Cat Sebastian continues her romp through Georgian England with the second half of her Kit Webb duology, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes. Spirited, spunky, and though perhaps a little too swiftly paced, but is still worth a look. Marian Hayes, Duchess of Claire, has shot her two-timing husband to (a presumable) death. (When he…
Well-known contemporary romance writer Adriana Herrera pens her first historical romance with A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, the story of an marriage of convenience between two ambitious, strong-willed people seeking to gain control of their lives. Caribbean-based Dominican/Scottish heiress Luz Alana Heith-Benzan is headed to the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in the hope of selling…
Virginia Heath remains a reliable delight, and she opens a brand-new series, A Very Village Scandal – which centers around the lives and loves of the citizens of the English town Whittleston-on-the-Water during the Regency period – with The Earl’s Inconvenient Houseguest. The romance here takes a while to percolate, plus, the book pulls a…
I have a hit/miss relationship with Lara Temple’s books and much to my dismay, The Earl She Should Never Desire is a miss. Is it bad? No. Is it good? Also, no. Friends, it’s fine – but I can only recommend it with reservations. The forbidden love trope – falling in love with your sister’s…
Once upon a time, I read some Grace Burrowes books I really loved. They were rich and historical and character-driven. Never a Duke, unfortunately, is none of those things. Ned Wentworth is the adopted brother of the Wentworth family because he saved the life of their brother Quinn, now the duke, when he was in…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Caroline Linden never misses. All the Duke that I Need is no exception to that rule, with my hero of the year for 2022 thus far front and center and an appealing, spirited romance in the offering. Her characters are alive and lively in a…
Violet and the Bow Street Runner is the second in Emily Larkin’s Garland Cousins series but can be read as a standalone. The titular Lady Violet Garland has the unique ability to fly, given to her by her family’s faerie godmother (see the Baleful Godmother series). She uses this ability to help Principal Officer Perry…
Set in Oklahoma Territory in 1907, on the brink of its statehood, Pamela Morsi’s Wild Oats makes for a lovely bushel. (Oats come in bushels, right?). Divorced and impecunious Cora Briggs is the town scandal, so when young undertaker Jedwin Sparrow feels ready to, well, sow some oats, she seems like the woman to discreetly…
This third instalment in Martha Waters’ Regency Vows series is, I think, my favourite so far. It’s a charming marriage-of-convenience romance between two characters we’ve already met – the rakishly charming and somewhat scandalous Lord Julian Belfry and the very proper Lady Emily Turner. It’s a delightful read; the prose flows effortlessly, the characterisation is…
While I’ve long been a fan of Eloisa James, I have to admit that How to Be a Wallflower is not among my favorite of her works. This upbeat tale about an English heiress marrying an American businessman is sweet, but didn’t bring enough genuine conflict to the table to hold my interest. As the…