Midnight

Midnight
Beverly Jenkins, 2010

Premise: Despite her father supporting the British, Faith Kingston is secretly supporting the rebels in revolutionary-era Boston. Her determination is only increased when the son of her father's long-time rival comes back to town - and he's cute.

I have been reading more romance lately (partially for a book club) and when this one turned up on the list of possibilities for last month, I decided to take the opportunity to read one from this prolific author. And it was charming and well-written as expected, but not exceptional.

Faith's struggle to work with a father who will never respect or care for her was complex and sympathetic. Her love interest, Nick, is too good to be true, but not more so than is typical for romance. 

My biggest criticisms are two-fold. I read this partially for the pitch that she's a secret spy for the Rebel army, but although that is a secret in the beginning, she only does a few things during the action of the book, and quickly abandons it in favor of her new romance. She doesn't tell her beau at first, but changes her mind soon after. There are no repercussions for this - he thanks her for her work, but neither of them imagine having her do anything else dangerous once they're together. 

My other hesitation was many characters reflecting an oddly prudish attitude toward sex, marriage, and a few other topics. This seemed much more like what readers of older romance novels might expect in a novel than anything that was likely based on actual historical research. This clashed oddly with the clear research that went into other aspects of the story. Little things felt off, like Faith thinking of Nick as "playing lady's maid" when he undid her buttons, when she would have never had (or been) a maid. Faith's dad owns an "inn," but no one ever stays there, and she has weird attitudes about sleeping around other people which don't make sense for the daughter of an innkeeper.

The romance was perfectly fine, but the book overall was a bit underwhelming. Charming, but not really my cup of tea. 

2 Stars - An Okay Book