Well Played – the second in Jen De Luca’s series of renaissance faire-centered romances – is a bit of a step down from the excellent Well Met. While the story itself is charming, and the heroine is wonderful, there are several rather frankly icky plot points that keep this one from a higher grade. Renaissance…
A clean romance with a mildly dirty mind, Check Me Out is a Cyrano de Bergerac influenced piece about a dedicated librarian and the two men who have claims on her heart. Assistant librarian Greta Elliott loves books and her local library more than anything in the whole universe. As the funds for her job…
In From Twinkle, with Love, the follow up to the charming When Dimple Met Rishi, Sandhya Menon crafts another winning protagonist and another compelling story for young readers, who will surely find a little bit of themselves mirrored in the delightful Twinkle. Lively aspiring director Twinkle Mehra spends her free time writing admiring letters to…
I have a disorder that could be plaguing other romance readers – instant-gratification-itis. I’ve become so conditioned to expect instant-lust, instant-love, and almost-instant-sex in my romance novels that I forgot how enjoyable delayed gratification can be. I get a little fidgety and uncomfortable when I have to wait for feelings to develop and action to…
It Takes Two to Tangle is the first in a new series by this author, and is a wonderfully crafted, character-driven romance in which two intelligent, kind, and emotionally fragile people find each other amid the round of parties, balls, and shallow people that make up the ton and the circuit of society events. Henry…
At the Duke’s Wedding is a set of linked novellas, each one written by a well-known author in the world of historical romance. Each of the stories takes place in and around the two weeks leading up to the wedding of the eponymous Duke, and one of the things I particularly liked was the way…
Readers can call Reed’s books a lot of thing, but boring isn’t one of them. Chaser was an off-beat, almost light-hearted look at a chubby guy and his Adonis-like lover while Raining Men delved into the messy personal life of a sex addict. Now Reed again changes his tone to one that’s nearly camp as…
When I was a young girl I read every fairy tale I could get my hands on. The Brothers Grimm. Disney. From Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves to Rapunzel , I devoured them all. Country of origin did not matter – just that the tale be of prince and princesses, clever pig boys, sheep…
For those who didn’t make it to Italy on their summer vacation, The Food of Love offers a first-class getaway to the country. It’s another variation on the classic Cyrano de Bergerac, this time with a culinary twist. With a perfect sense of place, wonderful food and a warm storytelling style, Anthony Capella delivers a…
Nicholas Sparks says that “Romance novels have happy endings while love stories are not bound by this requirement. Love stories usually end tragically or at best, on a bittersweet note.” One of the best love stories ever written is Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, which is bittersweet indeed. Read it or watch the movie sometime…