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Rebel Waltz
New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper tells a timelessly seductive tale of a romance touched by the paranormal and of a woman who opens a door to the unknown and finds a stranger with an irresistible invitation….
With its antebellum setting and gallant history, Jasmine Hall was more than just a business for Banner Clairmont. The lovingly preserved plantation-era inn had been home to the Clairmont family for generations. But the realities of modern real-estate had made it time to sell even the most priceless treasures. So it was hardly with a great deal of enthusiasm that Banner led real-estate speculator Rory Stewart around the property. How could this stranger—whose southern charm and universal good looks made it impossible to entirely distrust him—have any idea of Jasmine Hall’s true value? Yet what was Banner to make of the fact that Rory had seen the ghosts that never showed themselves to outsiders? Was he destined not only to save the Hall but to live there? Was his fate entangled with hers? Or was she banking too much on an old family legend … and wishful thinking?
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1986
43 people are currently reading
251 people want to read
About the author
Kay Hooper
97 books2,452 followersKay Hooper (aka Kay Robbins) was born in California, in an air force base hospital since her father was stationed there at the time. The family moved back to North Carolina shortly afterward, so she was raised and went to school there.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 17, 2022
Kay Hooper’s Rebel Waltz was first released in 1986, so it was fairly guessable the kind of storyline this book may have and its appeal for me. But Rebel Waltz was chosen simply coz it had only 5 + hours of audio and as my attempts at audiobooks have been unsuccessful for most parts, here I am with my umpteenth attempt.
I know 5+ hours of audio in 9 days is not an achievement but I am happy that I did complete the audio file. Rebel Waltz is an easy read book, the kind which doesn’t create any goosebumps or give any adrenaline high. The romance is sweet and predictable, the ghosts from whom I had expected some elements of thrill were all friendly and kind of superficial to the story, not adding anything valuable to the plot.
Lyssa Browne’s narration though was excellent, the charm of the southern plantation evoking a feel of Gone With the Wind with the author herself mentioning Scarlett and Rhett repeatedly with reference to the central characters Banner and Rory.
Charming!
This review is published in my blog Rain'n'Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.
I know 5+ hours of audio in 9 days is not an achievement but I am happy that I did complete the audio file. Rebel Waltz is an easy read book, the kind which doesn’t create any goosebumps or give any adrenaline high. The romance is sweet and predictable, the ghosts from whom I had expected some elements of thrill were all friendly and kind of superficial to the story, not adding anything valuable to the plot.
Lyssa Browne’s narration though was excellent, the charm of the southern plantation evoking a feel of Gone With the Wind with the author herself mentioning Scarlett and Rhett repeatedly with reference to the central characters Banner and Rory.
Charming!
This review is published in my blog Rain'n'Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.
April 3, 2009
Another reprint from author Kay Hooper. "Rebel Waltz" was originally published as a 'Loveswept' title in 1986. These two facts (date and publisher) should give you plenty of warning as to the tone and heat index of the book. I confess that I did enjoy it, but that was mostly because I was prepared for the tenor since I knew what I was getting into...
Banner has finally accepted that her beloved antebellum home, Jasmine Hall, will be sold. That doesn't mean she has to like it though! It's where she was born, grew up, learned to love the ghosts who also reside there, and had hoped to live out her life. And when she meets the man her grandfather has selected as a possible buyer...well, he may be her dream man--and he may love Jasmine Hall--but how can she ever know which of them, her or her home, he loves most?
Rory is amazed when he drives up and sees the lovingly restored and maintained Jasmine Hall and he falls a little in love with the estate. Then SHE opens the door and it only takes a few days for Rory to know that THIS woman and THIS home, ghosts and all, are where he's meant to live. But he knows he's facing a tall task...he must figure out a way to prove his love to Banner before he can have his dream...and even with a little ghostly assistance this may be more than is possible.
Yes, it didn't take long to figure out the ending. Yes, the heat scale was fairly light. Yes, I could tell from attitudes and actions that this book was originally written over twenty years ago. But you know what? I still read it cover-to-cover without stopping. I still wanted to know exactly what the ghosts were going to do to help. And I was a little bummed that the ghosts didn't have a bigger part in the story. This is likely one of the 'lightest' paranormal elements book that Kay Hooper wrote. And it was just right for a sunny afternoon.
Banner has finally accepted that her beloved antebellum home, Jasmine Hall, will be sold. That doesn't mean she has to like it though! It's where she was born, grew up, learned to love the ghosts who also reside there, and had hoped to live out her life. And when she meets the man her grandfather has selected as a possible buyer...well, he may be her dream man--and he may love Jasmine Hall--but how can she ever know which of them, her or her home, he loves most?
Rory is amazed when he drives up and sees the lovingly restored and maintained Jasmine Hall and he falls a little in love with the estate. Then SHE opens the door and it only takes a few days for Rory to know that THIS woman and THIS home, ghosts and all, are where he's meant to live. But he knows he's facing a tall task...he must figure out a way to prove his love to Banner before he can have his dream...and even with a little ghostly assistance this may be more than is possible.
Yes, it didn't take long to figure out the ending. Yes, the heat scale was fairly light. Yes, I could tell from attitudes and actions that this book was originally written over twenty years ago. But you know what? I still read it cover-to-cover without stopping. I still wanted to know exactly what the ghosts were going to do to help. And I was a little bummed that the ghosts didn't have a bigger part in the story. This is likely one of the 'lightest' paranormal elements book that Kay Hooper wrote. And it was just right for a sunny afternoon.
May 5, 2016
This would be considered a guilty pleasure read, however, in my case it cannot be called that because it was NOT a pleasure. It was predictable and silly. I only finished it to get my good reads stats up.
December 31, 2012
Guess this wasn't my cup of tea. I would have enjoyed it more if it had more supernatural aspects and less of a love story.
August 21, 2018
Banner Clairmont and her grandfather, Jake, have restored their family's southern mansion, Jasmine Hall, but can't afford to keep it up. Jake invites real estate speculator Rory Stewart to visit the mansion and stay with them to learn more about the property. Rory arrives a day early, right before an annual antebellum ball the family holds. Rory is taken with Banner and Banner is shocked when she learns that Rory can see the house's ghosts. Rory discovers he really likes Banner, but knows that if he buys her home, he'll always be the man who took it away from her. So, while he's wooing her, he finds a way to allow her to keep it. This was a cute, short story with likable characters and a house with an interesting history.
May 10, 2017
I wish I could give half stars, this is def a 3.5 book but not quite a 4 book.
Charming story about a plantation home with ghosts. Only some people can see the ghosts tho-and never the hosts . A bit of romance, a bit more than I usually read, and Civil War ghosts and a big plantation house.
Pretty good, not my fave but a quick read.
Charming story about a plantation home with ghosts. Only some people can see the ghosts tho-and never the hosts . A bit of romance, a bit more than I usually read, and Civil War ghosts and a big plantation house.
Pretty good, not my fave but a quick read.
March 27, 2024
I struggled through some of this book because some things were a little cheesy. Sometimes the male was a tad bit possessive and honestly didnt make sense to me. But the story as a whole was cute. The ghosts were my favorite.
July 19, 2017
Entertaining but not one of Kay Hooper's better reads.
August 30, 2018
After reading too many romance novels this one was just okay i felt in a way it was too rushed though the concept was good
August 10, 2019
This boon had a fun premise, but the execution was not quite what I was expecting. There was much more game-playing than I expected, and not much character development.
January 18, 2022
Loved the story and characters!
October 15, 2022
Banner & Rory’s HEA was an ok read/listen but not a great or good one. Not enough to really capture & hold you.
April 22, 2025
Cute southern romance book!
May 25, 2025
I enjoyied this book. It could have turning into a series and I would have bought them.
September 3, 2014
Rebel Waltz is a novella that wanted to be a short story. It got off to a good start with a progressive pace and interesting premise. However, once Banner & Roy got together, there was nowhere for the story to go and so it plodded along until, like an old wagon horse, it just stopped.
Rebel Waltz initially had the makings of an enjoyable tale. All the things you could want: sassy heroine, old plantation, likeable father. Sounds like Gone with the Wind, doesn't it? Hooper refers to Scarlet and Tara several times. No doubt that is where she got her inspiration.
I liked the characters, what there was of them. However, Hooper spent too much time stretching out dialogue between Banner and Rory and not enough on giving the characters depth. One exchange went on so long that I skipped two tracks and they were still saying the same things to one another. I would have enjoyed more detail about the history of the area or the house itself. And why an epilogue? What purpose did that serve?
I see that other readers recommend the Bishop series. I'll have to see if my library has it.
Kudos to Lyssa Brown for a good reading but she couldn't make the last few chapters measure up to the first.
Rebel Waltz initially had the makings of an enjoyable tale. All the things you could want: sassy heroine, old plantation, likeable father. Sounds like Gone with the Wind, doesn't it? Hooper refers to Scarlet and Tara several times. No doubt that is where she got her inspiration.
I liked the characters, what there was of them. However, Hooper spent too much time stretching out dialogue between Banner and Rory and not enough on giving the characters depth. One exchange went on so long that I skipped two tracks and they were still saying the same things to one another. I would have enjoyed more detail about the history of the area or the house itself. And why an epilogue? What purpose did that serve?
I see that other readers recommend the Bishop series. I'll have to see if my library has it.
Kudos to Lyssa Brown for a good reading but she couldn't make the last few chapters measure up to the first.
October 31, 2013
Kay Hooper...I love her Bishop special FBI series, about FBI agents who have special psychic powers and they discover new people who have the powers while tracking down serial killers and evil things. Cool, right? Well, Rebel Waltz is not in that series. This is one of Hooper's early books and it's pretty bad. It's about...nothing really. There's no conflict to this story. What's the point? It's actually a romance novel, or novelette, it's super short, with some good ghosts around. I'm so glad that Hooper used this as practice to later produce better books, but skip this one. I only read it because i didn't know how it would be and once i started, it was already there.
March 14, 2017
This is some old school Kay Hooper. I loved the southern setting and the ghost aspect was interesting. But the characters were rather flat and the plot got a little boring. I understand that the plantation had been in the family for years and years but honestly towards the end I wanted to tell everyone to just get over it and move on. Also all the Gone With the Wind talk started to get on my nerves.
August 22, 2013
I enjoyed the romance between Rory and Banner. Rory falls hard and fast when he meets Banner. His pursuit of her was amusing. I'll admit that I liked Rory more than I like Banner. I thought she gave him too much of a hard time about things. Personally, I thought the "practical joke" that she plays on him to get back at him for helping her was in very poor taste. I didn't see the humor in it. Anyway, while it's not the best of her early works, it is an enjoyable read.
June 22, 2009
A very sweet romance that is set in the south where an old plantation is
up for sale; or is it? Rory Stewart has fallen hard but is it for Banner
Clairmont or the antebellum mansion that he wants to turn into a resort?
Kay Hooper has written better starred titles but as I reader I also enjoy reading an author's earlier works.
up for sale; or is it? Rory Stewart has fallen hard but is it for Banner
Clairmont or the antebellum mansion that he wants to turn into a resort?
Kay Hooper has written better starred titles but as I reader I also enjoy reading an author's earlier works.
June 4, 2011
This was a fun read about a man who goes to visit a fine southern plantation with the hopes of purchasing it, only to find it haunted by ghosts. Happily, he is encouraged in his pursuit of the granddaughter of the house by said ghosts, and manages to win her heart, save the plantation for her, and get the girl as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2009
Wow this is almost too sweet. I am almost through and may skim read.
I read the whole thing and it got better toward the end with practical jokes that were hilarious and not as sweet. You understood the ghosts a little better that reside in the house.
I read the whole thing and it got better toward the end with practical jokes that were hilarious and not as sweet. You understood the ghosts a little better that reside in the house.
March 28, 2016
What a lovely little bit of light reading. A man and a woman find themselves and each other in a Tara-like southern plantation. The book made me smile many times and the occasional presence of benevolent ghosts was nicely done.
April 11, 2009
Very cute story. It kept a smile on my face the entire time I was reading it.
June 14, 2009
I have always loved Kay Hooper's books. I've read Rebel Waltz before and I enjoyed it's re-release just as much as I did years ago.
June 16, 2010
Nice little romance, quirky dialogue, simply enjoyable, not one-bit-taxing!
December 23, 2016
2.5-star read
March 22, 2011
Enjoyable romance set in a haunted New Orleans estate. A nice story.
June 10, 2018
Quick and easy light read. Something to pass the time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews