Reviews by Caroline Russomanno
There’s a problem when a book provides more evidence that a hero and heroine should not be together than evidence that they should. While I loved the heroine of All That I Need, I didn’t like the hero, and their courtship relied so heavily on chance throwing them back together that I didn’t se ...
The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter is disjointed: part guardian-ward romance, part erotic fiction, part steampunk, part fantasy, and too much sequel. This book may be a better read for someone entrenched in the series, but as a newcomer, I was very often completely lost. Mia, Dr. Ex ...
First, let me tell you that there is no romance in this book. Period. Nothing. However, I’m a fan of sci-fi/fantasy etc. as well, so I can tell you with reasonable expertise that within its intended steampunk genre, The Red Plague Affair just doesn’t work. This novel is the s ...
If you like Lord of Scoundrels or the Julia Quinn Bridgerton novels, you are going to like Once Upon a Tower. But if, like me, you’re not a huge fan of those books, then you won’t like this one either. It starts out strong, cruising towards B+ or even DIK territory before everything unravels, an ...
While not terrible, Seduction in Silk is thoroughly undistinguished. The premise is unoriginal, the motivations of the characters are unclear, the hero is bland, the kindest possible word for the heroine is “prickly,” and the plot is meandering. Jo Beverley is a competent writer, but I need thos ...
When my teenage student walked into my classroom, slammed a copy of this book on the desk, and announced, in audible capital letters, “THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN,” I knew Anna and the French Kiss was something special. A contemporary story of discovering the world and yourself at the sam ...
Hearts Unbound is not your typical Eastern-lady-meets-frontier-doctor Western, unless you’re willing to all the way across the Atlantic to get your Easterner: the heroine is Basque. Despite historical details which sometimes interfere with the narrative, and a romance that is fine at best, I still ...
There was a thread on the message boards a while ago asking “Where have all the historical sagas gone?” Well, I’ve found one, and it’s pretty darn good. The Scarlet Kimono is a sweeping adventure story in the mold of 1970s and 80s sagas. It has a lot of what I liked about those books, but av ...
The only way I could finish this book was by making sure it was the only thing I took with me on a long airplane flight. Even then, I only read it after finishing Air Canada’s entire En Route magazine (including the feature on monogrammed beachwear), the emergency evacuation card, and the Skymall ...
Catherine Anderson books are some of my favorite comfort reads. Her typical heroine displays tough survivalism in the face of hard times, and often finds help and a second chance with a strong country hero. Unfortunately, this book had none of the things I typically like about Anderson’s books, an ...