clergy

B-
Then Came Heaven

I've been on a LaVyrle Spencer reading kick recently. I was in the mood for something quiet, emotional and deeply immersive, and Spencer’s books nearly always deliver in that regard. Her last published novel, Then Came Heaven, was an interesting read in many ways, but didn’t have the romantic de ...

A-
Heppel Ever After

Back in 2021 when I reviewed Charles, the first book in Con Riley’s Learning to Love series, I said that he seemed to be one of those characters who elbowed their way into an author’s brain and demanded their story be written. Vibrant, funny, larger-than-life and a complete scene-stealer Charles ...

C-
A Nun For the Viking Warrior

Our reviewer Em gave an A- to Lucy Morris’s previous Viking book, The Viking Chief’s Marriage Alliance. I found it closer to a B, but it was still an enjoyable book. I hoped I’d find something here that was at least as good, but I emphatically didn’t. Aimée Évreux, heiress to the Évreu ...

A
Charles

I’ve often heard/read authors say - ‘this character just took over my brain and demanded their own book’.  I don’t know if that’s what happened to Con Riley when she created Charles Heppel, a major secondary character in His Haven, but whatever the case, he’s one of those characters.  ...

B+
The Angel

I don’t usually read erotica or erotic romance, but I knew before going in that a book byTiffany Reisz would have great characters and witty dialogue. So because of a reading slump, I picked up The Angel, the second book in her Original Sinners series. It was as good (and evil, in some ways) as I ...

C
Sink or Swim

Sink or Swim – is the first novel I have read by L.A. Witt in a long time, and when I read that it is concerning a gay romance between a Muslim and a U.S. Navy chaplain, I had high expectations. This is, apparently, the eighth novel in a series about a town with a US Navy base where ships are r ...

B+
Sinner

But for the first time, I feel the power of praying words alongside someone else, the power of praying words so familiar and ancient they come from some hitherto unknown part of my mind. The part of my mind that isn’t consumed with accounting and finance, the part that isn’t even rational or ent ...

B+
It Takes Two to Tumble

It Takes Two to Tumble is the first book in a new series from Cat Sebastian entitled Seducing the Sedgwicks, which features a group of siblings who had a most unconventional, bohemian upbringing in a household comprising their father, his wife, his mistress and various itinerant hangers-on.  This f ...

A-
Night Shift

Night Shift is a collection of three alternate reality/paranormal romances and one fantasy romance, all by established genre authors. The first three stories were solid visits to worlds those authors have written about in other books, which contributes to the generally-strong worldbuilding in the co ...

B+
The Saint

I don’t read erotica. I also don’t start a series in the middle. But when I picked up Tiffany Reisz’s The Saint… oh, I did, I did, I did. The fifth in the Original Sinners series, The Saint was surprisingly easy to begin. I thought I’d have to keep a large cast of characters in mind, bu ...