I have very few authors on my auto-buy list. Susanna Kearsley – who writes haunting, lyrical works which combine romance and history – is one of them. In her latest novel she mixes time-travel and history to tell us a tale of love and murder. It’s a compelling story and one I am thrilled to…
Annie Burrows is an author who manages to enthrall me whenever I read one of her books. Several have been tearjerkers for me, as Annie Burrows does not shy away from showing selfish and callous behavior and describing deep unhappiness. Yet often I found the novel flawed after I’d finished them: a Big Mis that…
Having read Sweet Savage Love and The Flame and the Flower as well as a few of the other big 1970s/1980s historicals, I picked up Devil’s Desire with some trepidation. Would this be another purple-prosed, rapey tale of stupid misunderstandings or would it be as good as I had remembered it when I stumbled across…
If you prefer your romances uncomplicated and your heroes to be winning examples of morality, this isn’t the book for you. Shining in the Sun is as far from uncomplicated as you can get, and both heroes walk the line of moral ambiguity, one much more than the other. But those qualities are part of…
When I came across a (semi-)affordable copy of Joanna Bourne’s Her Ladyship’s Companion online, I found myself unable to resist. When else do you get a chance to read an early book by an acclaimed new author, published 25 years before her current releases and yet is a sequel to the present series, with two…
The Magic Knot is an imaginative book with a fun premise. Set in contemporary, but magical, Cornwall and Ireland, it features fairies, druids, leprechauns, and intrigue galore. Because I enjoyed the ideas of the book so much, I had a tough time grading it, because the actual execution of the ideas sometimes leaves something to…
Heroes and heroines face a lot of obstacles in romance novels, but failing sanity is not one that could be considered run-of-the-mill. In The Perfect Bride, Lady Blanche Harrington faces just that. This book is also somewhat unique in that the romance is based more on mutual respect than physical attraction, which is a lovely…
If AAR’s 2003 readers’ poll is anything to go by, there are a lot of disgruntled former fans of Stephanie Laurens out there. I am not one of them: I read a Laurens novel about five years ago, didn’t like it at all, and never tried her again. From my point of view as a…
Make no mistake about it: Adele Ashworth is back. Elegantly written, refreshingly adult, and over-the-moon erotic, Duke of Sin marks the author’s return to form in a very, very big way and, to put it simply, I loved it. How did I love it? Let me count the ways. I loved the pleasingly authentic Victorian…
I like Cathy Maxwell’s books. I liked 2002’s The Wedding Wager, in spite of its all-too-obvious flaws. With all the appeal and fewer flaws, I like The Seduction of an English Lady even more. Lady Rosalyn Wellborne lost her parents when she was a young girl; afterwards, she was shuttled around from one uncaring relative…
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