Rakes and Radishes is Susanna Ives’ début novel, and it’s one of the most unusual historical romances I’ve read. The author has very successfully turned one of the most commonly-used tropes in the genre upside-down and inside-out. The story of the hardened rake who eventually settles down with the love of his life to become…
As a seasoned global traveler, journalist, and mother of a kickass photojournalist, there were so many things about Megan Oliver’s debut contemporary romance, Secret Nights and Northern Lights, that called to me. I wanted it to be a grand adventure in Iceland, but it was just … not. Mona Miller is a journalist with a…
Secret Nights and Northern Lights is Megan Oliver’s début novel – a mix of Icelandic travelogue, and second chance romance. Mona Miller has been working at Around the Globe for years. She’s keen to travel overseas but until now she’s been reporting on small-town festivals and local places and missing out on the international gigs….
The Dramatic Life of Jonah Penrose is a rivals-to-lovers romance set in the world of London’s West End theatre scene. It’s a very promising début from author Robyn Green, but although I enjoyed it overall, there are pacing and plotting issues that prevent me from giving it a higher grade, and the use of a…
Erin Dunn’s He’s to Die For is one of those books I could tell I was going to love from the very first page. It’s a superb combination of mystery and romance in which the author – in her first published novel, no less – does a terrific job of balancing the various elements of…
Début author London Sperry’s Passion Project is a love letter to New York, and an intense representation of prolonged grief. With its vibrant setting, agreeable characters and tender moments, there’s much to enjoy about this book – but in the end I wasn’t convinced by the romance. Bennet Taylor is living in New York, depressed…
The Days I Loved You Most aims to be a weepie on the level of The Notebook. It didn’t tug my heartstrings that hard – as a matter of fact it made me wince a bit – but it’s a solid little slice of women’s fiction that points out that even the best-laid life plans…
I love spicy food, and I once spent eight months working in the High Arctic, so when I saw Dani Redd’s novel The Arctic Curry Club, I had to pick it up. The premise is an interesting one, too. Maya Reed-Kaur’s boyfriend Ryan has got a job doing research on polar bears, so she goes…
I can’t remember how I stumbled across Vanora Lawless’ Imperfect Illusions, but I’m very glad I did! I was gripped from start to finish by this historical adventure/fantasy romance set amid the horrors of World War One; the stakes are high, the historical and fantasy aspects of the story are really well done, and the…
Ranya Radwan, heroine of Heba Helmy’s The Earl’s Egyptian Heiress, is the daughter of a cotton pasha whose family honor is at stake: her brother was sent to buy out the Earl of Warrington’s shares in the cotton production business, but he has disappeared with all of the town’s money. It’s now up to Ranya…
End of content
End of content