What Wild Moonlight

by Victoria Lynne

On a bet, Nicholas Duvall, rakehell Earl of Barrington, assumes the role of a coach driver. When he witnesses Katya Alexander picking the pocket of a fellow passenger, her beauty, skill, and audacity captivate him.

Katya is exactly what he needs to retrieve an ancient family scroll that has been stolen from him. He makes her an ungentlemanly offer: pose as his mistress and help him retrieve a priceless family scroll. In return, he would offer her his protection.

Katya has her own reasons for agreeing to the deception, reasons that she must keep hidden from Nicholas: an age-old family feud that made them mortal enemies. Caught up in the glittering intrigue of 19th century Monaco, together they embark on a mission filled with danger and intrigue.

Their plan was flawless, until Nicholas loses his heart to the beautiful stranger with secrets to burn, and the passion smoldering between them finally ignites.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Amazon

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 1998

About the author

Victoria Lynne also writes as V.L. Burgess


Meet VICTORIA. She lives in a small Vermont town in a house that was built before Lincoln was president. Victoria, her husband, and children have decided it probably isn't haunted (though the dog might argue differently).

Victoria's work has been published by Simon and Schuster, Dell, Avon, Berkley, Move Books, and Cosmopolitan Magazine. She's received two RITA Award nominations and has consistently earned the Romantic Times' coveted "Top Pick" award.

She writes smart, scrumptious historical romance novels under the pen name VICTORIA LYNNE. When she's writing fast-paced contemporary novels, she uses the name VICTORIA BURGESS.

Because online reviews are SO important to today’s authors, if you like what you've read, let the world know! Shout it out in a review and you'll make her day. You'll also earn lots of good karma. ♥

For more information please visit her website, www.AuthorVictoriaBurgess.com.

Reviews

[Gemma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only book by this author that I didn't like. The hero saves the heroine's life, and instead of being grateful, she acts like a shrew towards him. Just glad I didn't read this one first, or I'd have missed out on her other books.

[Suzie Quint · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant romance with an exotic setting (Monaco) and a gypsy heroine (the gypsy was more in her past than a current identity). Also exotic was the heroine's career as a stage magician. I guessed who the villain was early on, but that didn't detract from the story.

[L JONES · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nov 2022

Although an exceptional story with many twists and turns, intrigue and unusual plot, there are parts when the book was very slow moving with long winded introspection particularly by the heroine

[Pat aka Tygyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an historical romance. Katza grew up on stories of her ancestry. 2 families pledged to marry their adult children and a huge diamond will be theirs. Katza's female ancestor left a diary, and Katza has recently found it and is reading it in hopes of finding out what went wrong and where the diamond is. Katza's parents are magicians and their family has travelled around the world doing shows. Her parents tragically die in a show in Monaco. They leave her snowed under in debts. She travels to Monaco to take over their show as she was trained from birth in magic. She meets Nicholas and realizes he is the male descendent who did not marry her ancestor. He employs Katza to pretend to be his mistress and when she does not have a show he wants her to use her nimble fingers to search the pockets of those men he believes could have stolen his 1/3 of the scroll. He doesn't recognize Katza's name and doesn't realize that she has a 1/3 of the scroll. On one of their outings he takes her to the Abbey and they both look at the top 1/3 of the scroll. One night her gun trick goes awry and she is nearly killed. She investigates the trick apparatus that killed her parents and realizes they were actually murdered. The locks worked from the outside but not from the inside and they drowned. Then her 1/3 of the scroll goes missing and she realizes she loves Nicholas and wonders if her love will be as ill-fated as her ancestor's. Nicholas' last girlfriend as well as his younger brother are both dead. Is he a murderer? Is she next on his list? The brother's body was never found. Could he be alive and going after the diamond no matter what the cost? Or is there another player that no one suspects?

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A three and a half star book - rounded up to four stars.

A couple of minor typos but no more than five in total that I noticed. For a kindle freebie I thought the writing was of extremely high quality.

This is a historical romance with a family curse and suspense thrown in. As with many such stories the villain was one of the usual suspects but the actual identity and reasons were well-hidden. In my view if the author has presented two or three potential villains but you are not sure of the actual villain's identity until it is unveiled it counts as a win.

Katya and Nicholas are (unbeknownst to each other) the descendants of two feuding families. The families fell out over a blue diamond, the location of which is set out in a document. The document was torn into three scrolls - each family owns one-third and the remainder is held by an Abbey.

Nicholas' scroll has been stolen. Katya is a stage magician and illusionist who includes creative pick-pocketing in her show. Nicholas employs Katya to pick the pockets of individuals he suspects of stealing the scroll, not knowing their family history. In order to get her close to these people Nicholas and Katya pretend to be lovers.

Nicholas' brother and former lover have also died in suspicious circumstances. Is Nicholas a murderer or are their deaths related to the scroll?

A very enjoyable story, with a slightly different angle than other historicals. I will look out for more by this author.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review taken from my more extensive post #379 on my Blog in July 2013, which includes comments on errors/bug bears and a video of a singling llama (don't say I don't spoil you sometimes!!).

Overall not a bad read, but that might be a slightly false impression after the last Review (#378), which did not sit well with me.

The plot went along a brisk walk, but failed to fully pump up my heart rate.

Nicholas was a 5 on my Blake Alpha Male Scale - for those of you who don't know, Anthony Blake from A Gentleman's Honour is my perfect 10 Alpha Male).

Katya didn't really live up to her gypsy ancestry ... a little on the simpering and quiet side from me. She should have been written with a little more fire.

I didn't predict the villain until it happened, which is always nice.

I also loved the little bits of humour in the book, it's just a shame that they were at the front end, and not evenly spaced throughout. The Author clearly has it in her to be humorous. It would have been nice to see her carry it through in my opinion.

Rating:

Given that I liked the humour, the reasonable pace and I didn't predict the villain early on (I obviously would like you to think that it was the good writing, not the fact that I'm a bit dim and wasn't paying attention!):

4 Stars

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was middle-of-the-road. Katya's character didn't live up to the gypsy background she was suppose to come from. Also, she acted somewhat snobbish for awhile and that didn't help. She grew on me but it took awhile before I actually liked her. I found that the setting in Monte Carlo helped provide this romance with a different atmosphere.

I'll be honest and say that Nicholas was what kept me reading until the end. He meant well but had some issues that stemmed from his childhood. He came to depend upon Katya more and more even though that was not his initial intent. The light suspense was nice but I figured out who the villain was before the end...just not why he was a villain. So that part was good.

It also didn't help that I just had finished a five star historical romance before starting this book. All-in-all, I consider it chewing gum for the mind. Que será, será. Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Katya is a Beautiful Gyspy woman with Lavender colored eyes. Her Parents were magicians who traveled the world and Everyone Loved their illusions they preformed. One day everything that could go wrong did and they were killed on stage and Katya found herself alone and penniless. She decided to continue her parents dream and do the illusions they so loved. She met Nicholas Duvall and right away she knew they were destined to find each other. Her mom told her stories that were passed down for many years if not centuries in her family about the maltese. The Maltese was a symbol of the family who brought destruction to her family centuries before. She was wary about Nicholas and at first she wanted to avenge her family but she found herself falling in Love with the mysterious dark eyed, handsome man!! Very Good Read!!

[Jo Notary]

What wild deception... Nicholas Duvall, rakehell Earl of Barrington, pretended to be a coach driver when they met. Before he knew what hit him, headstrong Katya Alexander swept him into an intrigue of her own. Thinking she was a mere pickpocket--and a ravishing one at that--he made her an offer she couldn't refuse: pose as his mistress and help him retrieve a priceless family scroll. In return, he would offer her his protection. His plan was flawless--until he lost his heart to the beautiful stranger with secrets to burn. What wild desire... Only Katya knew the secret that could destroy them both: an age-old family feud made them mortal enemies. Caught up in the glittering intrigue of Monaco, Katya couldn't tell Nicholas the truth--any more than she could resist his passionate touch or the promise of heaven in his arms....

[Nancy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-done historical romance with interesting protagonists whose families have been enemies for years, although they don't know it. Katya is a conjurer and magician, although those terms don't give her quite enough credit for her act. Nicholas is the scandalous Earl of Barrington who is missing a priceless scroll that his family needs to find a treasure. When he enlists Katya's help in finding the scroll and having her pose as his mistress in order to do so, neither of them expects the consequences that occur, or the people to betray them who do. Quite a good read.

[D.H. Hanni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just meh. Every character gives "a light shrug" (whatever that means) and does a lot of shrugging. Typical historical romance book with beautiful people with perfect bodies. The man is sexually more experienced than the woman, who naturally is a virgin because heaven forbid the woman have some sexual experience. At least the setting was different with it the story taking place in Monaco. Story itself was kinda silly and implausible.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok book. I found Katya an ok heroine to start off with but then she ended up annoying me. She just couldn't seem to be honest with Nicholas; whereas he seemed to be one of the most honest heros. There's obviously a happy ending but it seemed very contrived. So I enjoyed it but it wasn't a great book.

[☆Joycedale☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't even know why I started this book. Its the same ole thing. Girl tries to avoid guy but they're thrown into some kind of relationship. They fall for each other but won't admit it till after girls life was in danger for some reason. The only different with this one is their families tried to marry their ancestors once.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should be embarrassed by some of the titles I'm reading, but I'm not. That having been said, I genuinely liked this book. There was a twist I certainly didn't see coming, and the characters were enjoyable. And I liked the resolution to the ancient mystery. Well done!

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure unadulterated chick lit. She is a gypsy, the product of generations of family who hate another family because of a murder at a wedding in the Middle Ages and a lost diamond. He is the heir of the other family. You take it from there.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, the intrigue, the characters. The story was amazing as well as the description of the costumes and the settings. I would recommend this to anyone that likes a good romance with a wee bit of mystery.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the mixture of folklore and regency in this romance novel. I really enjoy the budding friendship and romance between the male and female protagonist. I really enjoy how the legend and magic as well as folklore brought them together.

[Patricia Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Wild Moonlight and With this Kiss are my two favorites from Victoria Lynne. There wasn't anything too overly predictable in either book and I liked the H/h in both stories. I liked the setting in this book - I haven't seen too many historical romances set in Monaco .

[Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Trudi Jorda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is there not to like? Gypsies? Mysteries? Fate? Folk lore and family legend? A fun read with love romance and lavender eyes! :)

[Lindsay]

Amazon Freebie 01/01/2013

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I really liked that even after the hero found out the truth, he didn't turn on the heroine, although he was very angry and frustrated with her.

[Mary Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved historical romances with a twist, this story has murder, intrigue, family disputes, and love to last forever.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice light summer read...good freebie

[Ronda Blanke Geiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Fate and destiny with a mix of intrigue is always a pleasure to read.

[LadyCalico · Rating 4 out of 5]

The synopsis of this novel did not appeal to me at all, so it came as a pleasant surprise that I enjoyed this novel so very much since I expected so much less. All in all a fun little romp.

[sylph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting premise by this author. She comes up with unique ideas or unique spins on old ones. Each time I'm left wanting just a little bit more than I got.

[Kbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book!! Liked the story. Nice plot.

[Suzan Tisdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it!

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars