Mistress by Midnight Book

I love Nicola Cornick. I love this world she's created. I love these characters. I love their relationships and the complex circumstances they find themselves in. I'm pretty sure Mistress by Midnight is my favorite book so far...I couldn't stop once I started and ended up finishing it in about 8 hours. I don't think I've experienced tummy flutters of this magnitude in long while. Every other sentence has me swooning! I love Garrick and Merryn! I enthusiastically give this story all 5 stars, and if I could give it more I would!

We pick up again with Garrick, the new Duke of Farne. He has just buried his father, a deplorable and awful man and has assumed this new position merely out of duty. Now back in London after exile, Garrick is still feeling guilt over murdering his best friend, who happened to be his wife's lover, in a duel. One night, Garrick is confronted with his past head-on, when he meets Merryn Fenner, Stephen's youngest sister. Merryn has secretly been working as an private investigator. As the youngest in her family, Merryn has been in the background, happy to focus on gaining knowledge instead of men's attention. She always had a crush on Garrick...until he kills her brother. Now she seeks vengeance. But in her quest to uncover the truth of the past--and Garrick's attempt to thwart her--we discover that there is more to the story than we initially know. Will Garrick find the redemption he seeks? Will Merryn be able to reconcile her desire for revenge with her growing feelings for Garrick?

I LOVE Merryn! I love that she's an academic! She doesn't let society's expectations constrain her. Merryn is honest, clever, upright, and has such incredible fortitude. And I sympathize with her desire for justice. She's lost her family home: the Earldom of Fenner is lost since there is no heir to continue since Stephen was killed. Merryn is desperate to restore her family's name and make sure Farne pays.

And then there's Garrick, who, even though I know he's done wrong, I still feel bad for him. Garrick takes his promises and responsibilities very seriously. From the beginning, it's clear that the story about this duel isn't the whole truth. And Garrick, in his attempt to protect the innocent, bears the brunt of Merryn's scorn.

A few favorite moments:

1. The first kiss... Then Merryn hits Garrick over the head with a book and runs away, lolololol. Quite a meeting! And possibly love at first sight?:
"I kissed her and she tasted of dust and innocence, and I have never wanted to bed a woman more in my life... " OOLALA!

2. My favorire thing about this book is the complexity of Merryn and Garrick's relationship. There's CRAZY attraction between them, but how can Merryn want to be with the man who ruins her family?
- "Sleeping in Garrick's house had made her feel closer to him. It fed her hatred and hardened her determination to find out the truth." OUCH!
-"Merryn Fenner he was beginning to suspect, would be a stimulating adversary." Because Garrick is also and intellectual...they have great tet a tets!

Garrick is very protective of Merryn...for example, at the jail when she's talking to a witness and the jailer won't let her out, Garrick comes to the rescue... and then the kiss!
But above all, it seems Garrick wants to protect Merryn from the truth:
"But he also knew if the truth came out she would be horribly disillusioned, all he memories tarnished and her life in ruins again... There were others who deserved justice to, others he had sworn to protect on that terrible day the Stephen had died." Hmmmm...

3. There are also some very shady characters:
Tom Bradshaw is hella suspicious. And Harriet Knight is an idiot and a whore...
Stephen is seeming to be suspicious... a scoundrel indeed.
M: "He was a wastrel and a gamester and we could not afford him." So Stephen may have contributed to his demise...

4. I'm heartbroken for Merryn when high society is gossiping about the Fenner family letting bygones be bygones because Garrick returns their estate... Poor Merryn! She can't bare to know that people think she sold her brother's memory.

5. The beer flood is insane, but kind of cool... I've never heard of such a thing! Besides, being trapped together seems like good way to bond:
-Garrick and Merry's first sexy times... Their second sexy times... Mercy!
" She felt the brush of his cheek against her thigh, then the tip of his tongue at her cote, trailing shattering pleasure."
WOWSA! But then, there's the aftermath and the conflict:
"She had slept with her enemy, the man who had killed her brother... She had lost her virginity. She was ruined" *CRIES* I feel so bad for Merryn, she has to be confused!
Moreover, it saddens me that it's always the woman that suffers... society's scorn in these situations: " Society will destroy you... Ruined. Compromised." :(

6. I also love the Fenner women, in general! They should not be underestimated!

7. Aunt Elizabeth :)))

8. Merryn's attempt to seduce the truth from Garrick. ON HIS DESK.
I admit to being annoyed with Merryn while reading. Even Joanna tells her the truth of Stephen's meanness, but Merryn remains in denial.

The resolution is a little jarring, but very satisfying. We learn the truth of things, and even though we mourn, we still find love and family and happiness.

I LOVVVVVVVVVVVE this book. I don't know how else to say that this series is a MUSTREAD. I'll be starting book 4 immediately! YOU SHOULD TOO!