Scarlet Pimpernel plot

B+
Raider

Justine Davis’s Coalition Rebellion series sucked me in when AAR ran a retro review of Lord of the Storm. Her first three Coalition books involve interconnected couples fighting for the independence of their homeworlds, Trios and Arellia, with a strong plot thread of Coalition slavery. In Raider, ...

B-
Married for His Convenience

There are quite a few plot strands running through Married for His Convenience; in fact I’m not sure there aren’t a few too many.  As well as the convenient marriage promised by the title, we have the subplot of the hero’s search for his missing son, the parallel plotline of the heroine searc ...

B+
The Lotus Palace

I've enjoyed Jeannie Lin's China-set historicals so far and I was thrilled when I heard she would be writing single title as well. I went into The Lotus Palace expecting some element of suspense in the plot, but otherwise I had no idea what I would be getting into. As it turns out, it was quite a tr ...

B+
His at Night (#87 on AAR's Top 100 Romances)

His at Night is the first Sherry Thomas book I've read since Private Arrangements, a book I liked but didn't love. To my mind, this one's better, and certainly worth the anticipation and buzz it's receiving. The hero and heroine are both interesting, the conflict is compelling and intriguing, and th ...

B+
To Love a Wicked Lord

As a final addition to her lengthy legacy, the author couldn't have done much better than this. Everyone acknowledges that Pippa Carstairs is beautiful. But, living a cloistered existence with her grandparents in Bath, no one has ever bothered to look beneath the surface – including herself. So ...

A
The Impostor

When I finish a book and can't remember the main characters, it's bad. When I finish a book and remember the main characters, but that's all, it's average. When I finish a book and remember the main characters, plus all the secondary characters, and wish there was a 24/7 bookstore so I could go out ...

C-
A Rebellious Bride

Quinn Peverill is the daughter of a wealthy American merchant. Her mother was of an excellent English family, which gives her an entrée into British society. Quinn's father is anxious for his daughter to be accepted by society, and it would be good for business if she made a respectable match. Quin ...

B-
The Bride Thief

"Who was that masked man?" A dashing nobleman doing good for the populace while hiding his true identity behind a mask - what a romantic theme! In Jacquie D'Alessandro's latest effort, Zorro meets Beau Brummell, but with decidedly mixed results. Having witnessed his parents' unhappy un ...

C-
Lady Polly

I like historical romances set in the regency period, and since I do, I always begin a new one hoping that I will find in it the right mix of societal maneuvering, bantering dialogue, and period feel. Nicola Cornick partially delivers this in her book, Lady Polly. Unfortunately, this book offers abo ...

B+
The Black Knave

Readers who are familiar with The Scarlet Pimpernel will undoubtedly recognize the main elements in The Black Knave: A seemingly foppish, ineffectual young nobleman fools everyone around him, including his wife, into thinking he could never be the man responsible for aiding in the escape of persons ...