Two mysterious Russian Counts converge on a dark night in an archaic German city, both seeking a lost artifact. This intriguing opening of Awaiting the Night held great promise, so with enthusiasm I worked through all of the foreign titles and unfamiliar names, and with patience spent the time to understand the roles the many…
Lucy Monroe really sets the stage in Moon Awakening with an interesting background for her shapeshifters. The mighty Picts with their blue tattoos are more than legendary warriors; their tattoos identify the animal they can become. Their king betrayed them, and they eventually joined the clans in Scotland, although no shifter clan is ruled by…
When I write that this is a Regency-set vampire novel, there are probably readers out there who will assume that the book is nothing more than a gimmick to draw in the hordes of Regency and vampire fans out there. Somehow I don’t think so since The Rest Falls Away is not a light, Regency-vamp…
I’ve been having a bit of unlucky streak over the last few months when it comes to new-to-me authors others seem to love. I couldn’t be happier to report that Jennifer Ashley seems to have broken it. In some ways hard to define, The Mad, Bad Duke felt a little like an old-fashioned romance. Hero…
Okay, I have to admit that I’m a sucker for historical romances. And, if you throw in a slight paranormal twist, you pretty much have me from the beginning. Even so, Sue-Ellen Welfonder’s Until the Knight Comes is a great read and truly lives up to the promise of her previous work. Although I liked…
Is everyone in Scotland a vampire or an idiot? Apparently, authors Howell and Sands would have us believe so. Clearly meant to bring readers into the dark menace of a cursed vampire clan as they find light and love in the arms of mortal women, the uneasy mixture of hints of vampirism with improbable story…
There was a time not long ago when a Druid hero would have held little interest for me. However, reviewing for AAR has somewhat redefined my reading tastes and I’ve discovered that categories I once avoided are full of books very much to my liking. There are at least a dozen authors whose backlists I…
Writing a review of The Book Thief, I am burdened by a sense of “What’s the point?” This book has already received copious amounts of positive press; The New York Times, Kirkus, Horn Book, The Washington Post, and Publisher’s Weekly, among others, have given it glowing reviews. What insight can I really add to this…
Magic Man is the latest in a long series by Patricia Rice. The leads were engaging, but sometimes got lost in what seemed like a cast of thousands, and for those readers like me who haven’t read previously in this series, confusion reigned for some time until I was able to determine what was going…
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,…