It’s too bad that the couple in Ruby Lang’s House Rules hadn’t stayed together in the first place because their second-chance romance is a dull love story. This third standalone installment in the Uptown series features mildly sympathetic protagonists whose largely uncomplicated reunion unfolds at a humdrum pace. Ex-spouses Lana Kuo and Simon Mizrahi have…
A bingo hall brought Mari McCray and Hazel Johnson together as young women in 1963. Prejudice and family ultimatums pushed the two apart, but forty years later, a bingo hall brings them back together. In the meantime, however, both Hazel and Mari have married and had families. Is it too late for a second chance?…
House Rules is the third story in the Uptown series by Ruby Lang. Set in some of New York’s original neighbourhoods, the houses and apartments the characters live in are as much a part of the stories as the characters themselves. I loved the first in the series, Playing House, especially the fact that the…
Virginia Heath’s Lilian and the Irresistible Duke is the final book in the multi-author Secrets of a Victorian Household series – a fact I didn’t realise until I read the author’s notes after I’d finished, so I can honestly say that it works perfectly well as a standalone! I’m a big fan of the author’s…
In the Carla Kelly tradition of holiday shorts that make you smile, these three sweet short stories (set in the Edwardian Caribbean across Christmas, New Year, and Reyes Magos) are a lovely addition to any holiday romance fan’s library. These are gentle, realistic stories about the holidays of ordinary or even poor historical people; it’s…
Someone to Remember is the seventh (and penultimate?) instalment in Mary Balogh’s Westcott saga, which has followed the fortunes of the various members of the large and close-knit Westcott family after the discovery that the late Humphrey Westcott, Earl of Riverdale, had committed bigamy and that his second marriage was therefore invalid. This discovery naturally…
Some novels are five-course meals – some are boxes of petit fours. Royal Holiday is a petit four incarnate – sweet, light on disagreeable ingredients, simple, quick, fluffy and uncomplicated. But while Royal Holiday is a fun treat of a book, it’s not quite up to the high watermark of the rest of the Wedding…
Since we ran our feature on Seasoned Romances a few weeks back, I’ve been keeping an eye out for romances featuring more mature heroines, who seem to crop up less frequently in historical romances than in other sub-genres. I was pleased to learn that Laurie Benson’s Mrs. Sommersby – eponymous heroine of the final book…
The View from Alameda Island is a book title dear to my heart because I used to live near Mill Valley, which, in this story, is the location of Lauren Delaney’s home during her marriage. The community is a metaphor for Lauren’s stifling existence because up-market houses like hers are closed off from the street…
One of the comforts of Romancelandia is that there is rarely anything new under the sun. Most books are exactly what they say on the tin and you know what you’re getting when you wade into the waters of that particular book. I don’t see this as a criticism, I see it as a strength….
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