Damnation has never been so sweet… Rosamund Tomkins, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman, spends most of her young life in drudgery at a country inn. To her, the Restoration under Charles II is but a distant threat as she works under the watchful eye of her brutal, abusive stepfather . . . until the…
Narrated by Alex Wyndham So, so many people love The Marigold Chain (really, anything by Stella Riley) and for good reason. Her attention to detail – from the dialogue to the setting and time period to the clothing – everything is pitch perfect. However, The Marigold Chain is history dense and romance light, and I…
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Stella Riley’s work, so anyone reading this review could be forgiven for thinking that the DIK rating was a foregone conclusion. And perhaps it was – I’ve always found her writing, characterisation and storytelling to be of consistently high quality, and The Black Madonna is no…
I have to say, if I fell in love with a man and he abruptly ended our betrothal and dumped me in favor of another woman, I wouldn’t be too happy. And if he showed up on my doorstep years later and asked me to help him with his child from said other woman, I…
Stella Riley’s Roundheads and Cavaliers series of books set during the English Civil Wars is an absolute treat for those who enjoy well-researched historical fiction AND historical romance. Each book in the series is grounded strongly in historical fact and the stories Ms Riley layers atop her chosen background are cleverly constructed and closely interlinked…
A Love Beyond Forever is rather a mixed bag. At times it made for good reading, but when the romance turned into “the awakening of a young witch,” I wondered where the entertainment had gone. Kristy Sinclair, an up-and-coming, modern, young career woman, is thrown back through time with the aid of a witch’s “scrying”…
Normally I’m a fan of re-releases. So many romantic novels have entirely too short a shelf life, and I’ve been able to read some wonderful books I missed the first time around. However, there are some books that probably deserve to stay in the past, and By Love Unveiled is certainly one of them. In…
If you read historical fiction, you already know that the Tudors are everywhere. It’s almost like what Regency England did to historical romance settings. While I love Tudor England, I still jumped at the chance to change things up and visit the early Stuart period. Set in the Court of King James I, this novel…
There are books I rather like and then, every once in a great while, there are books I love to the point of wanting everybody I know to go out and buy a copy. Libertine’s Kiss is one of those rare books. This angsty historical is heartrendingly beautiful, featuring beautiful language and a fantastic setting…
Transgressions is one of the first in the Running Press line of male/male romances. While I had some issues with viewpoint switches, I was impressed, especially by the sense of history – England’s Civil War is too rarely seen in romances. However, this book is not for the squeamish as the dark side of history…