Elizabeth Elliott’s fine Montagues series follows another young woman through a new marriage in Medieval times in the aptly titled The Princess. The widowed-young Isabel Plantagenet of Ascalon, Dowager Countess of Rheinbaden in Germany, possesses a spine of iron – which is a good thing when she meets the muddy, brusque and bearish Sir Faulke…
An AAR Top 100 Romance originally published on June 8, 1997 Back when A Knight in Shining Armor first came out in hardcover, I bought it, read it, loved it, and immediately started reading it again. I was at a friend’s house sitting by her pool one afternoon and was pronounced “anti-social” because I had…
In Jenni Fletcher’s Besieged and Betrothed, readers get to witness what happens when one king dies and two claimants to the throne fight for dominance. I’m reading for the romance rather than a history lesson, so I didn’t factcheck the story, but the history presented does give an interesting backdrop to what is otherwise a…
The first time I read The Bride, I was captivated by Alec and Jamie’s story. I refused to put the book down and I ended up reading it in record time. Wild horses could not have dragged me away from this book. Many people I’ve met still list The Bride as not only their favorite…
I think most aspiring historical romance writers would like to be Julie Garwood when they grow up. I know I would. Her stories always give me a smile, a laugh and a tear. I love them all, but my favorite Garwood book has always been The Secret. This book grabs you from the first page…
An AAR Top 100 Romance originally published on August 23, 2001 I discovered romance novels when I was 13 years old when my aunt gave me a large paper bag full of books. In this bag I found one book with pages yellowed from time and its front cover worn clean off. I decided this…
An AAR Top 100 Romance originally published on September 30, 1999 Whenever I start reading a book by Laura Kinsale, I expect an intense and compelling read, a complex love story that’s usually on the darker side, and at least one tortured protagonist. This mixture may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is…
Crown of Stars is the second installment in Sophie Jaff’s Nightsong trilogy. I started reading it without prior knowledge of the series – and discovered that was a very bad idea because I didn’t understand the story at all. So I picked up the previous book, Love Is Red, read it, and then returned to…
Everyone who reads historical romance has a favorite period that they love time-warping back to again and again. Mine happens to be the medieval period. I have a good handful of keepers that I always go back to when I want to revisit the era. Some are well-worn (the entirety of the Rosalynde Chronicles; Julie…
I’m a big fan of medieval romances and have enjoyed all of Kris Kennedy’s full-length stories. She has a great grasp of the medieval psyche and behaviors, and she backs it up with meticulous research. Her stories are fast-paced and peopled with alpha heroes in tender romances; and while there is rescuing of heroines, the…