I’m always up for a fairy tale, but this one leaves a lot to be desired. With a plot that never quite made sense and characters who do a lot of “telling”, there’s nothing here that comes even remotely to life. It’s not terrible, mind you, just…well, lackluster. When Nicolas Argyle, fifth viscount of Newbern,…
Deeper than Desire is my first book by Cheryl Holt, and while I wasn’t blown away, I can see why she’s developing a readership. Readers who think sweet and hot shouldn’t be romance antonyms might do well to check her out. Lady Olivia Hopkins is on the prowl for a husband. Her father’s death left…
There’s an interesting story lurking somewhere in Taylor Smith’s Liar’s Market, but the way it’s told seriously undermines the book’s effectiveness. Carrie MacNeil is the young wife of CIA official Drummond MacNeil. One day her husband disappears, leaving behind suspicions that he was involved in selling information to enemy parties. The FBI brings Carrie in…
I had high hopes for Wedded Bliss, Barbara Metzger’s first full length Regency-set historical romance. I have enjoyed her traditional Regencies in the past, chuckling at her humorous asides and her self-aware characters. But this one was too long and too chock full of melodrama for my taste. And the hero was a big minus….
Normally, I love big, gritty historical sagas since they are just the sort of stories that make me want to suspend disbelief and fall into the twists and turns of a larger-than-life epic plot. Crosswinds opens with the promise of just such a story, but, unfortunately, it failed to hold up. As Crosswinds opens it…
Clearly, Gabriella Anderson knows how to write a page-turning story. Unfortunately, however, the story that she chooses to tell here features one of the most obnoxious of romance novel stereotypes: The hero who immediately jumps to all the wrong conclusions about the heroine (or as LLB named him in an ATBF segment early this year,…
Hot Nights In Ballymuir wasn’t very hot. It wasn’t very interesting either. It whiled away a couple of hours, but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Jenna Fahey is an American, a chef who has opened a restaurant in Muir House in the picturesque town of Ballymuir. Jenna lives to cook, and…
I’ve read books that began well and went downhill, sometimes precipitously. I had just the opposite reaction as I read A Wild Pursuit. It began rather slowly (and nothing at all like the blurb on the back) and at first I thought I would not like it very much, but then it began to grow…
Joanna Novins’ most recent novel, Souvenir of Love, combines society scandal and spy suspense with mixed results. While entertaining, the story lacked a certain something that lends itself to memorability. Lady Elizabeth Harcrest is a debutante who, as the story opens, seems to be in love with longtime family friend James Dinsmore. She allows herself…
In The Ride to Dinah’s Wedding, debut author Ann Kline presents readers with a hero and heroine setting out on a journey seeking revenge, not a reverend. Along the way, they find true love amid a series of characters and adventures that at times create an atmosphere reminiscent of a Coen Brothers movie. Though flawed…
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