Miss Wilton's Waltz by Josi S. Kilpack

From the publisher: Lenora Wilton has spent her life hiding behind the keys of her beloved pianoforte and the vibrancy of her younger sister, Cassie. But Lenora is ready for a change and begins her journey of self-discovery by traveling to Bath to live with her Aunt Gwen and teach music at an all-girls’ boarding school. She is different in Bath and enjoys the freedom and independence of her new life there. When Lenora meets Aidan Asher, she finds herself attracted to him; unexpected feelings that become more complicated when she learns that Catherine—Lenora’s newest and most troublesome student in the school—is Mr. Asher’s niece.

Miss Wilton’s Waltz is a sequel to The Vicar’s Daughter. Both are part of Shadow Mountain’s Proper Romance series of clean romance stories. Author Kilpack writes gentle romance novels that feature characters with issues. In the first book, Lenora was a secondary character dealing with social anxiety. She gets the spotlight in this book, still coping with social anxiety and learning how to be independent and successful. Catherine, the troubled student, turns out to be dealing with a learning disability.

I enjoyed this book more than the first. The characters were more developed, the plot was smoother and more believable, and the messages were not so heavy handed. I recommend it for lovers of historical romance.

I read an advance reader copy of Miss Wilton's Waltz. It and other books by Josi S. Kilpack are available at the Galesburg Public Library.

Lord Fenton's Folly by Josi S. Kilpack

Shadow Mountain Publishing has a line of books called Proper Romance. They are clean romantic reads without sex, violence, and bad language. I've read quite a few Proper Romances and find the line a welcome addition to the world of romance novels.

The newest is Lord Fenton's Folly by Josi S. Kilpack, which has a gorgeous cover. I really enjoyed A Heart Revealed, Kilpack's previous Proper Romance, which concerned a woman during the Regency period suffering from profound hair loss (and which the Galesburg Public Library has in the adult Fiction section).

Lord Fenton's Folly also addresses an issue of the times - what to do with a child with mental impairment - but it's a minor sideplot this time around. Lord Fenton does not respect his father and tried to embarrass him by playing the foppish fool and adopting macaroni fashion. His father, fed up with the behavior, lays down some ultimatums that Fenton must agree to or be disinherited. One of the conditions is that Fenton must marry. On his mother's advice, he proposed to Alice, a young woman he knew as a child. She has had a crush on him for ten years and thinks he feels the same. She is angered and hurt when she finds out otherwise.

They marry all the same, and the novel watches them deal with personal crises, learn family secrets, and gradually come to rely on and love each other.

I did not enjoy Lord Fenton's Folly quite as much as A Heart Revealed. It was very slow moving, and I would have liked more character development during the long period in which the young married couple was estranged. Lord Fenton in his foppish persona annoyed me as much as he annoyed his father. There are frequent references to witty banter, and yet there isn't much witty banter in the dialog. I was definitely ready for the "falling in love" stage of the marriage before it finally happened.

Still, I am happy to have this category of romance to recommend to readers who want a clean love story, to lovers of Regency romances, and to Jane Austen fans. I read a digital copy of Lord Fenton's Folly. It will be published on October 6 and will be available in the new adult Fiction section of the Galesburg Public Library.