I’ve been a fan of Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series since Emily’s first appearance in And Only to Deceive. Emily has gone through a lot of changes and solved many mysteries since then. The latest entry finds Lady Emily and her husband Colin in Venice to investigate a recent murder. However, classical scholar Emily is…
Have you ever wondered what people did before the number zero? It has always existed, right? Not so. Changeling is about a world where zero is just starting to exist and to open up whole new worlds for people – and that is a fascinating adventure to be a part of. Luca is known as…
My recent Roku obsession has been Island at War. Sadly, this British TV series was only one season long, but what a season! Dealing with Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands, this gem of a show captures the horrors of being invaded by a foreign power. As the citizenry settles in for a very long…
This book sounded trite: A recently dumped heroine lands a dream job in Rome and meets a gorgeous Italian Count. Fortunately, trite is the last thing it proved to be. While it started off light and pleasant, by the end I realize just how textured and deep the characters are, and how lovely the story…
Miranda Jarrett is a hit-or-miss author that I rediscover every five years or so. She’s not terribly prolific; when I checked, I’d actually read more of her books than I thought. Her forte is definitely her unique settings and thorough research. Her weakness can be characterization – which is the case with The Duke’s Governess…
You might need to suspend some logic when it comes to enjoying The Treasures of Venice by Loucinda McGary. But if you do, enjoy it you will. Sam Lewis was supposed to be on her honeymoon, and when her fiancé broke things off at the last minute, she decided to go to Italy anyway. While…
Sometimes we love books because they push the envelope and stretch the boundaries of our imagination, taking us places we would never think of going on our own. Just as often, though, readers fall in love with books because they are “comfort reads,” taking a familiar formula and telling the story in a fresh voice….
I know, I know. When you’re reading a book called The Italian’s Bought Bride, chances are the hero is not going to be the sweet, sensitive type. Or the Beta type. Or the twenty-first century type. However, it just had “guilty pleasure” written all over it. I thought maybe I was reading the type of…
Fans of old school romance a la Kathleen Woodiwiss will take Veiled Passions to their hearts. Unlike Woodiwiss’ tomes though, this book is not overwritten although it is lush. It features larger than life characters and one of the most romantic, wounded heroes I have ever encountered. If only the heroine hadn’t been such a…
When I was a child, a friend’s mother decided that we had insufficient exposure to “culture” and she set out to remedy this deficiency. We spent many Saturday mornings being marched off to well-intentioned poetry readings, lectures, and art openings in my hometown. I remember endless cheaply tiled rooms filled with beige furniture. Works were…
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