What do you think?
Rate this book
Guiness Gang #1
At the Midnight Hour
A CHILD'S KEEPER
Elizabeth Guiness had her work cut out for her. Her precocious young charge quoted morbid statistics twenty-four hours a day, desperately seeking just one ounce of his father's affection. But brilliant scientist Richard Keaton seemed incapable of love -- specially after the murder that had left Andrew motherless Richard the prime suspect ....
Though everyone believed Richard to be guilty Liz knew she couldn't blindly trust either the rumors or her attraction to her intensely private employer. But she was hell-bent on unlocking his heart's demons and reuniting his fractured family--until she realized that getting involved just might get her killed ....
THE GUINESS GANG: Four brothers and a sister -- though miles separated them, they would always be a family.
Elizabeth Guiness had her work cut out for her. Her precocious young charge quoted morbid statistics twenty-four hours a day, desperately seeking just one ounce of his father's affection. But brilliant scientist Richard Keaton seemed incapable of love -- specially after the murder that had left Andrew motherless Richard the prime suspect ....
Though everyone believed Richard to be guilty Liz knew she couldn't blindly trust either the rumors or her attraction to her intensely private employer. But she was hell-bent on unlocking his heart's demons and reuniting his fractured family--until she realized that getting involved just might get her killed ....
THE GUINESS GANG: Four brothers and a sister -- though miles separated them, they would always be a family.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1995
13 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Alicia Scott
19 books117 followersA pseudonym used by Lisa Gardner.
Series:
* Walking After Midnight
* Guiness Gang
* Maximillian's Children - re-released by Penguin (2013) under the updated series name Family Secrets
Series:
* Walking After Midnight
* Guiness Gang
* Maximillian's Children - re-released by Penguin (2013) under the updated series name Family Secrets
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 24, 2012
Rating 3.5 stars
The hero was bit of a tortured soul, being a scientist and child genius he didn't have the most fun or easiest childhood instead was always mature and level headed except for when he fell for his wife, which turned out to be a major disaster. His two years of marriage was hell and made him wary of being hurt and then five years ago his wife was murdered and he was blamed. His in laws took his son away and he kind of fell into his work content to be emotionally distant from everyone, but now his kid his home. The hero seems very cold at first, he doesn't talk to his son or call him by name because he reminds him of his mistake and vulnerability. To me it was obvious that his wife had poisoned him by dangling his son's paternity and he has just shut down, content to let the world do its thing and then Liz, the new nanny enters his life and she is not put off for long by his coldness.
Liz too has experienced pain, her childhood sweetheart and husband was killed senselessly a year ago and to move forward she left her loving family. Her charge Andy is a handful, he is morbid and morose and a genius. She slowly brings Andy out of his shell and sees how he yearns for his father. She is wary of Richard too at first, since she doesn't know him that well she can't be sure he didn't do anything to his wife plus there is the fact that his kisses affect her which seems like a betrayal to her because her husband was everything to her. I liked how Liz didn't immediately fall into his plans, she believed in love etc while the hero was a cynic.
What a liked was that Liz had spunk, what sometimes put me off was the air of gloom the book seemed to have especially the huge house they lived and the hero was not an instant hit with me. Still I had read a book in this series and wanted to read the first one.
The hero was bit of a tortured soul, being a scientist and child genius he didn't have the most fun or easiest childhood instead was always mature and level headed except for when he fell for his wife, which turned out to be a major disaster. His two years of marriage was hell and made him wary of being hurt and then five years ago his wife was murdered and he was blamed. His in laws took his son away and he kind of fell into his work content to be emotionally distant from everyone, but now his kid his home. The hero seems very cold at first, he doesn't talk to his son or call him by name because he reminds him of his mistake and vulnerability. To me it was obvious that his wife had poisoned him by dangling his son's paternity and he has just shut down, content to let the world do its thing and then Liz, the new nanny enters his life and she is not put off for long by his coldness.
Liz too has experienced pain, her childhood sweetheart and husband was killed senselessly a year ago and to move forward she left her loving family. Her charge Andy is a handful, he is morbid and morose and a genius. She slowly brings Andy out of his shell and sees how he yearns for his father. She is wary of Richard too at first, since she doesn't know him that well she can't be sure he didn't do anything to his wife plus there is the fact that his kisses affect her which seems like a betrayal to her because her husband was everything to her. I liked how Liz didn't immediately fall into his plans, she believed in love etc while the hero was a cynic.
What a liked was that Liz had spunk, what sometimes put me off was the air of gloom the book seemed to have especially the huge house they lived and the hero was not an instant hit with me. Still I had read a book in this series and wanted to read the first one.
April 15, 2017
Andy.
Excuse me, Andrew Phillip Michael Keaton, the first, keeper of the Infractions Committed by Nannies notebook and master and commander of all facts gory and depressing.
I am feeling generous today so 4 stars, but regardless,
was a surprise in more than way. So gothic, the cover should have a girl in a nightgown running from the castle. Something like this...
.
Mourning her childhood sweetheart's death, the widowed Liz arrives to be nanny to what her nanny employers consider to be a difficult case. Andrew Phillip Michael Keaton, the first is a six year old genius in a suit. Literally in a suit. He carries a notebook around to write down nanny infractions, quotes morbid statistics, and demands she put on her nanny uniform. Her refusal is Nanny Infraction Number Three, I believe. Obviously, I adored this little character.
Little genius in training is saddled with an equally genius Gloomy Gus dad who was accused of throwing his wife off the right tower five years ago. It is so old school gothic that although set in the United States, the house has not one, but two towers. One for work and one for throwing off evil and unfaithful wives. No one would have blamed him if he had as she was a creme de la creme bitch. Not only has the H been living under a cloud, but hisbitch dead wife told him the baby he adored wasn't his. Andrew has just recently arrived, and has been shunned by dad lo this past five years. Not a redeeming characteristic in an H.
I don't know how the H can be considered a genius as the kid is exactly like him down to the way they blink when upset and how and when they learned to read. The H taught himself at two (eye roll) and memorized the phone book at five. The phone book. His son, who obviously has more on the ball, memorizes ghoulish statistics from an almanac. The heroine points this and other truths out way too late.
Liz is a great heroine. She handles Andrew easily and gets him to loosen up a bit. She sacrifices her usual long skirts for her Mary Poppins nanny wear in order to get him in a pair of jeans and in a picnic. She also gets a yen for the H, a mainline brooder.
The H's brother and silly friends pop in to muddy the waters, the dead wife's diary is found, shots are fired, a really mean housekeeper complains about everyone, horses runaway all in fine gothic, mystery suspense style.
Who murdered the bitchy wife? Who fathered the little genius? Some questions are answered and some are not.
Poor Liz. I feel for her. She lost her young love, and is now faced with two rather difficult curmudgeons: one six and one adult. She's going to have her hands full with these two. At least the sex is great.
Luckily, thanks to Goodreads, her five or is it four brothers have books as well, and it turns out that Alicia Scott is also Lisa Gardner. I have never read Lisa Gardner, but I definitely will now.
is a novel that could definitely use some tuning up, but I was happily surprised at the characters, the gothicness of it all, and the love story even if the H is a total jackass.
Excuse me, Andrew Phillip Michael Keaton, the first, keeper of the Infractions Committed by Nannies notebook and master and commander of all facts gory and depressing.
I am feeling generous today so 4 stars, but regardless,
was a surprise in more than way. So gothic, the cover should have a girl in a nightgown running from the castle. Something like this...
.Mourning her childhood sweetheart's death, the widowed Liz arrives to be nanny to what her nanny employers consider to be a difficult case. Andrew Phillip Michael Keaton, the first is a six year old genius in a suit. Literally in a suit. He carries a notebook around to write down nanny infractions, quotes morbid statistics, and demands she put on her nanny uniform. Her refusal is Nanny Infraction Number Three, I believe. Obviously, I adored this little character.
Little genius in training is saddled with an equally genius Gloomy Gus dad who was accused of throwing his wife off the right tower five years ago. It is so old school gothic that although set in the United States, the house has not one, but two towers. One for work and one for throwing off evil and unfaithful wives. No one would have blamed him if he had as she was a creme de la creme bitch. Not only has the H been living under a cloud, but his
I don't know how the H can be considered a genius as the kid is exactly like him down to the way they blink when upset and how and when they learned to read. The H taught himself at two (eye roll) and memorized the phone book at five. The phone book. His son, who obviously has more on the ball, memorizes ghoulish statistics from an almanac. The heroine points this and other truths out way too late.
Liz is a great heroine. She handles Andrew easily and gets him to loosen up a bit. She sacrifices her usual long skirts for her Mary Poppins nanny wear in order to get him in a pair of jeans and in a picnic. She also gets a yen for the H, a mainline brooder.
The H's brother and silly friends pop in to muddy the waters, the dead wife's diary is found, shots are fired, a really mean housekeeper complains about everyone, horses runaway all in fine gothic, mystery suspense style.
Who murdered the bitchy wife? Who fathered the little genius? Some questions are answered and some are not.
Poor Liz. I feel for her. She lost her young love, and is now faced with two rather difficult curmudgeons: one six and one adult. She's going to have her hands full with these two. At least the sex is great.
Luckily, thanks to Goodreads, her five or is it four brothers have books as well, and it turns out that Alicia Scott is also Lisa Gardner. I have never read Lisa Gardner, but I definitely will now.
is a novel that could definitely use some tuning up, but I was happily surprised at the characters, the gothicness of it all, and the love story even if the H is a total jackass.
February 19, 2017
I read the book , watched the movie and I think the book was much better .
December 2, 2019
3.25 stars
July 7, 2008
AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR - VG
Scott, Alicia - 4th in series
Elizabeth Guiness had her work cut out for her. Her precocious young charge quoted morbid statistics twenty-four hours a day, desperately seeking just one ounce of his father's affection. But brilliant scientist Richard Keaton seemed incapable of love -- specially after the murder that had left Andrew motherless Richard the prime suspect ....
Though everyone believed Richard to be guilty Liz knew she couldn't blindly trust either the rumors or her attraction to her intensely private employer. But she was hell-bent on unlocking his heart's demons and reuniting his fractured family--until she realized that getting involved just might get her killed ....
Feuding families, nanny, reclusive scientist, a genius child - a avery good read
Scott, Alicia - 4th in series
Elizabeth Guiness had her work cut out for her. Her precocious young charge quoted morbid statistics twenty-four hours a day, desperately seeking just one ounce of his father's affection. But brilliant scientist Richard Keaton seemed incapable of love -- specially after the murder that had left Andrew motherless Richard the prime suspect ....
Though everyone believed Richard to be guilty Liz knew she couldn't blindly trust either the rumors or her attraction to her intensely private employer. But she was hell-bent on unlocking his heart's demons and reuniting his fractured family--until she realized that getting involved just might get her killed ....
Feuding families, nanny, reclusive scientist, a genius child - a avery good read
August 5, 2010
The first in Scott's Guiness Gang series is very gothic in its suspense. The old house, the darkened hallways, the shut up rooms. It was a good setting for Liz, the youngest Guiness, and new nanny for 6 year old Andrew. Andrew is prim, proper and brilliant. He quotes morbid statistics and doesn't know how to play. His father is a recluse. Of course the gossip that he killed his wife didn't help. He knows he didn't do it, but his wife was murdered, someone had to be involved. Richard is the first man to make her feel since her husband was died in her arms after a shoot-out. Their romance was sweet and sexy and comfortable. Scott created likeable characters and put them in a position to distrust one another. The situation created tension and confusion that couldn't mask the sparks between them. Good story, hard to find now as it's 15 years old. But worth the trouble.
January 17, 2009
This is another book from the Guinness Gang series by Alicia Scott. There are 5 books in the seies and I put this book as my second favorite. Liz is a fantastic character, and I loved seeing how she wins over the hearts of her men.
September 20, 2015
A romance plot pitting an warm-hearted, sensitive young nanny against her stone-faced distant employer, with a wife who died mysteriously years ago. Real danger starts when Richard's brother, novelist Blain, arrives with his friend Jillian, to sell the ancestral estate against Richard's will.
September 25, 2025
Elizabeth--“Liz”—is hired as a nanny to a young boy whose father, a scientist and child genius, is proported to have murdered the boy’s mother. At that time, the in-laws took the son away to raise him themselves. Circumstances change and the boy has now returned home. She observes the father to be distant to his son, never calling him by name or interacting in anything other than a standoff manner.
Once Liz is settled in and takes stock of the situation, she begins to work to reintegrate Andy into his birth family. It is no easy task as he is resistant and his father is cooly detached, unlike Liz’s life that had been loving and accepting.
NOTE: There is a movie of the same name.
Once Liz is settled in and takes stock of the situation, she begins to work to reintegrate Andy into his birth family. It is no easy task as he is resistant and his father is cooly detached, unlike Liz’s life that had been loving and accepting.
NOTE: There is a movie of the same name.
August 27, 2024
Even though i wanted more romance ,more page time for the H and h and for H to be a better father,i still liked it and the star was certainly Andrew the 6 year old sweetheart yearning for his father's love and trying to be comfortable in his own skin.
Badly needed an epilogue.
Badly needed an epilogue.
December 22, 2018
Originally SIM #658 -This reissue in the Safe Haven series is #8 = 3+ stars
May 18, 2019
This was great from beginning to end. I know there are many romances where the hired help falls for the man of the house, but the characters and setting of this were perfect.
May 20, 2024
As always Lisa Gardner is spectacular. This book is under her other name Alicia Scott.
The plot twist was intriguing.
The plot twist was intriguing.
December 29, 2020
Reminded me of frankenstein
October 18, 2017
Still delving into Lisa Gardner's "old" books, I started this new series to me and judging by the cover, I didn't expect very much.
However, good characters, touching little boy (I usually don't like children in romance books), the story was rather good : I had a lot of fun reading it even if it's not exceptional and I'm looking forward to reading the next :)
However, good characters, touching little boy (I usually don't like children in romance books), the story was rather good : I had a lot of fun reading it even if it's not exceptional and I'm looking forward to reading the next :)
August 13, 2014
A year after Liz Guiness' husband dies in a bloody accident, she takes a nannying job in another state to start a new life. The 6 year old child, Andrew, she takes care of is a genius who doesn't know how to be a little boy and feels isolated from his father. The father, Richard Keaton, also is a genius who doesn't interact well with people. Five years before his wife was pushed to her death in the right tower of their mansion, while he worked in the left tower. Everyone suspects him, but there was no proof. His in-laws took the child and he has only been returned upon their death. Liz wants to help both father and son. But the killer is still around and now starts threatening Liz. Typical gothic set up but falls short on the mystery, the atmosphere and the romance.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews