Miss Wilton's Waltz

February 5, 2018
The jilted elder sister in Kilpack’s The Vicar’s Daughter becomes the heroine in this tender, satisfying Regency romance. After Lenora flees from her family home to Bath, she works hard to establish herself as someone other than the painfully shy and anxious musical daughter, always hiding behind the pianoforte. Determined to accept her lot as a single woman, Lenora finds employment as a music teacher in a school for young ladies, returning to her aunt’s for weekend social events. When Catherine, a particularly troublesome new student of Lenora’s, becomes her nemesis, Lenora falls into a conflicted relationship with the girl’s devoted uncle, Aiden, who will do anything to help his difficult niece—even blackmailing Lenora with his knowledge of her secret habit of taking late-night river walks while dressed in men’s clothing. Kilpack convincingly portrays the acting out of an angry, formerly neglected child, who causes such damage to Lenora’s psyche, reputation, and future hopes that she declares, “I hate that girl.” Lenora’s slow, arduous journey toward empathy, forgiveness, and love, with both niece and uncle, proves deeply rewarding.

April 15, 2018
Lenora Wilton accepts a position as music teacher at a girls' school in Bath, where a difficult student and an unfortunate meeting with the girl's guardian change her life--and her hopes for the future.Painfully shy Lenora moves to Bath after her fiance breaks their engagement to marry her sister and she's left feeling she has no marital prospects. Spending her workdays as a music teacher and her weekends at the home of her beloved Aunt Gwen, Lenora often sneaks out to the river for midnight walks, which would be a scandal should anyone discover her. All goes well for two years, until Lenora meets Aiden Asher, guardian to his niece Catherine Manch, a bright but troubled girl who was neglected by her family and can't read, since she suffers from what modern readers will recognize as dyslexia. Acting out, Catherine ultimately gets Lenora dismissed from her job, but Aiden and Gwen arrange for Lenora to give Catherine private lessons despite reservations on both sides. Aiden and Lenora become close, and Catherine begins to have faith that neither of them will abandon her. Lenora, however, feels betrayed by Asher, who told her he had feelings for her even though he was engaged to someone else. Asher, who had entered into a betrothal with a woman he doesn't love in order to offer Catherine more stability, realizes they should share their lives with Lenora, but his fiancee won't release him, and Lenora refuses to have him even if she does. Lives intertwined by circumstance are suddenly bound by love, and it will take courage to vanquish the fear, pride, and guilt that are blocking everyone's happiness. Kilpack's sequel to The Vicar's Daughter (2017) is another quiet, character-driven romance that finds poignancy through complex conflicts while maintaining a more authentic tone and sensibility (including no sex) than many current historical romances.A sweet, engaging, graceful romance.

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April 15, 2018
Lenora Wilton is perfectly happy with her new life in Bath, living with her aunt Gwen and teaching music at Mrs. Henry's School for Girls, until the day Catherine March appears in her classroom. Catherine is such a disruptive influence on the other students in class that Lenora is convinced she must go. However, after meeting Catherine's guardian, her uncle Aiden Asher, Lenora quickly changes her mind. Not only does Aiden know a secret about Lenora and her nighttime walks around Bath, he is more than willing to use that knowledge to ensure that his niece remains in school. As the days go by, Lenora feels she is slowly finding a way to reach Catherine while at the same time forging an unexpected connection with Aiden. However, when Lenora discovers Aiden has a secret of his own, it could turn out to be the catalyst that shatters any hope of a future together. Sweet, insightful, and gracefully written, Kilpack's (All That Makes Life Bright, 2017) latest Regency romance is a quiet triumph.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)