Best Laid Plaids is the first book in a new series of historical romances set in 1920s Scotland by début author Ella Stainton. The blurb promised a romance between an eccentric former academic who trashed his career when he announced he could talk to ghosts and a war veteran turned PhD student who is writing…
When you google The Sight of You, it comes up with the subheading ‘The Love Story of 2020’ a grandiose statement about a book that is the opposite of grandiose in the most lovely way. The Sight of You is very tender, and there’s a sense of humility in it and in its main characters,…
Diana Biller’s The Widow of Rose House is a wonderful gothic romance with a sense of humor that pits a skeptic against a scientist with a love for the paranormal. Alva Penrose Rensselaer Webster is still battling a society that prefers to penalize her for leaving her husband Alain while ignoring the fact that he…
Sometimes, taking a risk on a new author and their first novel can work out to be a lovely surprise. Reading Fogland Point by Doug Burgess is a case in point. Little Compton, a tiny town east of pretty much everything on the North Eastern Atlantic coast of America, is steeped in history in all…
As a reviewer, I have all kinds of thoughts when I pick up a book for the first time. Sometimes I’m eager to see what an author I admire is doing next, or I’m curious about an author whose works I’ve never read. And then there are the plot descriptions that call me like catnip….
When it comes to mysteries, I’ll be the first to admit I’ve grown a little jaded. I read a lot of them, so it takes something pretty great to really wow me, and while Joanna Schaffhausen’s début, The Vanishing Season, isn’t the most original mystery I’ve ever read, the author’s ability to craft a gripping…
I finished The Hating Game and immediately emailed my editor, sister, mom, and hairdresser to tell them about it. A couple of things you should know – first and foremost, I review and recommend a lot of books, BUT – I don’t LOVE a lot of books. And second, my parents (but most especially my mom) are…
With the success of books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, psychological thrillers are enjoying a rebirth of popularity. Flynn Berry’s debut novel, Under the Harrow fits nicely into this category. Though a bit rougher around the edges than some I’ve read from more accomplished authors, this novel still held my interest…
Sometimes you pick up a romance, expecting pleasant entertainment but nothing special, reading a well-known plot, and – wham! – you end up curled in your bed into the small hours, braving your husband’s grumbling because your reading light is still on, sometimes dabbing a tear from the corner of your eye or smiling, because…
Some romances are like popcorn – a light snack before you move onto something more substantial. Others are wonderful confections with spun sugar or air inside. And some are more substantial treats, where it’s not just what you are tasting but how you partake of it. If I had to equate reading My False Heart…
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