Pianist Sophie Roseingrave and her family have just moved to Carrisford to start over after a charming con man cost them their family store. When Sophie witnesses a local merchant get taken in by a different scheme, she is determined not to let anyone else suffer what her family has just gone through. Unfortunately the con is being run by the beautiful weaver Maddie Crewe and their attraction is immediate. When Maddie confides in Sophie that the scheme is to bring down a petty tyrant of a man in order to stop his abuses and fund a weaver’s strike, their attraction blooms into something more.
Olivia Waite has a talent for bringing her characters to life and The Hellion’s Waltz is no exception. Sophie is the daughter of a tradesman who is overcoming the trauma of being conned while trying to figure out her future. Maddie is a silk weaver who was raised at the knee of a Reformist mother who recently passed. While they come from very different backgrounds, both women are working to recover from their recent traumas when they meet, which gives them common ground on which to relate to each other. Though their attraction is instant and their union passionate, it feels rooted despite their whirlwind of an affair.
One of the things I personally enjoyed the most about The Hellion’s Waltz is that it isn’t about the ton or the upper class of British society. Many Regency era romance novels are about the wealthy so it was really refreshing to read one about two working women. Waite writes with such rich and well researched details that it made the story really come alive. Though both characters are working women, they’re still from different classes. Waite brings in the smallest details to illustrate that. The fabrics they wear, the places they shop, such small things that give the reader so much information. You can tell she put in the time to find out about the trades they’re in and the world they would have lived in. I love a book that makes me learn something new when I least expect to and this one managed that multiple times.
Though The Hellion’s Waltz is the third book in the Feminine Pursuits series, it absolutely works as a stand alone. Each book in the series is only loosely tied into the others. Sometimes there are characters that appear in multiple books, but they are never central to stories outside their own. One of the leads in this series appeared briefly in the the previous book, The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, but a reader won’t miss out on anything if they haven’t read it. If this is the first of the novels you do read and you enjoy it, I would definitely recommend you pick up the other two because you will love them as well.
Disclosure: This review is based on a digital galley provided by the publisher through Netgalley.
RATING: ★★★★☆ 4 STARS
The Hellion’s Waltz* by Olivia Waite
Published in the US: June 25, 2021 by Avon Impulse
ISBN: 9780062931818
*Disclosure: When you buy something using the retail link on this page we will receive a small commission. We do not accept money for our reviews, only free copies of books for review.
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