I’ve been reading Castle/Krentz/Quick for so many years now that it takes something extraordinary from her to stick in my mind. For those that have been reading the Castle books set on Harmony, there is really nothing new here. It was like settling in with an old friend: comforting, but not truly exciting or different,…
Because I know I can count on Sarah Dessen, I pre-ordered Just Listen back in the winter when it first became available on Amazon. It arrived in April. I finally opened it this week. Why so long a wait, you might ask. Sometimes you have to have something on stand-by – a sure thing waiting…
Can you even have a continuity series without an amnesia story? Amnesia has been a romance staple for some time, and every time we run across it, we know we’ll have to suspend our disbelief. The question is not if we will have to suspend it, but how much. In this case, the answer (at…
The Beckoners is a Young Adult novel about girls bullying girls. Its title is the only subtle or evocative thing about it; the book itself is violent, bleak, and disturbing. Zoe Anderson is once again the new girl in town. Her mother’s erratic employment and personal history has resulted in Zoe’s complete lack of a…
Okay, I’ll admit the premise is straight out of Harlequin Presents: A single mom struggling to support her three kids by working as hairstylist is hired to pose as the fiancé of a millionaire Senatorial candidate. Hackneyed, no? But in the hands of a talented author even the creakiest of premises can result in an…
On the Way to the Wedding, the final entry in Julia Quinn’s popular Bridgerton series, started off with a great attention-grabbing scene and settled in to an enjoyable, solid B read. But something went terribly wrong on the way to the ending. Gregory Bridgerton has always believed in love, has always known that he would…
European Historicals are what hooked me on romance reading in the first place, but it’s getting to the point where I am afraid to try a new author. I guess I’ve just read one too many by authors who seemed to be trying (and failing) to be Julia Quinn. Relative newcomer Tracy Anne Warren seemed…
There’s nothing really wrong with Be Mine Tonight, but there’s just nothing really great about it either. The first in a series of books featuring a band of 14th century warriors-turned-vampires, the author known for her historical romances turns a competent, if a bit uninspired, hand to paranormal romantic fiction with a bit of a…well,…
All through my reading Burning Tigress I shook my head at this missed opportunity. Author Jade Lee is a good writer with a strong knowledge of 19th century Shanghai. When she’s describing the Chinese scolding each other and struggling with life among English people whom they detest, she is marvelous. In this fourth book in…
Have you ever reached the end of a book and asked yourself, “Why on Earth did I just read every page of that? How many moments of my life is it that I won’t have back again?” Well, in my case, I read every word of this novel because I had to for review purposes….
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