I’m always up for a fairy tale, but this one leaves a lot to be desired. With a plot that never quite made sense and characters who do a lot of “telling”, there’s nothing here that comes even remotely to life. It’s not terrible, mind you, just…well, lackluster. When Nicolas Argyle, fifth viscount of Newbern,…
I had high hopes for Wedded Bliss, Barbara Metzger’s first full length Regency-set historical romance. I have enjoyed her traditional Regencies in the past, chuckling at her humorous asides and her self-aware characters. But this one was too long and too chock full of melodrama for my taste. And the hero was a big minus….
Deeper than Desire is my first book by Cheryl Holt, and while I wasn’t blown away, I can see why she’s developing a readership. Readers who think sweet and hot shouldn’t be romance antonyms might do well to check her out. Lady Olivia Hopkins is on the prowl for a husband. Her father’s death left…
Normally, I love big, gritty historical sagas since they are just the sort of stories that make me want to suspend disbelief and fall into the twists and turns of a larger-than-life epic plot. Crosswinds opens with the promise of just such a story, but, unfortunately, it failed to hold up. As Crosswinds opens it…
Clearly, Gabriella Anderson knows how to write a page-turning story. Unfortunately, however, the story that she chooses to tell here features one of the most obnoxious of romance novel stereotypes: The hero who immediately jumps to all the wrong conclusions about the heroine (or as LLB named him in an ATBF segment early this year,…
I’ve read books that began well and went downhill, sometimes precipitously. I had just the opposite reaction as I read A Wild Pursuit. It began rather slowly (and nothing at all like the blurb on the back) and at first I thought I would not like it very much, but then it began to grow…
Joanna Novins’ most recent novel, Souvenir of Love, combines society scandal and spy suspense with mixed results. While entertaining, the story lacked a certain something that lends itself to memorability. Lady Elizabeth Harcrest is a debutante who, as the story opens, seems to be in love with longtime family friend James Dinsmore. She allows herself…
I discovered Carolyn Jewel’s first book, Lord Ruin, about a year too late to vote for it as my favorite 2002 Guilty Pleasure. While I agreed with our reviewer that the book had flaws, it was a very memorable debut, and made me anxious to read more by this author. Her newest book, The Spare…
With a first half considerably more dynamic than the second, In My Heart marks an auspicious debut for new Avon author Melody Thomas. Also writing under the names Laura Renken and Lori Morgan, the author’s first effort for her new publisher isn’t without flaws, but interesting characters and an unusual setting offer a fair degree…
Loretta Chase’s long awaited Miss Wonderful brings together a seemingly mismatched couple, Alistair Carsington and Mirabel Oldridge. A hero from the Battle of Waterloo, Alistair is embarrassed by the adulation he receives on his return home and works hard to disguise his permanent injury. As a third son, the fashionable dandy has been an expensive…
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