What Happened at Midnight Paperback – March 15, 2013

For being one of her earliest stories, this novella from Milan is really good! You never know what you're going to get with romance authors' earlier works, but this one delivered. The pacing is good. The supporting cast is quite memorable and surprisingly fleshed out while being completely devoid of tropes or cliches. It's clever and sweet and steamy. Only criticism I have is that it's not the most romantic story in the world. It feels more like a story of empowerment for Mary, and the romance feels more like a subplot than anything. In fact, I think the story would be a lot stronger if it was framed as historical fiction than as romance. The love story, in my opinion, just wasn't as memorable.The beginning opens up very similarly to the fairytale Beauty and the Beast: Mary's merchant father has fallen into disgrace and her life is turned on its head, leaving her to flee to the country and abandon her fashionable life. John Mason is one of the partners her father cheated, but readers are discouraged from ever sympathizing with him. In fact, as brilliant and caring as John is, readers are almost encouraged to see him as a villain. Even though he's supposed to take care of his widowed sister and nephew, this intelligent man is expected to sit back and not at all be upset that he was cheated by Mary's father. So, when he finally tracks down Mary after 18 months, we're supposed to be appalled that he only wants to talk to her to get answers and not out of the goodness of his heart.While I understand that Mary is completely blameless in the situation, it's not fair to make John out to be the villain when he's just as much a victim as her. In fact, John is often painted as an idiot because Mary figures things out about the people around them before he does while he's reduced to being the "hulking male" in the background. If this were a true romance, there should have been more development on his part and a little more sympathy into his predicament.Meanwhile, Mary is quite the complex character. She was very fun to read about, and her situation with the Walters was simultaneously terrifying and gripping to read about. Her schemes to liberate both her and Mrs. Walters from their predicament were quite interesting to read about, and would have been more so if more time could be dedicated to it. Like I said, this story would work much better as a historical fiction novel of a young woman in the 1840s looking to test her powers and break out of the mold society set for her.Alas, it is an imperfect romance. There is still plenty to enjoy, if only to wonder what it could have been. Highly recommend this early tale if you're a fan of Milan's style of storytelling!

Courtney Milan's "Things to Do" list is probably more interesting and better written than most romance novels on the market.This book involves a believable really Big Misunderstanding--one of the few I've ever read that didn't make me even consider rolling my eyes. While sorting through the knotted strands of that problem, the heroine finds herself working in the ultra-claustrophobic country home of a well-described control freak.A large part of the enjoyment of romance novels involves going through the process of walking down the bumpy road to the happily-ever-after and seeing good people rewarded and bad ones brought to justice (so much more satisfying than killing them off). This book pays off extemely well in that department.Another joy to watch--Courtney Milan characters always change, grow and mature during her tales. Her stories are an illustration of the saying "That which does not kill you makes you stronger."The title and cover puzzled me, however. What exactly did happen at midnight? There were many secret meetings about 10 p.m., but I don't remember midnight figuring into the story. And the pink gown on the cover? The heroine is limited to two well-worn dresses. At one point in the book, she laments the loss of a blue dress and at the end she has a new blue dress, but the pink ballgown is an odd representation of the story. The combination of title and cover conjure up images of Cinderella and a ball--and many romance novel cliches rather than this unique and enjoyable book.

This started out sad but the heroine was tenacious and took a companion job to earn money. The woman she worked was broadest by a controlling husband who would not let the women speak to anyone and not even go to church. Her wages were held by him so it would be safe. The heroine's father committed suicide after he had embezzled money. But romances have a way of turning around with other criminals coming forward. The man she was engaged to and who was a partner of her father, rejected her but was determined to find her when she ran away. He did. Need I say more? Love comes through. A good bit of the money was found in a partnership account that only two partners knew about and hand't told other partners about. The heroine find' t want to be a respectable wife but a married adventurer who entertained at Pianoforte recitals. She taught, they traveled. They grew more rich and spent over 40 years traveling and loving one another. Now, how did they accomplish all that? You will have to read it to find out.

WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT is a novella about Mary Chartley who is the daughter of the business partner of John Mason. When it is revealed that Mary's father has embezzled from the partnership, it severs the relationship between Mary and John. Eighteen months later, John is searching for Mary because he believes she knows what her father did with the embezzled funds. He is surprised when he finds Mary living not on the money but as a lady's companion.I liked this story because there were many twists to edge secrets that Mary is keeping. My description of the heart of the story is from the story itself: "He wished this were clean and uncomplicated. But it was messy and complex. For a short novella, Milan packs a lot in about expectations and topless and overcoming limitations.

When Mary's father got caught embezzling, she lost everything - her home, her father, her status - but worst of all was losing her fiancé, one of the partners her father had stolen from.As much as it hurt, John let her go, believing her to be innocent of her father's crimes. But eighteen months later he's finally tracked her down, certain she knows where the missing money is. And he'll do anything to get it back.Like all of Milan's novellas there's plenty more than the obvious going on here - social status, rules of etiquette, psychological abuse - and as always CM handles it beautifully. Mary and John are a pair of social misfits, not obviously different, but both a little ahead of their time.Because this novella was originally part of a book of three vaguely linked stories from three different authors, there are a few things here that seem a little out of place - particularly the epilogue. I haven't read  Midnight Scandals , but I still found this easy enough to follow.It's not the best novella I've read by CM, but it's still a pleasant read from an author who has mastered this short form. Sweet and romantic with an excellent sense of the Victorian period, Courtney Milan remains one of my favourite historical authors, and if this was by anyone else I'd probably give it four stars, but because CM's other novellas are really good, it only gets three. If you've never read any Courtney Milan before try one of her other short stories before coming back for this one. Midnight Scandals

Loved this story too I'm hooked on Courtney milan . Sex at midnight lovely great writer thanks kindle. Another excellent read

Starts rather in the middle of things with the heroine lugging the body of her suicide father around in her trunk. All her father's business partners hate her because Dad was an embezzler. 18 months later the girl is in further dire straits when the hero catches up with her. Together they solve everyone's problems. Then 40 years later we are given a quick retelling of all their achievements, and don't forget the puppies! But we are never told precisely what happened at any midnight in the story. But this author wrote my favourite regency romance: "Unlocked."

Decidí leer esta novela porque me encantó “The governess affair”, y aunque no me ha parecido tan buena ni me ha gustado tanto, se deja leer. En este libro los personajes no me han parecido tan creíbles, sobre todo porque no soy fan de las segundas oportunidades, me cuesta tragar la píldora del olvido (olvido todo lo pasado, que generalmente suele ser para no olvidar, y empezamos de nuevo, lo que se llama “pelillos a la mar”), con lo cual, pasando este punto, la historia está bastante bien, es entretenida, es romántica, el final es muy bueno y sobre todo, los personajes van creciendo y cambiando a medida que se desarrolla la trama. Recomendable como lectura ligera para pasar un buen ratito.

Courtney Milan is one of the best historical romance writers out there; this novella was sweet, enjoyable, and with enough depth to make it an enjoyable read.