Miss Valencia Ravensdale was only supposed to observe the festivities at her aunt’s masquerade ball on New Year’s Eve, 1814, but when the handsome Colonel Robert Clayworth sees her holding up the walls, everything changes. Valencia finds herself falling in love with the Colonel, but he only has the one night in London before he has to rejoin his troops in France. As the London Season progresses, … progresses, Valencia is inundated with offers for her hand, but no man has been able to turn her head the way her Colonel has.
Can their instant connection, and her heart survive the war with France?
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Another 5 Star Historical/Regency romance!!
What are the chances of love at first sight, especially in a time of war?
I loved this book, I listened to it on Audible. It was such a fun and refreshing listen. Listening to the beautiful Miss. Valencia and Colonel Robert, who is at war for England against Napolean.
I was given this book by the talented author. This is my honest review.
This is a captivating story that had me hooked till the very end. The author does a wonderful job describing each scene and really taking you back to that time period. The characters were wonderful and well defined. Valencia meets Colonel Robert Clayworth while attending her Aunt’s masquerade ball and instantly falls in love, but Robert will soon be returning to the war in France. This was such an emotional book and my heart ached for poor Valencia. Despite the time and distance apart her love for him never dims. Will he return and will she get her happy ending? You’ll definitely want to pick this one up and find out! Highly recommended!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
While at her Aunt’s mascaraed party Valencia meets Colonel Robert Clayworth and falls instantly in love with him. Although they were separated for most of the book because he was at war in France their love grew through letters. This is a beautiful historical romance that had me hooked from the moment Robert first noticed Valencia until that emotional ending. I loved getting to follow their journey of love.
Regency and Grammar Errors
Because I have been disappointed in the previous books that I’ve read by this author, I didn’t go into this book with high expectations. But I always do like to give an author several chances before I completely give up on them. This story was better than the others that I’ve read of hers, but it still definitely had issues. Let me enumerate a few.
The heroine is the daughter of a marquess. As such, she should be called Lady Valencia, but everyone calls her by Miss Ravensdale. Literally everyone: People she meets at balls, her potential suitors, and even the servants call her Miss! There was one odd turn of phrase when she first meets the hero, and she talks about the gentleman being “on her arm” as they stroll around the ballroom. Technically, isn’t it the other way around? Yes, I know, a minor quibble.
And there was quite a fuss made at the beginning of the book about her presentation at court, and nearly every reference was completely wrong. I read a lot of Regency, so I knew right away that this was incorrect, but I did go online and double-check to be sure. She and the hero talk about her being presented to the *prince.* This is not how it worked back then. The ladies of the upper 10,000 curtsied to Princess Charlotte, wife of mad King George III, until her death in 1818. In at least one spot, the hero actually said that the heroine would “bow to the prince”! Even if she had been presented to the prince, she certainly would not have bowed; ladies don’t bow… they curtsey! Merciful heavens!
There was another issue that I had, perhaps, a bigger issue with. That is a fact that the hero and the heroine essentially spent the bulk of the book apart. They meet in the first scene, and both have instalove going on (though, honestly, I didn’t see how what they did or what we were told they talked about could have made this happen). but he is a colonel during the Napoleonic Wars, and he is on leave oh, so he must return to the continent. He comes back briefly on leave again at some point but then goes away again. I never like it when a hero and heroine are essentially separated through most of the book. Without that face-to-face interaction, it’s hard to see how a relationship progresses. to the author’s credit, though, is she did have them correspond clandestinely. I actually did find these letters to be enjoyable when they showed up. but, still, I didn’t like them being so apart.
The novel definitely had issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, especially in dialogue. There were some places with crazy run-on sentences—with perhaps three or four independent clauses just strung together by commas. It drives me a little batty, I’ll admit. Other commas were missing were needed, too, while others were added that should not have been. Random errors with capitalization also occurred. This was all enough to be distracting for sure. With all these grammar and Regency errors, while this book was better than others I’ve read by this author, I still would not consider it to be wholly good. It is only better in comparison.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Valencia is at her Aunts mascaraed party and is told to stay out of the way and watch. But for Colonel Robert he can’t bare to see a beautiful angel holding up the wall. Valencia falls in love quickly with Robert but he’s leaving to go back to France to fight. Will she wait for him or marry? Great story of love!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Miss Valencia Ravensdale, dressed as an angel, attended her aunt’s masquerade ball on New Year’s Eve, obediently staying out of the way and watching only, as she was instructed to do by her mother and father. Looking around the room, wishing he were not here, Colonel Robert Clayworth suddenly spotted a young lady with beautiful porcelain skin. She was stunning – why had no one asked her to dance? Then he observed her turning several men away and determined that he would ask her to dance. She explained why she couldn’t, so he offered only a turn around the floor once, which should not upset her mother. But he is preparing to return to the war in France in just a few days and regrets that they won’t get to know each other better. They dance through many songs in the garden among the trees. She wanted to stay in his arms forever! Nevertheless, his time with her was enough for her to realize the depth of her feelings for him. Despite numerous offers of marriage later, there is no one who makes her feel like he did. Will she stay faithful to him until he returns? Will he come back to find her if he survives the war?
This is a beautiful story that will capture the reader’s heart. It made me almost afraid to read further and find out whether all sorts of possible endings would ruin this perfect love. Don’t miss this one. It will touch your heart to see how faithful Valencia remains to the man she loved, regardless of how short a time they had together to get to know each other. Will they find their HEA? Or will she be left alone when the war is over? I was fortunate to listen to the audiobook version of this book. The narrator, Victoria Riley, did a wonderful job in bringing life into the already breathtaking story. No doubt about it, this is an awesome book I highly recommend!