Mine Till Midnight (The Hathaways, Book 1)

This was the first book of Kleypas that I read. The reviews made me buy it. Oh boy, was I disappointed. I did not like the heroine. She seemed too bossy and domineering with her family and with Rohan. And enough already about all the family problems. It seemed that the heroine just went from one family crisis to another. I understand that the author is setting the stage for a series, but I felt that she spent way too much time developing the characters of the siblings for future books, in addition to bringing the reader up to speed on three couples from the wallflowers series, that the actual romance between Rohan and Amelia was never really given the time it deserved. The romance between the two was almost an aside, a back story to the rest. I didn't believe her reason for rejecting his suite. Okay, he's a gypsy. But he was kind, dependable, smart, gifted and did so much to help her all the time! The man was there for her every single time she was having to deal with a crisis with one of her troublesome siblings. If he wasn't supporting her through it all, he was stepping in to fix it for her. She obviously had some strong feelings for the guy if she'd run off to sleep with him like she did. Remember, this is the Victorian age, not the modern age. And then when he asks her to marry him--she can't-not because she doesn't love him, but because she doesn't want to give up her independence? Gimme a break, please. I'd fall for Rohan in a heartbeat. I felt he deserved a better love interest, one who would appreciate him more than she did. She seemed to use him a lot, treat him like her other gypsy servant, Merripen. Amelia seemed to be looking down her nose at the poor guy even while she was sleeping with him, and I did not like the way she treated him most of the time. All in all, it's a good start to an interesting family series. I plan to read about the other siblings, but I do hope future installments have a stronger romance between the main couple of the book and less about the support characters. If not, I won't get past the second book.

Setting: London and Hampshire county, England, 1848
Sensuality rating: 8.5 (well-written sexual tension, multiple love scenes)

Just read "Mine Till Midnight" for the second time, since I had wanted to refresh myself on the Hathway family before starting the second book in the series, Seduce Me at Sunrise (The Hathaways, Book 2). I loved it as much as the first time I read it. Lisa Kleypas is definitely one of the most talented (if not THE most talented) historical romance authors out there.

I absolutely loved the entire Hathaway family and reading about them makes you want to be part of the group. Amelia and Cam's relationship was very authentic (scenes to make your heart melt and toes curl!) and they were both very well thought out and well-written characters. Cam was wonderful: mysterious, possessive, loving, tender, intelligent, has a sense of humor, and I could go on and on. Amelia was also great (and we know how we're usually more critical of the female characters). She's a strong and independent woman, always trying to take care of and manage her family (sometimes to excess and their annoyance). She is loving, smart, and sweet, and finds in Cam a person whom she can finally let her guard down with.

CRITICISMS:
The insertion of a "bad guy" was unnecessary and did not add to the story in any way. I also was not a fan of the supernatural element of Laura's ghost or spirit or whatever it was (very light, so don't let that put you off).

BOTTOM LINE:
Read it right away and then read #2 in the series. I can't wait for #3!!

LISA KLEYPAS BOOKS ARE ENJOYED LIKE EATING A PUDDING PIE, PLEASENT FEELING LEAVE US WHILE ENJOYING HER STORIES.

This is my first Lisa Kleypas book. I really enjoyed it. The hero was amazing. I did get the impression that this book is more about the Hathaway family than the individual hero and heroine of the story. I am reading the second book - Seduce Me at Sunrise - now, and I get the same feeling from that book. It's a family saga, and it doesn't just deal with the 2 main characters. I wish there had been more about just Cam and Amelia in this book - more focus on them and their getting to know each other. There was no real moment when they realized they loved each other. The whole paranormal/Laura's ghost part seemed silly somehow. After awhile, I really didn't care if Leo lived or died. I didn't feel sorry for him - he just got annoying. How many times could the family find him and come to his rescue?

I loved the book, but won't comment on that so much, there are many other reviews for that. My issue is with the Kindle format. I love my Kindle for many reasons, one of the biggest being that the text is so clear. This particular book however was badly formatted. It looked like someone just scanned a paperback (a used one at that). There were blotches all over the text, making it difficult to read in places, and for some reason the pages took longer to load than normal. The average format for a Kindle book is AZW/MBP, but this one used TAN/TPZ. I'm not a techie so I'm not sure how exactly they are different, but now I'm hesitant to buy the next book if it is in this same format. Ugh! I hope her publisher and Amazon correct this problem and offer a new version for download. As for Ms. Kleypas, she rocks and shouldn't have to deal with this stuff.