The Treasure is being touted as Iris Johansen’s long awaited “return” to historical romance. It isn’t. Since we call spades, well…spades at this site, here’s a more accurate description: The author’s newest “historical romance” nominally set in 1196 is actually yet another of the action-driven suspense stories she has been writing for at least ten…
The Deed was Lynsay Sands’ first published romance, and marked the start of a prolific career, albeit one that for me has been characterized by uneven writing. What’s best about her books – the humor and a certain naive sweetness in her heroes and heroines – reminds me in some ways of vintage Julie Garwood….
A variety of reasons compelled me to buy Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. One, I love the historical novels she has written as Diana Norman, with Shores of Darkness being by absolute favorite. Two, my sister lived in Cambridge for four years, and any novel set in Cambridge arouses my curiosity….
Reviews for average books are the hardest to write and, unfortunately, His Captive Lady is a prime example. Although it offers a unique twist on an old theme, the book failed to capture my interest and left me with mixed feelings. Though half Saxon, Wulf Fitzpatrick is a Norman invader determined to achieve knighthood. As…
Her One Desire is a debut novel set toward the end of The War of the Roses with an interesting heroine who is the daughter of the Lord High Executioner (strains from The Mikado kept running though my head whenever it was mentioned). While the characters and basic storyline were okay (though the author is…
Take a road romance in a too-little used Medieval setting, add just a soupçon of the paranormal, and you have the recipe for a good romance with Magic in His Kiss. Nicole de Leon is a Welsh princess of the Pendragon – King Arthur’s – line through her mother. But when her English father died,…
Blythe Gifford’s latest historical romance is set in a most unusual period – Ghent at the outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War. That in itself would have drawn my attention, but in addition, Innocence Unveiled proved compelling and interesting, making much of this little-used setting. The historic background is as follows: Edward III of England…
Master of Surrender reads like a wannbe Kathleen Woodiwiss novel with overwrought emotions and prose, a feisty, feisty, feisty heroine and a mean-to-her hero. Which is okay, I suppose, if you like that sort of thing. I don’t. Sir Rohan du Luc and his seven friends (each of whom, I assume, will have their own…
I really liked Danger’s Kiss, most of it. The interesting leads – complete opposites – have a nice, slow courtship, each becoming a bit like the other, and there’s a gleeful, larger-than-life villainess. And then it all fell apart in the last four chapters and went from a bordering on DIK territory book to one…
For the most part, A Knight’s Vow is an inoffensive Medieval. I know that may seem an odd thing to say, but that is what I was thinking during most of the book: “Well, it’s a bit dull, but at least I’m not offended.” Too many near misses between the hero and heroine, though, moved…
End of content
End of content