A man is sent to retrieve a runaway lady and ends up falling in love with her, each of them unaware of the secret the other is hiding. This sets up the main conflict in Scandal in Venice, a conflict born of desperate actions and many secrets. Lady Elizabeth Everdean is in shock. She had…
I read this book with a pack of post-it notes handy so I could mark striking phrases and images. When the book became very thick from yellow flags sticking out of it, I knew I had to take this one to the Desert Island. Beautiful Stranger is one of the most beautifully written books I…
It may be cliched, but enthralling is the best word I can use to describe the latest book by Donna Kauffman. I finished this one in less than 24 hours, stopping only to sleep last night. If you’re a fan of anything with even a hint of wizardry in it, this is the book for…
Signet lists Eric Jerome Dickey’s book on its spine as fiction but I think that may be because the writer is an African American male and no one expects such a person to be writing romance novels. However, this novel meets every test for the romance genre ever concocted. Dickey writes about emotions, relationships, love,…
Forget Me Not is an intriguing contemporary suspense novel with gothic overtones, reminiscent of Mary Stewart’s books such as The Moon Spinners and My Brother Michael. Although the plot is somewhat predictable, multi-dimensional characters and a subtle building of tension sustain the reader’s interest. Complex and bittersweet family relationships are explored here as a woman…
The hero of The Portrait is Jonas Whitaker, the leading artist of his day in New York City, 1855. Jonas is forced by his patron to take on as his student Imogen, “Genie,” Carter, his patron’s godchild. Genie’s out-of-state father, who wants to make her into an artist like her late sister, is behind this…
Family Affairs is labeled as straight fiction, but that’s not quite accurate. The primary focus of the book is the love story between the hero and the heroine. So is it romance? Well, not exactly. The hero and heroine both sleep with other people, and though their relationship seems to be solid at the end,…
The Sound of Snow is as lovely a story as its name. It is a timeless tale of the miracle of true love which conquers all, heals all, and makes all new again. Add interesting characters, unexpected plot twists, and a touch of the supernatural, and the result is a memorable, feel-good read. Joanna Carew…
After I finished The Lady in Gray, I took a trip to the used book store to find more of Patricia Oliver’s books. I finished 1998 in a bit of depression because two of my favorite regency writers, Mary Balogh and Carla Kelly said they will no longer be writing the traditional Regency Romance, but…
After a long series of mediocre reads, it is a treat to come across a book that gets it right. Having been banished to her aunt in Cornwall after a youthful peccadillo, lady Sylvia has spent the last 10 years concentrating on her art. Nicholas Morley, Earl of Longueville, has returned to Cornwall after a…