Review - Midnight's Wild Passion by Anna Campbell (7)

Midnight's Wild Passion by Anna Campbell
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: 1 May 2011
Genre: Romance - historical
My Copy: received for review from NetGalley - Kindle

London's most notorious seducer, Nicholas Challoner lives solely for revenge . . .

The dashing, licentious Marquess of Ranelaw can never forgive Godfrey Demarest for ruining his sister—now the time has come to repay the villain in the same coin. But one formidably intriguing impediment stands in the way of Nicholas's vengeance: Miss Antonia Smith, companion to his foe's unsuspecting daughter.

Having herself been deceived and disgraced by a rogue—banished by her privileged family as a result and forced to live a lie—Antonia vows to protect her charge from the same cruel fate. She recognizes Ranelaw for the shameless blackguard he is and will devote every ounce of her intelligence and resolve to thwarting him.

Yet Antonia has always had a fatal weakness for rakes . . .

Review:
This review is going to be set up into pros and cons because I was rather torn about how I felt. I liked it overall, but there were parts that I really didn't like too.

Pros:

• Nicholas Challoner, Marquess of Ranelaw, is a charming and mostly gentle character
  
• Antonia Hilliard/Smith is an awesome heroine. She has to be somewhere in my top ten favorite romance novel heroines. She's very feisty and witty. She was the bright highlight of the novel.
  
• Cassandra Demarest is a great secondary character. I love how she's not dim-witted like a lot of characters of her age in romance novels. She's very aware of the world around her and yet still innocent. I kind of hope to read a book with her as the main heroine, but I'm not sure that there are any plans for that.
• I really liked the connections between all the characters, even if it was one big circle of ruination.
  

Cons:

• The book has an erratic story line and pace.
  
• The way the point of view changes from Antonia to Nicholas and back without warning and so often caused me to have to go back and figure out who's mind I was in at times.
  
• A slow and disjointed beginning almost made me put it down.
• Nicholas's character is somewhat inconsistent in the story.
  
• Nicholas's continued desire for revenge against Godfrey Demarest towards the end of the novel after learning more about Antonia didn't fit well with my view of his character.
  
• Without giving away too much, Godfrey's little idea at the end of the novel didn't really seem necessary. Wasn't there enough going on without adding something else in the last couple chapters? I kept waiting for Nicholas to found out and come to beat him up or something.

Favorite quotes:
*Sorry for the locations instead of page numbers. I read it on the Kindle which sadly does not provide the page number. Total locations for this novel: 4656*

His lips quirked with familiar amusement. "Can't you kiss it better?" -Locations 671-78

He smiled at her as if she were the birthday present he'd begged for all year. "You're a remarkable woman, Antonia." -Locations 684-90

She tilted her head to meet his eyes. The blue was so clear, he saw all the way to her soul. He'd spoken the truth when he said he didn't deserve her. The tragedy was at some profound level, he wished he did. -Locations 2557-63



Rating breakdown:
Plot: 3 stars
Pacing: 2 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Character Relationships: 5 stars
Sex Scenes: Hot!
Recommend: Maybe

*All links go to Goodreads*