Jacquie D'Alessandro "Seduced at Midnight"

Lady Julianne has spent her life quietly following her family's dictates and now her father says she is to marry a Duke. But when a cat burglar starts robbing and killing ladies of the ton, Julianne does the unexpected and fakes an attack on herself to gain time with Gideon, a bow street runner working on the case.

Gideon is not a profligate lord, he's a serious controlled man who takes pride in his work and who lost his young wife several years ago. It goes without saying that he's gorgeous and inexplicably drawn to Julianne, but he's quite certain she is too good for him.

I loved their initial attraction to each other. Some of the witty dialog is missing from this book as opposed to the other D'Alessandro books, but it's replaced by sexual tension and Julianne plucking up her courage and pursuing Gideon knowing this is her last chance at passion. The middle of the book gets bogged down as Gideon gets more serious about resisting her, and she continues to be a basically timid character dreading her marriage. The plot is a bit lacking. (She says with a straight face) :)

The end is sappy but I was in love with Gideon by this point, so I allowed that and the resolution to the murder mystery to distract me. I only snorted slightly at her burning her hopes and dreams. This is a nice traditionally laid out romance novel. Well written, okay plot, decent sex and sexual tension.

Historical Romance 2009: 4 out of 5 buttons off of breeches.

Jacquie D'Alessandro 'Confessions at Midnight'

D'Alessandro wrote Sleepless at Midnight which I gave 5 stars. This new book about Sarah's sister, Carolyn is fun and witty and just as light and enjoyable as her earlier book, until about halfway through. Somewhere around the second week of Carolyn's affair with Daniel, I got a little tired of his overwhelming addiction to her. And I started to notice that the book really didn't have anything other than their relationship going on. This is not necessarily a deal breaker in a romance, however the interaction of said main characters better remain pretty darn entertaining if that's the only element present. Oh, there is a little murder mystery but it's really an aside.

What I loved about Sleepless at Midnight, and what I love about the first half of this book is the clever, entertaining, witty dialog. But once the first infatuation runs it's course, the descent into maudlin overly dramatic emotion is all that's left. With not much other plot to distract me, I lost interest in these two.

Overall, solid middle of the road romance. Good in a pinch, but not very memorable.

Historical Romance 2008: 3.5 out of 5.

Jacquie D'Alessandro 'Sleepless at Midnight'

I was avoiding reading this book because of the really lame cover and the equally lame title. Boy am I glad I feel this compulsion to read now that I have people depending on me, waiting for my insight. Er, well, maybe Erin cares. Anyway, Sarah is a spectacle wearing spinster who accompanies her sister to a house party at Lord Langston's estate. She catches a glimpse of Lord Langston returning to the house in the rain, carrying a shovel in the middle of the night. Hmmm.

The plot allows Matthew and Sarah to spend a lot of time together, their dialog with each other is wonderful, their internal dialog with themselves is even funnier, the sexual tension is terrific and follow through is great. You love these characters so much you don't even mind the slightly silly happily ever after. And Erin, there's a wolf hound in the story!

Historical Romance 2007: 5 out of 5

PS. Ann, I have a vampire story on tap!