August is Exotic Locales month on my blog, so plan to take a vacation of the mind to some very different settings! I'm starting with Russia.
Anita Mills serves up an unusual story in Falling Stars, sweeping the heroine
from the ballrooms of London to the grand palaces of Russia.
The story begins
in London in 1814 where Katherine (“Kate”) Winstead, and her younger sister
Carissa, are enjoying the London Season with their brother, Harry, Baron Winstead.
[Usually the title and surname are not the same but here they are.] Harry’s best
friend is Bellamy (“Bell”), Viscount Townsend, a rake of the first order with
the face of an angel. He and Kate constantly exchange barbs and unpleasant
truths about each other.
By all accounts, Kate is both short (5 feet tall) and plain,
and at 22 “on the shelf”, yet when the Russians come to town with young Czar
Alexander, all that changes. For some reason known only to his sister Galena
and him, handsome Count Alexei Volsky takes a fancy to
Katherine and quickly offers for her. Now why would a handsome Russian count do
that? Why, indeed. To have such an offer as a plain girl is unheard of and Katherine
does not fail to accept, particularly when the count’s sister, Galena, tells
Kate the huge betrothal ruby on her finger proves Alexei loves her.
I thought Mills did this part especially well, preserving the
mystery as the wool is pulled over Kate’s eyes. Ah, but no reader will fail to
wonder just what’s going on.
Meanwhile, Viscount Townsend must escape a woman in London
who has set a trap for him, so he decides to go to Russia when Kate and the
Russian entourage leave town. And the plot thickens.
Russia is a very foreign place to Kate:
the language, the people and the customs. She feels trapped inside Alexei’s
huge estate as the snows pile up outside. There, she learns she is pregnant and
is thrilled—until she discovers, to her horror, her marriage is a sham and underneath
it all is a horrible truth. Kate decides (reasonably so) to flee Russia in winter.
And who should come to her rescue but Bell, Viscount Townsend.
This is an unusual, well-told tale that
kept me turning pages. Mills did very well with the Russian culture and scenes
in and around Moscow in the winter. I felt the cold and lamented the loss of
green England along with Kate. You must be patient to see the hero as an actual
hero (though there are earlier hints) but he does come around in the end.
Buy on Amazon.
I dearly, dearly, dearly miss Anita Mills, and this is an absolute gem. The Russian setting, and Kate's growing understanding of what she's really gotten herself into were beautifully executed. Definitely worth rereading. My paper copies of the entire trilogy have pride of place on a keeper bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful comment, Anna. I love Anita Mills' work. She is one of my favorite authors. And many of hers are in my keeper case.
Delete