Blog Tour: MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE by Marcia Lynn McClure

Publication date: July 29th, 2013
Publisher: Distractions Ink
Number of Pages: 228
Date read: August 29th, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Source: ARC from I'm a Reader, Not a Writer
Format: Ebook





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Description source: Goodreads)

Stavos Voronin was not as blind-eyed as many nobles and royals. Evony’s physical gestures—even the simplest movement of her hands—revealed that she had not always been destitute. The same was true of the children—of their polished manners and the boy’s knowledge of horses and tendency to be bold and fearless of strangers.

Ah yes, Stavos enjoyed a good mystery. After all, interest in the inexplicable circumstances surrounding the royals of Abawyth was the very thing that had lured him to the kingdom—the enigma of Abawyth’s twelve sleepy princesses. And yet now—now his mind was all the more intrigued. Not only was the obscurity of what had caused the profound and baffling torpidity of Abawyth’s princesses laid out before him, but also he found his curiosity intensely piqued over the riddle surrounding the very lovely Evony and her siblings.

As Stavos strode through the village resting on the outskirts of Abawyth Castle, his mind reeled with possibilities. His musings were drawn back to why he had come to Abawyth at all—to solve the conundrum surrounding the twelve beautiful princesses of Abawyth kingdom—to solve the seemingly impenetrable crux and thereby win the hand of one of Abawyth’s princesses, as his father, King Letholdus of Ethiarien, had commanded.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't really read many fairy tale retellings, and all the ones that I have read are set in modern times, so I signed on to read Midnight Masquerade to try something new and interesting, and that is exactly what I got - a new and immensely interesting read unlike anything I've read before. 

Based on the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, this story is both familiar in aspects and completely original in its telling. Midnight Masquerade is told from two main view points - Evony's and Stavos's.

Evony is a young woman working hard as seamstress for a cruel woman as a means of supporting her younger siblings, her brother Mikol and sister Tressa. She is also very much not what she seems, something that intrigues the noble Stavos. Stavos meets Evony in the most unexpected circumstances and ends up intertwining himself into her life by championing for her when she is injured. Stavos is visiting Abawyth on the business of solving the mystery of the Twelve Sleepy Princesses of Abawyth as, by doing so, he might win the hand of the princess of his choosing in marriage, as per his father's request.

Marcia Lynn McClure's writing drew me in and surprised me from the very outset, her descriptions made the story easy to visualise and her characters made it easy to enjoy! The story spun in an enchanting manner full of mystery and (clean) romance. For clean romance, the kissing scenes were VERY hot! The setting and the plot of this tale were beautiful and unique, the reasons behind everything 100% original.

Stavos's character is one of a true hero, and a, slightly roguish, gentleman. He is gorgeous and mischevious and creates romantic, funny and sweet moments within the story, I especially love the way he treats Tressa. Evony is strong, defiant, humble, innocent and very reactionary. Stavos and Evony are very real characters and deal with problem of a time unlike nowaday, the setting being old-fashioned and written perfectly. 

So many aspects surprised me about this retelling, it was a completely new vision of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, with clear divisions drawn up about which characters were good and which were vile and villainous.

Definitely beyond a novel to be considered beyond enjoyable, drawing the reader in and showing the true meaning of love, I am so, SO glad I gave this novel a chance , and I assure you, this novel is perfectly romantic with one swoon-worthy hero!

"As you wish, Princess," he said.

I rate Midnight Masquerade Four out of Five!