The Tutor’s Daughter is largely inspired by Jane Austen. Her actual life, that is, as opposed to her works, although I am sure that they had some influence as well. It is an interesting look at one possible turn Jane’s life could have taken if she had been a teacher rather than a writer. Miss…
Mary Stewart is truly one of the greats. Her books, with their practical heroines and often exotic settings, appeal to the imagination, and she has a way of building tension throughout her narratives in such a way that it reels the reader in easily. Her writing has not only inspired all manner of romantic suspense…
I really like gothic romances, but they’re so dependent on the narrator. If the heroine doesn’t work – if I’m not happy when she is, and despair when she does – then the book has basically failed. In that and most other senses, I’m happy to say that Sea of Secrets is a success. But…
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…
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…
Oh my gosh, I couldn’t put this book down. Incredibly compelling, highly evocative of those glorious days of true Gothic literature, The Dead Travel Fast is a book that is meant to be savored slowly. Very slowly. These days it’s not often that I find myself so immersed in a story that I forget everything…
Needing a break from her busy London modeling career, Gianetta Drury goes to the Isle of Skye to stay at the Camas Fhionnaridh Hotel (pronounced Camasunary – I love Gaelic). At first glance, the hotel and its misty surrounds are ideally remote from London’s hullabaloo. But our heroine soon learns that her fellow travelers at…
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…
Jennifer Haymore’s debut novel, A Hint of Wicked, is another romance with an older and more experienced heroine – in this case, not a widow, but a lady who suddenly finds herself with two husbands. While this basic plotline is reminiscent of Mary Balogh’s Tangled (down to the detail that the two young men are…
Note: This review contains series spoilers. We get many review submissions here at AAR and sometimes a book will slip under the radar of both reviewers and readers and, with a series this good, that’s almost a crime. I discovered Deanna Raybourn’s Silent series late last year and quickly read Silent in the Grave and…
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