Anne Gracie: The Perfect Waltz

Society rogue Sebastian Reyne's search for a practical wife comes to a crashing halt when he dances with the effervescent Hope Merridew--and is seduced into a delicious intrigue of sensuality and desire.

 

CW: Child abuse, child SA, child neglect/abandonment, parental death, sibling death, bullying

In true Anne fashion, I skipped book 1 of this series and dove right into The Perfect Waltz.  It worked great as a standalone, so that was a relief.

I think I picked this one up as it was recommended on the Historical Romance subreddit and it didn’t disappoint.  There is a lot to like about this book – and some cautions and a little ick — and with such a brief synopsis from the publisher I am going to expound on the plot without spoilers.

Sebastian Reyne is a wealthy businessman who has recently reunited with his much younger sisters.  After burning through their seventh governess, he decides its time to find a wife who will help him settle down the mischievous and troubled little girls. The reader will slowly learn the backstory of Reyne and his sisters, and not to spoil it, but there is some capital T trauma in their past.

The woman that seems to meet all Sebastian’s criteria for the perfect mother to his young sisters is a wallflower/spinster who, for her own reasons, must now marry.  I will interject that I immediately empathized with Lady Elinore and was relieved she wasn’t abandoned at any point through the book.  That would have definitely given me the ick.

He is a few events into his courtship of Lady Elinore when a vision, one of the Virtue Sisters, appears before him.  Filled with joy and laughter, she is the antithesis of what he is seeking in a bride but he is drawn to her like a lodestone.

As it turns out, Hope Merridew has her own big T trauma, but has overcome it to embrace her new life. She is really a delightful FMC, beautiful, smart, clumsy and daring.  Hope is also well-matched for Sebastian in the grumpy/sunshine way that will hit the sweet spot for readers who love that trope.

There are elements of melodrama, and a fair amount of mature themes.  Intimacy is on the page, but reserved towards the end of the book and not terribly graphic.  There are also a lot of elements of this book that are sad, and although they come to happy resolution (or at least happier), you have to be in the mood to wade through some heady material.

Now for the ick. There is some discussion about child labor that at best takes a neutral stance on it. I can appreciate the historical context as well as the next reader, and so I looked at it as neutral but recognize some readers will immediately dislike this content.  Honestly, more than anything it got me to ponder child labor more than I usually do particularly in a more contemporary context. Child labor was also an important piece of reforms that happened alongside the industrial revolution, and so there is a real relevance to Gracie’s inclusion of the subject in this book.  Mill owner Sebastian would have had to had some interaction with it, and I think although subtle Gracie strikes a good balance in her representation. But I know others will disagree and have the ick about Sebastian’s relationship to child labor.

On the whole, I found this an engaging read that kept me interested the whole way through and did spark some thought which for me is a boon. I can’t say I had the tingles and pings of real emotional investment in the characters, but I was interested in them. I think some readers will love this book and the MCs.  I also loved the supporting characters, particularly Sebastian’s best friend, Giles and Lady Elinore.

I would recommend this for readers wanting to grapple with mature themes who love a grumpy/sunshine dynamic.