Once I started reading Pam Morsi’s Last Dance at the Jitterbug Lounge, I could hardly put it down, even when reaching for a Kleenex; it was such an emotional story and touched me on a personal level. I stayed up to 1:00 in the morning to finish the story and it was the first thing…
Romance novels generally feature the courtship and end with a promise of Happily Ever After. Sleeping with Ward Cleaver begins 15 years after the happily ever after, and the events in it bear no resemblance to the usual romance novel epilogue. It’s wry, funny, and ultimately very romantic, but the author’s use of first person…
I am a longstanding fan of Connie Brockway. Bridal Favors remains one of my most beloved comfort reads. That being said, Skinny Dipping was an unbalanced read that leveled out at mediocre and left me disappointed. Mimi Olson is the very definition of “slacker.” At 41 years, she has never owned a pet, a plant…
I love Patricia Gaffney. She is one of the few authors whose writing I not only adore, but I would love to befriend her if the opportunity ever presented itself. I read her women’s fiction before discovering the romance genre. And when I did start reading romance, I almost fainted when I found her earlier…
My husband posed a hypothetical to me not too long ago: If there was a book I wanted – really, really wanted, but the only way I could get it was to drive to a town 300 miles away, what would I do? My response: “Road Trip!” This conversation, singled out from the many we…
I read A Good Yarn for book club this month, and it was – more or less – the first time anyone but me had chosen a book from the romance section, though it’s more women’s fiction than anything else. I wasn’t sure what I’d think, since I’ve had mixed reactions to Debbie Macomber’s books…
Soulful Strut tells the tale of a woman wrongly imprisoned for many years who is now free after someone vouched for her innocence. Although it should have been an interesting story to match the cool title, the book’s very slow pacing drained away my interest. Monette never expected to leave prison. Fifteen years ago, the…
It takes a certain kind of writer to develop a cast of wacky characters without making them into caricatures. Pamela Morsi is able to do just that with the folks of Warbler’s Lake, Missouri. From the leads to the supporting cast, it is the characters and Ms. Morsi’s smooth writing that give Bitsy’s Bait &…
Mrs. Big promises a juicy tale – a woman who schemes to marry rich only to ponder about reforming her ways – but it badly disappoints. The heroine’s reformation is unconvincing, and I couldn’t care about her after she expresses no remorse for committing a stupid, selfish act. Loletta is a young, attractive black woman…
Did you ever read a book that has you telling every person you come in contact with to read it? Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas is that book for me. I feel the need to go to my local bookstore, stand in the “S” section, and subtly point out this title to all who pass…
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