December 1863 - Alexandria, Virginia
Marriage to her cousin was not an option for Julia Chandler, she simply had to find a way out. The invitation to the masked ball was there, even if it wasn’t intended for them, she may be able to find the solution there. The right questions, the right approach, the right man, she had to find a way to overlook them all being Yankees. It was an order for him to be there, Major Robert Montgomery didn’t want to be there, but the time was not a complete waste, he was able to spend an evening with a young lady that had read and could quote Shakespeare and had the most intriguing proposition for him. Finding out that it came from a Southern sympathizer should have changed things, after all he blamed them for leaving him disfigured and alone, but instead he found himself in her garden, more than once. He was a Yankee Major, she knew she shouldn’t spend time with him, but she did so enjoy his company. Just how much was she willing to do, could she forget all the things she thought she knew about the Union soldiers in order to be around him a little longer.

Good old Harlequin Historical, not only does the authors do their best to get historical facts as straight as they can, but they are able to make the tragedy of this whole war so real. To take a historical fact and be able to add just the right characters to the mix that you actually think, “that could be how it really happened” is great. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Julia at first, but as time progressed I started coming around (liked Rob from word one). As a period piece, these characters stayed true to the times, there is actually very few intimate moments between the Rob and Julia letting the emotional edge of the relationship carry the book. I had not thought that I had read any of Mary Schaller’s work before until picking up this book and realizing that I have, she also writes under the name of Tori Phillips which I have read several of (different time periods though so not something that can be easily compared). While a masked ball is not something new to the historical romance world, this one was fun, but I think that was because of Julia. ( )