Miles Vorkosigan is an adventurer and a spy, a slightly crazy con artist, a quick-thinker and a fast-talker. He is a military genius with a gift for personnel and a miraculous talent for pulling rabbits out of hats at the last possible moment. His personality is so compelling that it almost makes people forget that…
Passing Fancies is one of my all-time favorite romances. Elizabeth Mansfield has written more than thirty Regency Romances over the years, but in my opinion, this one is her very best. It’s one of the few books I have that I would run into my burning house to save. But luckily for me, it has…
Let’s get one thing straight: despite the insipid cover, Lucien de Montforte is much too smart to go out in the snow in a cloak and no shirt, although he does occasionally go coatless. I had great expectations for the conclusion of the de Montforte series, and on this crucial point I was completely satisfied:…
Midsummer Moon is one of the greatest, unacknowledged romantic comedy novels and a true Desert Isle Keeper. Of course, it’s written by Laura Kinsale, queen of the Dark, Tormented Romance, so a laff-out-loud book isn’t quite the first thing you’d expect from her. Ransom Falconer, Duke of Damerell, is looking for an eccentric, cranky old…
The hero of The Portrait is Jonas Whitaker, the leading artist of his day in New York City, 1855. Jonas is forced by his patron to take on as his student Imogen, “Genie,” Carter, his patron’s godchild. Genie’s out-of-state father, who wants to make her into an artist like her late sister, is behind this…
If you’ve ever been denied the chance to do what you love, you’ll empathize with Caroline Grayson. She’s a brilliant botanist and an accomplished mathematician. Unfortunately, she lives in Regency England, so her abilities make her an outcast. It isn’t seemly for a woman to study the sciences. Desperate to live her dreams, Caroline makes…
I’d like to mention the work of Dorothy Dunnett. This author, though a historical novelist and not a romance author, has had a profound effect on my romance writing, and I’d say that her novel Checkmate is one of the best romances ever written. However, it’s the last in a series of six thick books…
Midsummer Moon is an intriguing read. Not a book to pick up and leaf through at odd moments, it requires some effort on the part of the reader to grasp what the author offers in the way of characterization, theme, and complexity of plot. <!– var browName = navigator.appName; var SiteID = 1; var ZoneID…