Once Upon a Dream
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The national bestselling author presents “an ardent and magical retooling of Cinderella . . . Emotionally compelling and intensely romantic” (Romance Forever).
Lucy Kincaid endures a life of drudgery and loneliness in her stepmother’s home, sustained only by her dreams of a better life and a man to share it with. She’s sure her wish is coming true when a golden stranger appears on the windswept cliffs of the Irish coast. But Lucy’s hopes are shattered when she realizes the man she lost her heart to is the despised Englishman whose family stole her birthright.
Raphael Montagu is obsessed with finding the mysterious Irish beauty who captured his heart at first sight. When he discovers fate has delivered her to him at a London ball, he’s crushed when she claims to have never seen him before. Even after sharing a kiss and hearing his declaration of undying love, the woman vanishes, leaving no clue as to her identity. Raphael’s only hope to find his true love is to return to the remote cliffs of Ireland and unravel the mystery keeping him from his heart’s desire.
“Miss Kingsley has woven a delightful tale . . . A sparkling gem.” —Romantic Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kingsley co-opts two fairy tales, Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet, in this second volume of her trilogy (following In the Wake of the Wind). Her Cinderella is Lucy Kincaid, an orphaned Irish noblewoman forced to cook and clean for two ugly British stepsisters and her wicked British stepmother, Eunice. Her handsome prince, a British duke named Montagu, first spies Lucy calling out passages of Childe Harold over an Irish cliff. But before he can marry his soulmate, Lucy has to go to the ball, and Rafe has to persuade her that it's okay for an Irish woman to marry a sensuously handsome, extravagantly wealthy, extraordinarily kind and magnificently virtuous Englishman. Even when she finally comes to her senses ("I'm saying that I don't care if you're a Montagu. I don't even mind that you're British. Or a duke"), it's hard to believe that Lucy, a generous simp who spends a lot of time bringing food baskets to starving Irish peasants, is any smarter than her two absurd stepsisters, who marry pig farmers. Once again it is underscored that in romance novels, elegant balls of any variety are not for the plain and ungainly.
