Opera Dancer

by Sandra Heath

SHE WAS WHIRLED ABOUT IN A DANCE OF LOVE AND DANGER

All London wildly applauded beautiful young Nonna Lambert as she danced from triumph to triumph on the stage. But the aristocratic audience that adored her would have despised her had they known that only a short time before she had been a masked singer in a house of ill fame.

Sir Philip Hasting knew her secret. He had rescued her from the lower depths and raised her to the heights. More than that, he had conquered her body and captured her heart, even though she knew that she was but a pawn in a game he was playing, to be tossed aside when she had served her purpose. Now her only hope of survival was to try to hate this man she loved – and to become a mistress of deceit in a scandalous Regency world where the one unforgivable sin was telling the truth…

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Sandra Heath is the ever-popular author of numerous Regencies, historical romances, novellas, and short stories. Among other honors, she has won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards for Best Regency Author and for Best Regency Romance. She lives in Gloucester, England, and can be contacted at sandraheath@bluey onder.co.uk.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kind of torn on this book, I overall enjoyed it, I read it in one sitting and for my enjoyment of it I would rate it higher than 3 but I had to rate it lower because there was several things I really didn't like in it, I had kind of expected these things because I am not fond of Sandra Heath's writing at all, her actually writing is fine but she always has things in her books I would rather not have in my regency stories. To start with what I liked about it, I did like the story outline (minus Vania) and I liked Philip, and there was a review that said there wasn't enough development in the romance so I was off put by that but I found the development satisfying enough, obviously I would not have said no to more but I've read ones with a lot less, Nonna was in love with him from the first meeting and her love was touching, I do love the deeply hopeless love that seems like it will always go unrequited, I am a sucker for that, of unconditional love that has no strings on it, that can't be shaken no matter what, so I appreciated it and could sympathize with her pain of it, which brings me to what I also disliked alot about it, the fact she slept with and married another man in the book, given Sandra Heath I'm not suprised but this is a big no for me for a regency, sleeping with and marrying someone she didn't even love was just gross to me and very unnecessary, it's almost like it turned into a soap opera at this point, and I felt it cheapened her love for Philip, so I would not have bought it had I known.
Another thing, I was reading this for her and Philip who are meant to be the love story in it but yet her and Vania take up so much and his character was grossly concieted and annoying as hell honestly, and to make her sleeping with and marrying him even worse, he is literally the reason her sister comitted suicide! and yet she marries him? like what? I'm sure your dead sister really appreciates that. Basically if Vania was taken out of the story I would probably rate it 5 on enjoyment but the things I mentioned bring it down for me. Josie and Monique were nice side characters but that's it, the only other characters in it besides the hero and heroine were Vania who I wish I could rip out of the book, he is in it far too much and then Justin who is also annoying but is nothing compared to Vania. Again I have to say I enjoyed this book much to my own dismay lol but just the things mentioned were a dissapointment, it was the same thing with the the other Sandra Heath books I have read, I just am not for her books and this will be the last I read.