Samuel DenHartog's Blog: The Road to 1,440 - Posts Tagged "regency"
Ballrooms, blackmail, and a blood-red rose in "Masquerade at Midnight"
London is loud with music this Season, and the ballrooms feel like living creatures, warm with breath and rumor. At the center of the crush moves a widow in crimson who never eats in public and never wastes a word. Around her, a circle of glittering names trades sapphires for silence, then laughs about the cost over ices and compliments. I wanted a story where a single waltz could change the air in a room and a mask could be both costume and confession.
The romance carries heat and patience at once. Lord Adrian Whitcombe is not a rake in need of reform but a man who already knows the weight of honor in a city that forgets it by morning. He sees danger and still offers his hand. Their courtship plays out under chandeliers, on frost-bright terraces, and in a carriage where a vow tastes sweeter than wine. Each scene puts manners and desire in the same room and asks which will win.
Danger grows alongside the music. A stolen necklace becomes a thread that leads through routs, ridottos, and finally to a snowbound house party where guests are trapped with their own secrets. Iron burns, silver bites, and the night has more rules than the hostess’s card. I loved writing those candlelit corridors where truth has to reach for proof before dawn, and where justice can wear a gown and still carry a blade.
The world of "Masquerade at Midnight" belongs to gaslight and gossip, to affection that is both tender and fierce, and to a heroine who hunts evil without giving up the right to love. If you like your historical romance with high society sparkle and a heartbeat that quickens after midnight, this is your invitation. Will a waltz be enough to turn curiosity into devotion, and can a secret survive the light of morning without losing the people it protects?
The romance carries heat and patience at once. Lord Adrian Whitcombe is not a rake in need of reform but a man who already knows the weight of honor in a city that forgets it by morning. He sees danger and still offers his hand. Their courtship plays out under chandeliers, on frost-bright terraces, and in a carriage where a vow tastes sweeter than wine. Each scene puts manners and desire in the same room and asks which will win.
Danger grows alongside the music. A stolen necklace becomes a thread that leads through routs, ridottos, and finally to a snowbound house party where guests are trapped with their own secrets. Iron burns, silver bites, and the night has more rules than the hostess’s card. I loved writing those candlelit corridors where truth has to reach for proof before dawn, and where justice can wear a gown and still carry a blade.
The world of "Masquerade at Midnight" belongs to gaslight and gossip, to affection that is both tender and fierce, and to a heroine who hunts evil without giving up the right to love. If you like your historical romance with high society sparkle and a heartbeat that quickens after midnight, this is your invitation. Will a waltz be enough to turn curiosity into devotion, and can a secret survive the light of morning without losing the people it protects?
The Road to 1,440
I'm Samuel DenHartog, and at 51, at the end of November of 2023, I've embarked on a remarkable journey as a writer. My diverse background in computer programming, video game development, and film prod
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