Pity poor Evangeline Clemens. She was educated at a proper English academy where young ladies were taught “only to expect the conventional from life, and to be indignant when the extraordinary thrust itself upon them.” Evangeline is headed for Boston to become a governess. Along the way, however, the extraordinary abruptly thrusts itself upon her…
Bertrice Small’s Rosamund is a romance novel only insofar as the author obviously assumes that we will all presumably fall in love with its eponymous heroine. Its storyline, incredible research and the promise (or threat?) that Rosamund’s story will be continued in the next book all speak of a family saga rather than a romance,…
The Bliss is plagued by problems of both plot and of character. The author told far more than she showed, something guaranteed to stop a story dead in its tracks, and as for the characters, just call them Mr. Sullen ‘n Broody and Little Miss Perky ‘n Feisty. This is one I had to force…
I’m probably one of the six people in America who will admit to liking junior high. Like anything, I thought it had its ups and downs, but most of the time I thought the melodrama and angst were kind of fun. That said, it’s not something I want to relive, and when I read a…
Watch out, Susan Johnson and Robin Schone. Behold: another entry in the historical-erotic-romance sub-genre. Absolute Pleasure is a deeply flawed book, yet I can offer a qualified recommendation based on the hero at its center. Lady Elizabeth Harcourt has spent her life at her father’s beck and call. Despite the fact that she’s the only…
Based on the rather generic cartoon cover and title, you’d expect Kristine Grayson’s most recent novel to be a perfectly ordinary contemporary romance. It doesn’t take more than a page or two, however, to realize this isn’t the case. Simply Irresistible features a psychic heroine, along with a hundred-year-old hero who can perform complex magic…
As a fan of short story anthologies, I am always on the look out for new titles to enjoy. Living Large from Signet was a nice treat for my short story addiction. The contemporary romance anthology features four stories about plus sized women of color. The heroines were refreshingly confident about their size and it…
One of the great perks of reviewing is that you sometimes end up reading a book that you otherwise might have let stay in the TBR pile for awhile. For me, that was the case with Julie Kenner’s Nobody But You. I would have picked up the book anyway, because it sounds fun and has…
When A Dangerous Fancy opens, it is 1890 and Alexander Drake has just retuned from an assignment abroad in the service of the British government. Because Alex is a friend of Prince Edward, one of the first things he does is to go to attend the Prince at their club. Upon walking into the Prince’s…
Sometimes a book comes along that takes a standard formula and polishes it up well. Knight on the Texas Plains is like that: in spite of several flaws, it’s a nice, well-crafted marriage-of-convenience story. A man stakes his infant daughter at a poker game. Duel McClain is a world-weary drifter without much to live for,…
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