User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
5☆ Enchanting in Every Sense! Oozes Romance and Class I loved it!
Moonlight Over Mayfair is the second book in an Enchanting Series, but my first book.
I had no problem reading this as a standalone.
I adore Downtown Abbey and Strictly so when I read the blurb for this gorgeous book and knowing that Anton is such a gentleman on the show I had a feeling this book was going to be Enchanting, Romantic and would sweep me off my feet and I wasn't wrong.
Right from the book cover to the delightful and endearing characters this book oozes class and warmth.
There was romance, plenty of dance, drama, intrigue, mystery, secrets and lies.
I enjoyed the authentic touches to the 1930s period in which this book was set and showed Anton done his research well. The difference in social classes within the Buckingham Hotel and political references all made for an Authentic and Intriguing read.
I loved the added touch of the characters list at the start as there is alot of characters to get to grips with especially if like me this is your first encounter with them.
But don't let this put you off as there stories weave together perfectly, and I soon got to grips with everyone.
Anton Du Beke is a very talented writer and his love for dance, the characters, The Grand Ballroom and the Buckingham Hotel simply shone through.
I loved the warmth and how Anton seamlessly transported me right into the heart of The Buckingham all the glitz and ettiqute was amazing.
I can't wait for the next instalment.
Thank you to Compulsive Readers Tours and Zaffre Books for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
My Review is also on my Blog Website :-
https://dashfan81.blogspot.com/2020/0...
Rating: really liked it
“Moonlight Over Mayfair” is the second novel written by Anton Du Beke and features the plush London based Buckingham Hotel and it’s Grand Ballroom. Set in 1937, I loved visiting this era and felt the author really captured the atmosphere of the time, politically and socially, absolutely perfectly.
There’s a checklist of characters at the beginning, which is always a useful addition to any book and I was pleased to see that the dazzling characters I fell in love with in the first book - “One Enchanted Evening” - were making a pleasant return. I couldn’t wait to see what new events were happening in the hotel and what new dances were being introduced to England. As with any sequel, it’s always nice to read the first book to become acquainted with the characters and although you can probably read this book as a stand-alone, I do feel you’d get more enjoyment from reading the first and seeing how the characters develop, romantically and through their occupations within the Buckingham Hotel.
I particularly enjoyed reading Maynard Charles’ story with his arch enemy Abner Grant and Maynard’s partner Aubrey. Though this book does start off a lot slower than its previous counterpart, it does pick up towards the end and rollicks to a satisfying conclusion.
Anton is not just a talented, suave and debonair dancer and a respected television personality but is also now a very sophisticated, intelligent and creative author. I’m very impressed by his literary skills and I’m delighted to hear there will be more to come from him in this truly delightful and sassy series, suitable for all ages. I’ll be booking my suite again for next year at Buckingham Hotel and I can’t wait to catch up with Raymond De Guise, Nancy and all the other endearing and captivating characters.
Perfectly written, easy to follow and very addictive, I’m more than happy to recommend Anton and his fashionably historical romance sagas set during the 1930’s.
4 stars
Rating: really liked it
What an enchanting book, I was transported from sitting in my conservatory listening to the rain to this wonderful glamorous world of dance, where I could feel the music vibrating through the wooden floorboards and hear the swish of the women’s gowns - magical!!
This is the second book in the series and we return to the glamorous Buckingham Hotel. The characters and the vivid descriptions bring this story to life.
In the first book we met dancer Raymond De Guise and Nancy amongst other hotel staff. This time Nancy is eagerly awaiting the return of Raymond from America.
I loved reading about the guests and staff working at the hotel. The story is full of romance, lies and theft.
A must read book for all fans of dancing. I confess to being a wannabe dancer but sadly have 2 left feet and no rhythm!!!
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.
Rating: really liked it
I really enjoyed Antons first book and was very pleased to be granted to read this early. If you love downtown Abbey and strictly come dancing, with a splash of romance, drama, love and sophistication then this book is for you.
Rating: really liked it
Oh my, ever since I finished this book I keep hearing the music in my mind and sighing at an era that I simply adore. Anton Du Beke brought every page to life in his wonderful characters.
This is the second book in this series but I must admit that it is my first. Loved the list of characters which gave them a familiar ring when they appeared in the story. Set in 1937 and staged around the Buckingham Hotel it was like watching a well-oiled clock, each character a cog in the successful running and service to the customers of the time, no matter how menial a task was.
The ballroom is very centre stage in the story and the dancers that put on a show that says everything is normal here, while outside the undercurrents of unrest in Europe is never far away. There are love stories and betrayals, once in a lifetime chances and people seeking redemption. I loved all the side stories that brought everyone together. The courage and the shocking outcomes that took my breath.
I so want to find out where these peoples lives lead to in the future. Just such a tremendous read. Loved it!
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.
Rating: really liked it
Satisfying second encounter with the Grand Ballroom and the staff at the Buckingham Hotel in Mayfair.After my unexpected enjoyment of Anton Du Beke’s debut novel, set behind the doors of the majestic Buckingham Hotel in Mayfair, home of the Grand Ballroom, I gladly returned for a second encounter. Given that historical romance is far from my usual genre and aside from the vivid characterisation, much of my enjoyment of the first was due to the portrayal of the 1930s and Du Beke’s willingness to weave the precarious political situation and the looming threat of war around the ongoing lives of the dancers and staff at the Buckingham Hotel. Again Du Beke maintains his authentic grasp of the period era adding real substance to the romantic liaisons and dramas of another year in the hotel.
Opening in April, 1937 with former male principal dancer, Raymond de Guise, temporarily absent from the ballroom, all is not well with hotel director, Maynard Charles. Not only is the hotel without its principal benefactor since King Edward’s abdication but the Buckingham is seeking new investment with the looming threat of war. Alongside this, the formally debauched stepdaughter of majority investor, Lord Edgerton, a permanent guest in the finest suite at the hotel, has been clean and worrying absent from the ballroom in recent months and concern is starting to mount. But with Miss Edgerton having other more benevolent ideas about how to spend her lavish allowance, Maynard Charles can only hope it does nothing to detract attention from his mission to impress American businessman and potential investor, John Hastings Junior. With a spate of thefts from the rooms of guests it signals the arrival of a hotel detective and female principal dancer, Hélène Marchmont, finds herself increasingly torn between dancing and her secret daughter, only to be romanced by a wealthy Irish guest who has set his sights on her.
Meanwhile stubborn and principled Lancashire born and bred chambermaid, Nancy Nettleton, has found a home at the Buckingham, and a year on is welcoming her seventeen-year-old brother, Frank, to life as a hotel page. But with shy Frank overawed by what he finds and the demands of his role he is swiftly taken under the wing of savvy Lambeth lad and new concierge, Billy Brogan. Awaiting the return of beau, Raymond, from his sojourn in Hollywood, Nancy fears the lure of the silver screen could tempt him across the Atlantic permanently but befriended by Miss Edgerton she is soon caught up in a project all of her very own. Returning to the Buckingham fired up with the jitterbugging and jiving of the New York clubs, Raymond is determined to introduce London to a new waves of dances, but he knows that change is imminent and war around the corner.. Can the Buckingham and it’s staff weather the storm ahead?
Although I felt the novel got off to a slightly slow start, and I feared that this second book would be a reprisal of the first when chambermaid Nancy Nettleton, took her first steps into the hotel with the lead character replaced with her easily embarrassed brother and page, Frank, this did not prove to be the case. At about a quarter of the way through the novel hit its stride, with several more of the returning characters stories picking up where they left off at the end of the first book and the return of principal male dancer, Raymond de Guise (aka Ray Cohen) bringing a possible saviour in the form of John Hastings Junior.
Whilst personally I did not warm to Frank whom I felt brought nothing new to the cast, his story did not dominate the novel which is much more a story of how a magnificent hotel fares through the interwar years and the impact on its fortunes, in addition to the staff and guests who pass through its doors. After a successful debut the temptation might have been to maintain the status quo but instead Du Beke takes the risk of significant developments taking place in the lives of the primary cast and as a result the novel proves to be as engrossing as the first.
Whilst some of the unfolding characters stories have an admittedly prosaic feel and simply make for an undemanding feel-good read, the love affair between Raymond and Nancy is no such forgone conclusion with the question of whether Raymond will return to Hollywood going right down to the wire. The narrative itself moves between each of the primary characters keeping the pace brisk and an eye on the bigger picture of a potential war and the pressing search to secure new investment. Du Beke’s understanding of the prevailing economic and political backdrop brings much to the story and the growing threats of war and its devastating implications imbue the story with a spirit of ceasing the moment in a perilous world.
I doubt the novel would work as well as it does if read as a stand-alone, with much of the enjoyment coming from seeing how far the characters who came to life in the first novel fare in the second. And with another instalment in the pipeline I can only recommend readers follow this one from the start!
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Rating: really liked it
For a light and easy read, 'authored ' by a celebrity, I've been surprised how much social history is in this series. Antisemitism, the rumblings of war, the realities of poverty before the welfare state. Much better than your average fluffy fiction.
Rating: really liked it
Trip the light fantastic with this gorgeous, exciting and evocative historical tale set in the 1930s written by Strictly Come Dancing superstar, Anton du Beke.
London is in great turmoil in 1937. With a new king in place and the gathering clouds of war fast approaching, there is great instability and worry in London and the Buckingham Hotel isn’t impervious or immune to this great feeling of uncertainty. Having barely recovered from the repercussions of the Great Depression, it is of the utmost importance that the Buckingham Hotel triumphs over all this adversity and rises like a Phoenix to be the majestic hotel it has always been meant to be. The staff and inhabitants have got their own problems to worry about. Regardless of whether one is upstairs or downstairs or whether one dons a ballgown or a pinny, whoever walks through the doors of the Buckingham Hotel has got plenty to think and worry about.
Vivienne Edgerton is feeling restless and without purpose. She is sick and tired of this mundane whirl of frivolity which she must endure every single blasted day. Vivienne wants more from life than shopping and gossiping. She wants to do something worthwhile with her time and to do something that makes a difference in this world. A determined Vivienne finally thinks that she has found the perfect activity to invest all of her time and effort, but does she know what she is doing? Is this merely going to propel her into a calamitous path full of danger and dishonour? Or is Vivienne about to find the one thing which she was born to do?
Downstairs, chambermaid Nancy is finally beginning to feel more settled working at the Buckingham. Although she desperately hopes that her brother will also begin to share her enthusiasm for London with her, there is another fly in the ointment which is making Nancy rather blue: the absence of the man she has grown to love, demonstration dancer Raymond de Guise, who is noticeable by his absence from the Grand Ballroom of the hotel.
Dangerous secrets, forbidden love and illicit passions are always on the menu at the Buckingham Hotel, but will they deter the staff and its inhabitants from reaching for the stars? Or will hope and love always find a way?
An utterly enchanting read sprinkled with charm, romance and heart, Moonlight Over Mayfair delights from beginning to end and sweeps readers back in time and into a world of glamour and elegance which they will find themselves reluctant to leave at the end of the novel. Packed with characters who are brilliantly drawn, emotional drama that touches the heart and magic that will effortlessly transport readers to the 1930s, Moonlight Over Mayfair is an outstanding read from dance supremo, Anton du Beke.
Rating: really liked it
I have a little, teensy weeny confession to make. Yes yet another one. Although I have Anton’s first book called ‘One Enchanted Evening’ on my ever growing ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t actually read it yet. What a mistake to make. Having just finished reading ‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’, I can guarantee that ‘One Enchanted Evening’ will not be on that ‘to be read’ mountain for very much longer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’ but more about that in a bit.
It didn’t take me long at all to get into this book. In fact by the time I got to the end of the Prologue I knew that I was going to be in for one hell of a read and I wasn’t wrong either. I found it extremely difficult to put this book to one side for any length of time. The book wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. ‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’ was the distraction that I desperately needed and distract me it did. I was transported back in time to the late 1930s with all the sights, sounds and fashions. I tried to ration how much I read in one reading session as I wanted to prolong my enjoyment of the book but I was enjoying the book too darn much to stick to my ration. As a result I soon got to the end of the book, which I was disappointed about. I don’t mean that I was disappointed with the way in which the story concluded but I was enjoying the author’s writing style, the characters and the storylines so much that I just wish the book had been longer.
‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’ is really well written. Anton Du Beke (my favourite Strictly Come Dancing professional) has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. He draws you into the story from the first word on the first page and keeps your attention through the story. Anton uses such vivid and realistic descriptions that I really did feel as though I was part of the story myself- although I would draw the line at dancing because that just wouldn’t be pretty.
‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’ has been compared to ‘Downton Abbey’ and although I can’t comment on that because I don’t watch ‘Downton Abbey’ but what I will say is that ‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’ would be perfect for adaptation for television.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Moonlight Over Mayfair’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Anton’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
Rating: really liked it
I really loved the first in this series, One Enchanted Evening, when I read it last year, So much that I was really looking forward to getting my hands on this sequel. I really missed the characters that I had got to know and yearned to know what happened next. What would the author put them all through this time? If you haven't already read the first in series, I would recommend you do that before starting this one - character development and backstory and all that!
We have moved on in time a bit - with the country still suffering fallout from the Great Depression, a new King on the throne and talk of another war - as our story starts, Raymond de Guise is still Stateside. Separated from chambermaid Nancy he keeps her abreast of his shenanigans via frequent correspondence. It appears he is very much enamoured by the new dances there; jitterbug and jive. Meanwhile, Nancy is still working at the Buckingham and has now been joined there by her brother. But the Buckingham is floundering and in need of investors. Raymond has the chance of persuading an American to do just that, and he visits him Stateside to plead their case. But what will they find when they return to England. There are other factions uprising, ones that threaten the very core of the hotel and indeed those that call it home.
I love how this author weaves his story around what is actually happening in the Country at the time in which it is set. I won't spoil things by going into detail but it all just adds to the colour and flavour of what is going on in the Buckingham. As well as Nancy and Raymond, several of the other returning characters get their time in the limelight in this book too. I absolutely love what is happening to Miss Edgerton as she ropes Nancy into her night-time shenanigans! Helene also has her chance of Romance, wooed by a guest, but juggling her clandestine life proves tricky. Is it really worth it? I also got all wrapped up in Hotel Manager Maynard Charles' story which was, at times, heartbreaking. Honestly, as well as a cracking story, it is so very character driven. And with a wonderfully eclectic cast, the story just reads itself off the page, so well it is all executed.
And it really has it all. Secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour flow from each and every page as we follow what is going on. Interspersed with some really great uplifting times despite some heart in mouth moments along the way, this was a cracking read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Only downside is that I now have to wait to reconnect with the staff and guests of the Buckingham. Hopefully soon...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
Rating: really liked it
I had absolutely no idea that Anton Dubeke was now an established writer until I came across this but what a sweet, feel good story.
Of course being known for his dancing skills on "Strictly come dancing" this story centred around the ballroom of the Grand Buckingham hotel.
We hear of the lives, tragedies and love affairs of all those who call the hotel home or their workplace from the rich and the grand to the those more humble "below stairs" workers.
A cracking good read of the interwar years and of the build up to WWII with all the glamour of the ballroom and gossip and shenanigans of "Upstairs downstairs" or "Downton Abbey."
Apparently there are more in the series to come and also a preceding novel before this which I will have to check out but I think this stands alone quite well and though situations are hinted at it is nothing that impinges dramatically on the story.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars
This is exciting, enchanting and overall a great book. It’s the second in the series so I’m now desperate to find the first book to see if that helps me understand the book better. I loved so many of the characters which is so great.. Yes if you have know of the author you can see his personality shine through in his writing..
Rating: really liked it
Another great read from Anton following the fortunes of the Buckingham - looking forward to the next in the series
Rating: really liked it
Loved this book. I was born in the wrong era. This book brings the 30's to life!
Rating: really liked it
I had not read the previous book in this series but it was easy enough to immerse myself in life at the Buckingham hotel in 1937. This is a mix of romance, dance and political intrigue, with strong contrasts between the upper and lower classes of society. Nancy is an unusual heroine, quite insignificant in the grand scheme of things in Mayfair, physically imperfect and from a poor family, but she has heart and warmth and spirit, and in her own way she outshines the far more glamorous Vivienne and Helene. It's impossible to read about Raymond the king of the ballroom without picturing him as Anton himself!
