I was pleased to learn that Elizabeth Essex would be publishing a new series of historical romances, as I’ve enjoyed her work in the past and have missed seeing her name on lists of forthcoming releases. Her new, Highland Brides series kicks off with Mad for Love which is either a short novel or a…
I felt emotionally exhausted by the time I’d finished reading this book. There’s no way to do it justice in couple of paragraphs, but there’s no question that in Sheridan Drake, Ms Kinsale has created one of the most complex, compelling heroes – should that be anti-heroes? – I’ve ever read. A decorated naval officer,…
Miranda Neville’s books have been a bit hit and miss for me in the past. I wasn’t too keen on the first book in this series (The Importance of Being Wicked), although I loved the prequel novella (The Second Seduction of a Lady) and while it had its weaknesses, I enjoyed her last book (Lady…
If Courtney Milan’s last book – The Countess Conspiracy – was a love letter to the forgotten women of science, those women who were ridiculed and derided because they dared to encroach upon the male preserve of scientific investigation and discovery, then The Suffragette Scandal is by way of being her panegyric to those women…
Narrated by Veronica Den I wonder what it says about me that I’ve always liked reading about con artists and people on the run. There’s a certain amount of desperation in books with that plot line, and it draws me in. That’s exactly what happened when I started listening to Sins and Needles, the first…
I’m a huge fan of Sherry Thomas’ writing, and of the way she injects a degree of grit and realism into a genre that is so often seen through rose-colored lenses and softened around the edges. Her characters are, for the most part, rich, titled and good-looking, but it’s what’s underneath the surface veneer that…
The general problem with The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie is that nothing goes quite far enough. There are no wicked deeds. The worlds of the hero and heroine – engineering and spiritualism, respectively – aren’t detailed or thoughtful enough. The characterizations are full of unrealized potential. Although there’s a decent read here, overall the…
I’ve read and enjoyed the other books in this series, so came to this one with reasonably high expectations of enjoyment, and I’m pleased to report that I wasn’t disappointed. I liked the story and the way the author built the romance between two people for whom life hasn’t been particularly easy, despite the fact…
The paranormal romances I like best are those that make magicians and supernatural beings not larger-than-life and above the rest of society, but instead show the struggle of creating a society that consists of both magical and mundane beings. Lessons After Dark is such a story set in an alternative Victorian England, and it is,…
As Jane Austen might write if she were here to see the industry her works have propagated: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a female reader in possession of a copy of Pride and Prejudice, must be in want of a Mr. Darcy. Or so today’s publishers would have us believe. While Austen might…