related note: why, why, why must these books have such bloody awful covers? I think I've yet to see one with a cover I actually like and wouldn't cringe to be seen reading in public. Even the redesigned ones are just...eugh.

Later.

View the original article here