Début novels can be a bit of a gamble, but I’m glad to report that Lily Chu’s The Stand-In is a risk worth taking. Gracie Reed is the biracial daughter of a white Canadian man and a Chinese mother now struggling with dementia. First, her boss sexually harasses and then fires her. Next, a paparazzo…
Season’s Change is the début novel from Cait Nary, a sports romance set in the world of professional hockey that follows veteran (at twenty-four!) player Olly Järvinen and rookie Benji Bryzinski through a hockey season as they go from roommates to friends to lovers. It gets off to an incredibly strong start and I was…
Not the Kind of Earl You Marry is the debut novel by Kate Pembrooke and I’m happy to say that Ms. Pembrooke is a promising new author. There are a few hiccups but overall it’s a delightful, easy story about two loveable characters. Our story starts quickly when William Atherton, the Earl of Norwood, interrupts…
The Housekeeper of Thornhallow Hall is Lotte R. James’ debut romance for Harlequin Historical, and it has more than a touch of the gothic about it. Rebecca Merrickson becomes the much needed housekeeper for Thornhallow Hall, an estate without a master… until William Reid, Earl of Thornhallow, decides to return home after years away. Rebecca is…
My feelings in regard to Happy Endings are a bit complicated. I really liked the feisty heroine and the more responsible hero. But some readers are going to find his choices a bit irritating. Reader discretion should be applied, but I still had fun with the book’s humorous, spunky spirit. Trixie Nguyen is a sales…
I picked up Who is Maud Dixon?, the début novel from author Alexandra Andrews, expecting a wild and twisty ride. Well, that’s exactly what I got, but not necessarily in a good way. Florence Darrow isn’t all that thrilled with the hand life has dealt her. There’s nothing blatantly wrong, but she can’t help but…
I saw Any Rogue Will Do on a “Best of 2020” list and picked it up right away. I’m so glad I did! This début novel by Bethany Bennett has everything regency fans love – wit, drama, loveable characters, steam, and romance all in an entertaining story. Lady Charlotte Wentworth’s first London Season seven years…
Début author Eve Morton’s Holidays in Blue is billed by Carina Press as a “forced proximity Christmas romance” and the blurb goes on to say how the two principal characters find themselves stranded together for Christmas. Some of my favourite seasonal romances use that particular trope, so I decided to pick up this book for…
Best Laid Plaids is the first book in a new series of historical romances set in 1920s Scotland by début author Ella Stainton. The blurb promised a romance between an eccentric former academic who trashed his career when he announced he could talk to ghosts and a war veteran turned PhD student who is writing…
When you google The Sight of You, it comes up with the subheading ‘The Love Story of 2020’ a grandiose statement about a book that is the opposite of grandiose in the most lovely way. The Sight of You is very tender, and there’s a sense of humility in it and in its main characters,…