Blog Tour: Midsummer Delights by Eloisa James (Teaser, Review, Giveaway)

She wants to escape her present . . .

When Clara Mayfield helps her sister elope, she’s prepared for the scandal to seal her fate as a spinster. What she doesn’t expect is to find herself engaged to the vile Baron Rutherford as a means of salvaging her family’s reputation. Determined not to be chained to a man she loathes, Clara slips out of Essex and sheds her identity: she becomes Helen, maid at the Earl of Ashworth’s country estate. After all, below stairs is the last place anyone would think to look for an heiress . . .

He wants to forget his past . . .

William, Lord Ashworth, is attempting to rebuild his life after the devastating accident that claimed the lives of his entire family, save his beloved sister and niece. Haunted by memories of what was and determined to live up to the title he never expected to inherit, William doesn’t have time for love. What he needs is a noble and accomplished wife, one who can further the Ashworth line and keep the family name untarnished . . .

Together, can they find the perfect future?

From their first encounter, the attraction between them is undeniable. But Clara knows William is falling for Helen, a woman who doesn’t even exist. The question is, if she reveals the truth about her identity, can she trust the broken William to forgive her lie and stand by her side when scandal—and the baron—inevitably follow her to his door?

About the Book

Midsummer Delights by Eloisa James
Series A Short Story Collection
Genre Adult Historical Romance
Publisher Avon Impulse
Publication Date February 6, 2018
Amazon | Avon Romance | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | iBooks

My Review

Rating: 5 Stars

This is a collection of three short stories by Ms. James, and I’m going to post a mini review for each of them.

A Midsummer Night’s Disgrace
I adored this story, and wanted to badly for it to be a full length novel. However, doing that likely would have ruined it because the length it was ended up being perfect to tell the story. I love Cecilia and Theo’s history together, and their shared love of music is wonderful. I especially liked the part about the guitar lessons – it made me swoon a little bit, I will admit. Theo is the only gentleman in this three story collection who made me completely melt, and I need to read more about him so I can sigh dreamily. Cecilia is another character who I want to know more about and watch (read about?) moving through society and her life. I loved her overhaul of her personal image and I definitely either want to be her or at least have her as a friend. 5 stars that are SO shiny and bright they carry the other two stories.

At Midnight
OK, the summary for At Midnight is totally wrong. It says “Elias hopes to turn his fortunes around and come back a respectable man to claim the only woman for him, Miss Penelope White.” Well that’s just blatantly untrue, since the story takes place over the course of one night at a masquerade ball, Where Elias’ best friend is going to propose to Penny at midnight. Elias thinks he can’t marry Penny because his father lost his family estate gambling, and then Penny’s father bought it, so everyone would gossip and say he was just marrying her to get his fortune back, when really he’s loved her since childhood but couldn’t say anything because of just that reason. He takes advantage of the anonymity of the masquerade to finally tell her how he feels and steal a kiss, one last moment with her before he leaves the country forever because he can’t bear to see her and his BFF get married. That being said, that was a really good story, and I felt kind of bad for dumb Elias. I really enjoyed the sort-of spin on Cinderella in this story. 4 stars.

Ever After
I know I’ve read this before somewhere! It must have been at the end of The Ugly Duchess, because that’s where Goodreads is telling me it was previously printed. But I distinctly remember the bits about the strawberry patch, and him being grateful he was gone because if he’d been there she’d have likely been on the boat too. Rothwell is another dummy who almost ruins things because of his obtuse man-ness, much like Elias in the previous story. Still, this is a good story and I enjoyed the re-read. 4 stars.

Tour Wide Giveaway

To celebrate the release of MIDSUMMER DELIGHTS, we’re giving away two paperback copies of A KISS AT MIDNIGHT by Eloisa James!

GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS: Open to US shipping addresses only. Two winners will each receive a paperback copy of A Kiss At Midnight by Eloisa James. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of Avon Romance. Giveaway ends 2/10/2018 @ 11:59pm EST. Avon Romance will send the winning copies out to the winner directly. Limit one entry per reader and mailing addr
ess. Duplicates will be deleted. CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

About Eloisa James

ELOISA JAMES is a New York Times best-selling author and professor of English literature who lives with her family in New York, but can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy. She is the mother of two and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight. Visit her at http://www.eloisajames.com.