Note to self: Step away from the Brava westerns. The Education of Madeline is the second one I’ve read in recent months, and it’s as disastrous as the first. I’m starting to get the impression that readers who want something more than a sexual checklist should look elsewhere for their entertainment. Madeline Brewster is a…
I like adventure stories. Sometimes, however, I want something gentle, sentimental, and sweet. In The Marshal Takes a Bride, Renee Ryan introduces readers to the residents of Charity House, an orphanage set up to care for the children of Denver prostitutes. Though the story gets a little too sweet every now and then, it’s still…
The Borrowed Bride by Elizabeth Lane is a romance set in rural Colorado in 1899. While I liked the setting, and was not put off by the love triangle of a woman who has to choose between two brothers (a no-no for a number of readers), ultimately the romance failed to convince me. Quint Seavers,…
A Colonial American setting allows for strong, rugged heroes; nasty villains; situations fraught with danger; and any type of heroine one could imagine. Pamela Clare has taken advantage of this little-used time period to create a powerful story about two people who discover love despite war and betrayal. Amalie Chauvenet is the half Native American…
For years I put off reading The Passions of Emma because it didn’t sound all that romantic to me. I didn’t want to read about the heroine’s dying close friend whose husband is the eventual hero – especially when the romance doesn’t begin in earnest until the last quarter of the book. But true to…
Reading Leaving Whiskey Bend I was hoping for a solid American Western as a break from the norm. Unfortunately for me, I found an American Western with the most ridiculous characters I think I’ve ever read, or ever want to read. Hallie Wolcott left her home and parents years ago to travel west alone to…
War romances have a tension and urgency to them not generally found in other settings. Something about the passion of the fight and the very real chance that events may separate the lovers can give a love story an unusally vivid quality. Though filled with hardship and grim events, at their best these stories also…
I’ve long thought that the 20th century would make the perfect backdrop for a historical romance. While the latter half of the century is still a little too close to living memory, the earlier part of the century is filled with all manner of events and fascinating characters waiting to be discovered. Alexandra Bromley, heiress…
I requested this Dorothy Garlock because, though I knew she’d been around for ages, I’d never read a book by her before. When I told my mom during a phone call that I was reading Dorothy Garlock, she said “Oh, I used to really like her.” Those two facts should have alerted me to the…
The Eagle and the Dove is the first book in a new American historical series by Morrow that will span the years between 1850 and Reconstruction. This first installment had some makings of a good read, with kidnappings, rescues, fights, passion, and more, but the writing style and a heavy dose of drama kept it…
End of content
End of content