Review – A Midsummer Night’s Sin by Kasey Michaels

Publisher: HQN
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: NetGalley

Meet the Blackthorn Brothers—three unrepentant scoundrels infamous for being mad, bad and perilous to love.

Handsome as the devil and twice as tempting, Robin “Puck” Blackthorn lives for the pleasures of the moment. His only rule—never dally with an innocent woman. But when an encounter at a masquerade ball leaves him coveting the one woman who refuses to succumb to his charms, Puck realizes that some rules were made to be broken…

Scandalized to discover that the masked man with whom she’d shared a dance—and a forbidden embrace—is in fact the ton’s most celebrated rake, Regina Hackett vows to keep her distance. Yet when her dear friend vanishes, it is to Puck that Regina must turn. And as they embark on a dangerous journey through London’s darkest alleys, Regina will discover that beneath Puck’s roguish facade lies a man who will stop at nothing to protect her—or to convince her to take a chance on an unrepentant sinner.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

Regina Hackett’s father has more money than most but a happy home life is something she’s never known. Regina and her cousin Miranda make a snap decision one night to go out to a masquerade ball, and Miranda gets kidnapped. Regina pairs up with Puck, the sexy bastard son of a Marquis to find her dear cousin.

Puck lives life to the fullest, and Regina is one woman he never expected. They are up against time and a ruthless slaver while trying to find Miranda, but Puck refuses to let any harm come to his dearest’s cousin. But when the slaver’s identity is revealed, Puck and Regina might not be able to recover.

I was so looking forward to this book, I love regency historical romances, and had high hopes for Puck and Regina. I hoped that the sub-plot with the kidnapping would also provide some good suspense reading, but unfortunately that part failed to live up to my expectations.

As for Puck and Regina, I really enjoyed them both as characters. Puck was such a fun loving and easy going hero. It was obvious that he lived life to the fullest, and didn’t let his unfortunately status play a factor in his life. He was impulsive and funny and charming and yet once he fell for Regina, he was completely protective and doted on her left and right. Watching him morph from this even keel gentleman at the beginning of the novel to a hardened spy was great as well. I was especially happy when he walked away from danger at the end, proving to Regina that she was all he wanted and needed.

Regina was great as well. There were times I thought she pushed for too much freedom, and that some of her reactions were not what I would have expected from a woman of that time. However, she was strong and sure and so obviously cared for her cousin. I did think that she handled the entire kidnapping/slavery aspect a little too easily, especially after discovering the holding place of the girls. However, I thought that the emotional backlash of finding out the identity of the slaver was very well done.

For me though, the suspense aspect wasn’t all that suspenseful. I’m not sure if it’s just that the suspense of the era didn’t really interest me, or the sub-plot just wasn’t what I expected. I enjoyed the slavery aspect, but had a harder time really getting into the story, whereas other contemporary stories I’ve read about female slavery kept my attention better. Part of it could be that I guessed the identity of the slaver fairly early on in the book, and would have liked that to have been a bigger mystery.

All in all the romance aspect of this story was very well done. I enjoyed Puck and Regina’s relationship and thought it developed well and played out wonderfully. However, the rest of the book fell somewhat flat for me.
I give A Midsummer Night’s Sin a C