Once in a while, during every reader’s literary life, you encounter a book that reminds you why you are a reader. It renews your faith, if faith was lost; it rekindles your interest, if interest waned; and every word, every page, is a wonder. Adrian and Justine’s story is not only such a book and…
The Pink Carnation series is one that I have been following with great pleasure for a number of years, but, as much as I have been enjoying the protagonists’ adventures in England, Ireland, and India, I was somewhat disappointed that after the first volume the action never returned to Napoleon’s home turf. I was thrilled…
I don’t think it’s too much to state that Anne Stuart’s House of Rohan trilogy comes with high, high hopes. This author has given readers some of the darkest, cruellest, and most successfully redeemed heroes ever, and her historical novels seem to have an especially devoted following, possibly because they are now rarer than not….
If you’re on the hunt for something different, a mute albino papermaker in Medieval France is a heroine who doesn’t come along too often. Though Watermark, like many debut novels, seems a bit unpolished, the story is still an engaging one and gives readers an indelible picture of a tumultuous era. When Auda is born,…
Madam, Will You Talk? may very well be the very first grown-up romance I ever read. I had crept into the grown-up department of the public library in secret, because I was supposed to look after my younger siblings over in the children’s department, and had to grab books quickly. No idea how I came…
After writing a number of very enjoyable stand-alone titles, Louise Allen has embarked on telling the stories of the members of a large family. In her case, it’s not a set of siblings, but of cousins. A family tree is printed right at the front of the book, which is a shame, because it contains…
I have a confession to make: I used to think Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart a prime example of a Guilty Pleasure. Very well written, but verging on melodrama, and thus only to be enjoyed with a touch of embarrassment. Rereading it for the purpose of this review, I realized I couldn’t have been…
Miranda Jarrett is an author I’d forgotten about. Years ago, I read a few of her books and then glommed a bunch more, but they got lost in the bottomless tbr pile. Then I came across The Adventurous Bride and thought I’d give it a go. It’s a road romance full of unusual settings (like…
The Silver Rose is the last book in Susan Carroll’s Sisters of Faire Isle trilogy. It beautifully weaves all the threads left dangling from the first two books into a rich tapestry of magic, history, passion, intrigue, and impossible love. Faire Isle has undergone a drastic change from when we first discovered it. It was…
Readers in recent years have complained that the rich, interesting historicals of the past are vanishing. As a reader, I certainly have found myself buying fewer books overall as the meaty historicals I loved started to be replaced by and large with homogenized wallpaper comedies. Fortunately, there are still some good and interesting historicals out…