Kissing the Kavalier by Annette Nauraine – Review by Jennifer Gordon

Kissing the Kavalier by Annette Nauraine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this wonderfully written historical romance by author Nauraine, set in Vienna in 1867 the story is a reimagining of the opera, Arabella by Richard Strauss. Countess Zdenka Waldner must save her family’s farm from her father’s gambling debts and find her sister, Arabella a rich husband if she is to fulfil her dream. In order for Zdenka to live out her life on the farm and be free of all the rules and expectations of the Viennese Society, especially that she should marry, she masquerades as Arabella’s younger brother. However her plan of dressing and playing the part of a man to help chaperone her sister gets even more complicated when she meets and falls in love with a Kavalier.

Lieutenant Matteo von Ritter, is a veteran of the Austro-Prussian war, who has vowed to care for his injured men but having met Arabella Waldner, Matteo recruits who he believes is her brother, Zdenko to deliver love letters to her but in fact it is really Zdenka. It is also Zdenka and not Arabella that he is trading letters with and he is in fact falling in love with the wrong sister. When the inevitable happens and Zdenka is found out she must save her dream, her sister’s engagement and Matteo’s honour but can she also save their relationship and his love for her even when her deception is unravelled.

The authors descriptive narrative really bought the era, the setting and the characters to life and made me feel fully immersed in the story. You can tell that the author has done her research for this novel and I found the ‘note on the opera’ at the beginning fascinating and I referred to the helpful glossary of terms whilst reading. The storyline captivated me as did the characters and the narrative flowed well making this an enjoyable and engaging read and one which I could not put down. I definitely recommend this heartwarming and sweet timeless romance.

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