Wounded hero, starved for love but refusing to recognize the fact; mysterious heroine with an undeserved reputation; Big Secret; coerced marriage that both parties agree will never be consummated; things that happen, not because of characterization, but For The Sake of The Plot. Ho-hum, been there, read that. The only things that set this book…
The Maiden and her Knight reminds me of a quote from the movie Clueless. “The plot is a full-out Monet,” Clueless heroine Cher might say. “From a distance, it looks OK. But up close it’s a real mess.” It’s a pretty accurate description of this somewhat overblown novel, which mistakes melodrama for romance and a…
When does a book cease to become an ambling, paced read and start to become a slow boat to nowhere? I’m not really sure when it happened here, all I know is that I began this book with interest, but rapidly lost all concentration and will to finish it after the first third. Excessive violence,…
When I first saw my copy of Heart of a Warrior, I was a little taken aback by the cover. It shows a burly looking warrior-type who is bare-chested and looking a trifle confused. But I’ve seen terrible covers on great books before, so I set aside my doubts and started reading. Unfortunately, the cover…
This book reminded me of the old days, and not in a good way. Remember the days when heroes and heroines in a romance novel met for the first time around page one-hundred? Remember how they barely spoke? Remember how they separated for what seemed like ages? Remember skimming the book to find out when…
Although the story of the gently bred lady and the low born man who fall in love is not a new one, I found the main characters in A Notorious Love set apart from the rest. Just one example is that they’ve met and interacted before the book opens, although that hasn’t exactly set them…
Tracy Fobes’ latest novel, To Tame A Wild Heart, contains an interesting story, likable characters, and an intriguing plot. It’s not bad at all, yet somehow these factors never completely mesh into a truly great romance story. Sarah is an independent young woman who nurses farm animals and lives in her own croft in the…
Amber was a pleasant enough historical romance with a couple of very likable lead characters. It had a Restoration setting (a nice change of pace), and some unusual and very welcome touches. But it suffered from pacing problems and an overabundance of plot. Amber started off with a bang, took a wild turn in the…
Fans of Stephanie Laurens’s Bar Cynster books will not be disappointed by the latest installment in the series, while newcomers won’t have any problem reading this as a stand-alone. Gyles Rawlings, Earl of Chillingworth and an honorary Cynster, gets his comeuppance in spectacular style, learning all about love as well as passion. And man, is…
Aurelie is an orphan of unknown parentage who was raised by nuns in the convent of Briermeade. Lady Lorabelle of Sperling also lived at the convent, in preparation for her marriage to Sir Damon of Wulfere, whom Lorabelle had never met. But the plague has killed Lorabelle and almost everyone else in the convent, leaving…
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