Our reviewer loved The Kiss. (You can read her review here.)

What makes a good romance? In my opinion, it must have plenty of angst and emotion. If it stays on my mind after I read it, then I know the author created something special. And it must be about characters I can admire or at least come to admire. Is it perfect? Do the characters do what you want them to? No, of course not – I’m not the author. But, to this reader, Sophia Nash’s The Kiss is a wonderful story of unrequited love.

Throughout childhood, Quinn, Georgiana, and Anthony were inseparable and the bond between them grew as they did. After a terrible accident, the trio is divided; Quinn Fortesque, the orphaned nephew of the Marquis of Ellesmere, is blamed and banished. Anthony Fortesque, the heir to Ellesmere, is jealously in love. Georgiana Wilde, the steward’s daughter, is now deformed and missing the one person she loves without question.

Years later, Georgiana finally consents to marry Anthony and is shocked when he dies on their wedding night. Though she claims they are truly married, some are in doubt and question her right to live at Penrose. Georgiana doesn’t want the title, but Penrose is the only home she has ever known.

Upon Anthony’s death, Quinn becomes the Marquis of Ellesmere and one of his duties (though he’s put it off) is to straighten out the questions regarding the current Marchioness of Ellesmere, whom he has avoided for many years. Once he travels to Penrose, he knows that Georgiana is not the character his aunt makes her out to be. She is, instead, hardworking, plainspoken, and one of the very few people Quinn has ever trusted. He realizes that he owes it to her and all they ever meant to each other to see Georgianna and her family properly settled. He also finds that his trip to Penrose is the perfect opportunity to find a worthy companion for himself and a capable mother for his nine year-old daughter.

Once Quinn returns, Georgiana is forced to confront her emotions. At a critical moment, Georgiana admits her feelings to Quinn. His reaction forces her to realize that for her own emotional security, she must make some drastic changes. Misunderstandings and past injustices make Quinn close himself off to deep feelings and he believes that he simply wants companionship – something he may be able to find with Georgiana’s good friend, Grace….

If you enjoy stories of unrequited love, or even a romance with a love triangle, then I can certainly recommend The Kiss. It is an emotionally intense romance that I still think about and will assuredly read again…and again.

It’s on sale today for 1.99 here.

Our reviewer, Lisa, didn’t love City of Girls. (You can read her review here.) Amazon readers, though, have given it almost 4.5 stars. So, YMMV.

In this brand-new love letter to New York City, the follies of youth and the joys of the theater, Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert brings us the uneven story of a woman named Vivian Morris. Morris comes to New York for a summer vacation in 1940 and never really leaves – and tells us about it all in a letter to the daughter of the most important man in her life.

Vivian Morris’ freshman summer break from Vassar is fated to become a permanent one the second she arrives in the Big Apple.  A terrible student whose family is at its wit’s end with her, they have all but kicked her out of the house and hope a visit to her Aunt Peg will provide some grounding.  When Vivian sees Peg’s crumbling old theater – The Lily – and witnesses its D-level theatrical presentations, Vivian falls in love with its vaudeville-era elegance as well as its rollicking backstage life.

Vivian soon becomes a part of the theatre’s chaotic daily operations, going from usherette to costume director to budding costume designer.  At the same time, she plunges head first into a whirlwind life of tippling, frank gossip and frequent casual sexual encounters, the same kind of existence indulged in by the showgirls she hangs out with.

But World War II looms on the horizon, and Serious Dramatic Actor and Peg’s old friend Edna Parker Watson descends on the cheap and cheery environs of the Lily Playhouse with her handsome younger husband, Arthur, agreeing to put on a show for her old friend. The roaring twenties play City of Girls is created for the occasion, and life at the Lily will never be the same for anyone because of it.  The play is a huge hit, Edna becomes the toast of New York… and Vivian ruins it all impulsively with a scandalous one night stand, exiling her from life at the Lily entirely.  Will she settle for mediocrity or claw her way back to the life she adores?

One of the best things about City of Girls is how well Gilbert captures life in the 1940s, and a universe made of girls who were just as freewheeling as their own daughters would become twenty years later.  Vivian’s stories of her wild youth will expose you to a time and place you likely never knew existed, and it does so without shame or judgment but with a large dose of humor.

The characters are interesting enough to anchor entire novels of their own; in fact, I wish Aunt Peg, her domestic partner Olive and her husband-on-paper and creative partner Billy had been the center of the novel.  Even the fascinatingly compartmentalized Edna is, on the whole, more interesting than the childish and endlessly horny Vivian, who eventually became a trial to follow.

It’s on sale for 1.99 today here.

Stephanie Laurens has been writing historical romances for decades–we first reviewed her in 1998! This one, from 2019, has an over 4.5 rating from Amazon. Here’s the blurb:

Known as the lord of the privateers, Royd Frobisher is determined to finish the high seas rescue mission his younger brothers began. But his daring plan doesn’t account for Isobel Carmichael—his emotional nemesis, childhood sweetheart, ex-handfasted bride, and current business partner—coming along.

Isobel has a mission of her own—find her cousin Katherine and bring her safely home. Along the way, she hopes to rid herself of the lingering desire for Royd that still haunt her. As their adventure takes them from the high seas to sweltering jungles and the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair, they are drawn once again to the flame of undeniable passion. But having glimpsed the future that could be theirs, they must finally ask what they are willing to risk in the name of duty . . .

It’s on sale for 2.99 here.

Beverly Jenkins’ Midnight has a 4.8 rating from Amazon readers. We liked it as well. In our review, we wrote:

I enjoyed Midnight a great deal. The book has an interesting plot and great characters. However, reader be warned, it is as much a history lesson as it is a romance.

Nicholas Grey has returned home to the Colonies after spending time abroad to find that his father has been hung as a traitor. It is rumored that Lady Midnight, a rebel informant, betrayed his father. Nicholas becomes determined to find the informant and exact revenge no matter what the cost. His father was an active member in the community of free black men in the New England Colonies, and Nicholas must insert himself in their ranks before he will be able to find her. He becomes a well liked member of the community and catches the eye of the local inn keeper, the lovely Faith Kingston.

Faith is in fact Lady Midnight, but it was not she who betrayed Nicholas’ father. She toes a dangerous line, collecting information from the British and sending it to the rebel forces. She has always been a dutiful daughter, working herself to the bone in her father’s inn, but she finds that she is in the unique position of collecting information from the British soldiers who stay for the night. Her father, a staunch Tory, eventually discovers her activities and throws her onto the streets. Nicholas takes her in and the two of them begin to fall in love as the country rips at the seams with the coming of the inevitable Revolutionary War.

The book has a very, very slow start. The story is told from an unusual perspective, that of the free African American men and women who fought for both the rebels and the English during the Revolution. Because the community is so small, the factions between the two sides are magnified, and Faith and Nicholas find themselves in danger from those they love best. Faith must decide what she loves more, her family or freedom from the British. Consequently, the book has great tension and a very interesting plot.

It’s on sale at Amazon for 1.99 here.

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