My Desert Island Keepers are those in which the author has given me something to think about beyond the romance and the two people involved. A Reason to Live does that by extending what could be an ordinary on-the-road story into a commentary essential to all of us. In fact, McKade’s entire series provides that…
This time of year, holiday romances are my drug of choice. One might assume when picking up a book entitled A Christmas Waltz, that it would have something to do with Christmas. In this case, one would be wrong. This is a 338 page book. They start talking about a Christmas ball in passing roughly…
This one has a lot going for it. It’s a historical written in much the same vein as the down-home Westerns and Americana that were popular back in the 90s. However, at times the book reads like an impersonal narrative that didn’t touch me on an emotional level. This, combined with word choices that made…
Given my quest to add more unusual historicals to my reading, it’s not surprising that Captive Spirit had me at 16th century Arizona desert. As the author explains, we know little about this time period and the Hohokam people of whom she writes. While it must have made research difficult, it leaves lots of room…
When I first received Open Country, I was filled with equal amounts of anticipation and trepidation. The genre – a Western, by golly! – and the author’s sophomore status account for the former; the synopsis, the latter. Happily, I can tell you my final pronouncement is firmly wedged on the positive side. The story proceeds…
Americana romances seem to be making somewhat of a comeback in the mainstream romance world, and I couldn’t be happier. As with any style, I wouldn’t want to read all-Americana, all the time, but I do find them sweet and heartwarming when done well. A Midwife Crisis has a few issues, but those who enjoy…
This was a slightly bizarre book to review. While outwardly sound, and even interesting in some parts, there was enough structural and character trouble in the story itself to make me wonder if an editor ever touched Triumph in Arms. Reine Cassard Pingre is the widow of Theodore Pingre, an abusive wastrel with a penchant…
Catherine Anderson’s latest is Early Dawn, a Western historical romance featuring Eden Paxton, a secondary character from Keegan’s Bride and Summer Breeze. Even though I haven’t read these – I have only read her contemporary romances – I wasn’t a bit lost. Like Anderson’s contemporary books, this one has action, angst and a very tortured…
A few publishers have continued to publish Western romances, but recently, I’ve started seeing more of them from other houses as well. With Pieces of Sky, we have the return of a type of Western romance I’ve missed – the big, sprawling saga. This debut novel has a slightly retro feel to it (in a…
Her Colorado Man is Remington Steele meets Americana. (For any of you too young to remember it/hear about it in the first place, Remington Steele was a detective series from the 80s in which a female detective created a fictitious male detective as a front for her business. A thief shows up claiming to be…
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