Snowdrops and Scandalbroth is a very clever Regency that explores, in the lightest and funniest of ways, the double standard that we sometimes apply to the behavior of heroes and heroines. An underlying assumption of romance is that heroes are enslaved to lustful urges. So if a healthy, virile man does control himself, is it…
This is not your typical frontier romance. It features an unfamiliar setting, a disfigured hero, a heroine who is emphatically not a virgin, and a sympathetic villain. In the hands of a lesser writer this combination would spell disaster, but Jill Marie Landis demonstrates once again that she is more than capable of crafting a…
Readers of Regency romances expect a dashing hero, preferably a member of the nobility, although a heroic military man will do in a pinch. In The Reluctant Cavalier, Karen Harbaugh, that wonderful breaker of Regency novel rules gives us a hero who is not dashing at all. Indeed, Parsifal Wentworth is almost the antithesis of…
I’ve always had a hard time getting into medieval romances. It’s a hygiene thing. I just can’t imagine kissing (or having sex!) with someone who hasn’t bathed in weeks. Usually I only read books set in the years after bathing had gained in popularity. However, I now realize that if a book is well written,…
Wild at Heart has a most unusual romantic premise … and a hero who is not only heroic, but endearing as well. Patricia Gaffney’s writing is virtually word perfect, and simply glows. This is a very, very nice book. It’s 1893 Chicago, site of the World’s Fair. Sydney Darrow (I just loved her name), is…
When I think of Ireland, I think of a land full of history and magic. I think of centuries full of tradition and folk tales. Magic is a book that brings all of these things to life. Ireland is overrun by wealthy English landowners that want nothing more of their Irish land dwellers than more…
When I read Laura Kinsale’s unique and startling first novel, I remember thinking either it was a fluke or I had just come across one of the best writers in the history of the romance genre. Her subsequent works proved that she was no fluke, but in my opinion it wasn’t until The Shadow and…
Too much of the world figures those with special needs and challenges are of no earthly good to humanity. If we simply ignore them, they will go away. That’s how it was with Jess Best; everybody in town had written him off as simple. My best friend’s parents have adopted two Down’s Syndrome children who…
Lion’s Legacy is the fitting finale to a Scottish medieval trilogy written by Suzanne Barclay. This book is a quick, but exciting romance that sets treachery and betrayal against the wildness and isolation of Scotland. Set in the 1300’s, the trilogy explores the trials and tribulations of the Carmichael, Sutherland and MacLellan clans. The first…
The summary on the back cover of Always To Remember ends with the statement that “sometimes love – like courage – whispers instead of shouts.” That is how I will remember this book. It is filled with small moments. There is no feisty heroine and no arrogant hero. There are simply two wounded people brought…
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