Reviews for Mistress by Midnight

The average rating for Mistress by Midnight based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-01-21 00:00:00 Alexandra Harvey Nicola Cornick's wonderful combination of star-crossed lovers, hidden secrets, life-threatening danger and delightful touches of humor make MISTRESS BY MIDNIGHT an unforgettable read. Lady Merryn Fenner hates Garrick Northesk, the new Duke of Farne, because ten years ago he killed her adored brother, Stephen, in a duel over Garrick's wife, Kitty. A private investigator, Tom Bradshaw, approaches Merryn with evidence to suggest that no duel actually took place and that, in fact, Garrick murdered her brother. Since then, she has been secretly working for Tom Bradshaw hoping to find further evidence against Garrick so that she can expose him as a murderer and see him hang. In an effort to find the evidence, Merryn breaks into Farne House but is unaware that Garrick has returned from abroad to take up residence following his father's death. He discovers Merryn but she manages to escape. Garrick is unable to forget his 'pocket goddess' of an intruder and is determined to ascertain her identity. However, when he discovers that she is Lady Merryn Fenner, he is forced to seek her out and discover exactly what she knows because the truth surrounding Stephen Fenner's death must never come to light. Despite everything that has happened in the past, Garrick and Merryn develop a deep mutual desire and, following a near death situation, they finally succumb to their intense feelings. Unfortunately, they are discovered in a highly compromising situation and are forced to marry. Can Garrick and Merryn find true happiness or will the past and a scheming enemy keep them apart? In Garrick and Merryn, Nicola Cornick has created two very memorable and complex characters. Garrick is everything a hero should be - handsome, enigmatic, powerfully built, witty and sexy. However, he has one major flaw - ten years ago, he killed his best friend under suspicious circumstances! It is clear from the start that honor and duty mean everything to Garrick and that the tragic events of the past have been significant in shaping the man he has become. I admire him for his strong sense of honor even when it is at odds with his own personal wishes. For instance, he wants to tell Merryn the truth about the circumstances surrounding her brother's death, but he knows that he cannot break the oath he took ten years ago. He is also aware that if Merryn should learn the truth, 'she would be horribly disillusioned, all her memories tarnished and her life in ruins again'. I really felt great sympathy for Garrick as there seemed no easy solution to his dilemma. When he discovers that his father had purchased the Fenner Estates, following the death of the Earl of Fenner, he feels honor bound to return them to Merryn and her sisters by way of a gift. This is not to salve his conscience as Merryn suggests but because he is revolted by the fact that his father profited from those past tragic events. He sees being a duke and looking after the estate as a 'monstrous duty' but one which he takes very seriously. His task is made more difficult because of his late father's terrible reputation - 'The eighteenth Duke had beaten his servants and kicked his dogs, and vice versa.' He has to prove that he is not like his father. I could not believe that a man with such high principles would be a cold-blooded killer and was delighted when the truth was finally revealed and my faith in him rewarded. I like Merryn because I always have a soft spot for unconventional heroines. She is a very principled person who 'believes in justice and fighting for what is right....', although she is very blinkered in her obsession with bringing Garrick to justice. She idolized her brother and has shut her eyes to his true character. We also learn that she has a guilty secret of her own which has colored her view of past events. She shows a certain naïveté with regard to Tom Bradshaw because she to fails to realise that he has been using her for his own nefarious ends. When she discovers his duplicity, she begins to doubt her own judgment. I sympathize with her dilemma with regard to her growing feelings for Garrick. He is the man who murdered her brother and she feels guilty for desiring him. I like the way in which Merryn matures over the course of the book. Initially, she regards her sisters, Joanna and Tess, as frivolous and only interested in clothes and balls. Gradually, she sees just how much they care for her and how much she loves them. Although her life has been exciting, she realizes that it has been devoid of love and that she has never experienced desire until she met Garrick. Ms Cornick does an excellent job of building and sustaining the sizzling passion between Garrick and Merryn and the love scenes are very sensual. I really warmed to Merryn's sisters, Joanna and Tess, who revealed hidden sides to their characters. Both provide support to Merryn in different ways when she is facing ruin. Ms Cornick excels in combining witty banter, exciting action, intensely passionate scenes and wonderfully descriptive narrative. I love Garrick's description of his butler, Pointer, as 'fluttering around in the dark hall like a monstrous moth' and I could really smell the beer fumes in the scene of the London Beer Flood. I can highly recommend this book and I will certainly be reading the other two books in this Scandalous Women of the Ton series. This review was originally written for The Romance Reviews

Review # 2 was written on 2012-09-03 00:00:00 Saandra Mohr 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!