There’s a fine distinction between ennui and boredom. Ennui is having fun talking about how bored you are while true boredom is one of the most frustrating things on the planet. That was my experience with Ms. Hart’s latest book. Fielding Grey, treasure hunter, has been hired by Solomon’s, a club devoted to scholars of…
Texas Hold Him by Lisa Cooke is a pleasant, but average wallpaper-y romance set in the post-Civil War South. Lottie Mason has 6 weeks to come up with $15,000 to pay off a blackmailer and keep her ailing father out of jail. But the Mason family isn’t doing well after the Civil War, and none…
It worked. It really, really worked. Royce Varisey, aka Dalziel, mega-spymaster, has just become the tenth Duke of Wolverstone. His involvement in espionage 16 years ago estranged him from his father, but they are on the brink of reconciliation when his father dies. Now, having spent so many years away from society and Wolverstone, his…
Sometimes, it helps not to take books (romance or otherwise) too seriously. Despite a host of problems I closed Wickedly Ever After with a smile on my face, and that counts for a lot. But that is not to say that the book doesn’t have its problems. If 80% of historicals have mediocre set-ups and…
Fire at Midnight by Lisa Marie Wilkinson spent some time on my bedside table. In this case, it was all for the best, because the book contains a number of elements that might have distracted me at another time, but because I read it in the right mood, I had a lot of campy fun….
I’ve long awaited Mary Jo Putney’s return to historical romance, so I began this one with high expectations. While Loving a Lost Lord is a well done romance on many levels, it also missed the mark on just as many. The ducal hero, Adam, believed dead in an explosion on his yacht as the story…
Occasionally I need to realign my perspective of romance novels, rather like shoving my glasses up my nose. Realistically, as long as I’m entertained and my eyes aren’t rolling around in their sockets for four hours straight, the book counts as a decent read. Dangerous Games almost fits the bill, but not quite. It is…
If the character is written well, the advantage to a downtrodden heroine is that I feel genuinely glad when her fortunes take a permanent upturn, but if she’s too downtrodden, she apes the hearthrug. And if the hero is doing a lot of the trodding, then I can’t help feeling she could have done better…
As the inimitable Yoda said, “There is no try. There is only do.” And no matter how hard it is to create a film, produce a song, or write a novel, it is a truth in the arts that only the final product can be judged, because fundamentally that’s all that matters. The Pleasures of…
For the last of the Huxtable siblings, Mary Balogh creates an emotional story revolving around two complex characters and a difficult situation. Lucky for us readers, it’s one that’s certainly well worth the read. Cassandra Belmont, Lady Paget is penniless and desperate, but not desperate enough to enter into another marriage of convenience. Plus, as…
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