A Kiss at Midnight [Mass Market Paperback]

Rafael kidnaps Serath as the first step in his plan to regain his family's estate. However, Serath knows her grandfather will not pay any ransom for the twit's return. As the couple begins to fall in love, they must overcome their personal suspicions of the other and their family feud, perhaps by scripting a non-violent solution to the legend.

With novels like A KISS AT MIDNIGHT and THE TRULOVE BRIDE, Shana Abe is gaining an outstanding name for her stimulating historical romances. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action that brings the last months of 999 AD to life. Even though the family members seem like caricatures of the Hatfields and the McCoys, the lead couple makes the novel as they struggle between their attraction and the legend. Ms. Abe is an able storyteller who makes reading a medieval romance a lot of fun.

Harriet Klausner

Unlike so many romances that hope to create titillation by devising one excuse after the other to keep the hero and heroine from consummating their desire, here the relationship between Serath Rune and Rafael of Leonhart simmers in unforced stages. The intensity of their attraction builds to a much anticipated joining, written in an emotionally charged scene as richly evocative and fulfilling as any in a historical romance on the shelves today.

Serath is a mature, active heroine, never simpers or exhibits tiresome, girlish rebellion. Rafael is a warrior who has seen too much, lived too much, feels too much, yet maintains loyalty to the prophecy he must fulfill. A note to budding romance writers-study this hero.

Ms. Abe utilizes her lyrical, creative way with words to turn the ordinary into magic. Many scenes border on brilliant. She does not shy from creating larger than life events or skimp on the characters' reactions to them. Her liberties taken with later medieval terms and some settings in this pre-conquest era are entirely forgiven.

Historical romance... this is how it should be done.