Aphrodite’s Passion is mildly entertaining, but not truly engaging. With a “superhero” hero and talking ferret it’s often laugh-out-loud funny. But as soon as the plot turns inward and focuses on the hero and heroine’s relationship, it falls flat. Super-hero Hale is a direct descendant of Zeus. Head and shoulders above ordinary people, he can…
In Greek mythology the goddess Demeter is presented as a victim. Her beloved daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and required to spend six months each year in the underworld because she ate six pomegranate seeds. During that time, Demeter mourns and refuses to let anything grow. But what if Demeter wasn’t really the wronged…
American Gods is not what you were expecting, even if you’re a Neil Gaiman fan – or even if you’re the author himself, I suspect. It’s just not the sort of thing you pick up a book expecting to read. And like Gaiman’s work in general, it changes every time you read it, becoming better,…
The Warrior, a sequel to The Trickster, which was quite favorable reviewed here at AAR, suffers from a bad case of sequel-itis. But instead of the usual symptom, bloated sections of boring back story, this one assumes the reader has read the prequel and will read the forthcoming sequel and leaves out too much information….
Move over, Buffy . . . Step aside, Xena . . . Zoë Smith’s the new super gal in town! Ahhh, those marketing folks. They’ll say just about anything to make a sale, won’t they? Well, after reading about Zoë’s adventures I don’t think Buffy and Xena need to worry about retiring and settling in…
I love finding new-to-me authors. Kathleen Nance has written two other books and two novellas, and I may have to go find them if they’re all as charming as this novel. Centuries ago, the gods of Olympus ruled the earth. Zeus, the ruler, dallied with many women, among them Io. Long story short, he turned…
I love mythology. I’ve loved reading stories of myths and legends since I was a little girl. Unfortunately, the mythological elements in Cupid: The Amorous Arrow are handled with a farcial and sometimes heavy hand. The mixture of gods and mortals worked in Karen Harbaugh’s mythological Regency Romance trilogy, but she based it on the…
Before I begin this review, I must comment on the horrid cover. Although the hero of this book does wear a purple cape and a Norse hat with horns, if the guy on this cover came within ten feet of me with that expression on his face, I would run screaming in the other direction….
Cupid’s Kiss is Karen Harbaugh’s last book in the Cupid Trilogy. After having read it, I plan on grabbing the first two, Cupid’s Mistake and Cupid’s Darts, as soon as possible. Psyche Hathaway has turned down the latest in a long line of suitors, much to her mother’s amazement. She has not been able to…
Like Carla Kelly, Karen Harbaugh is pushing the bounds of the Regency sub-genre. But she’s doing it in a completely different way. While Kelly’s heroes and heroines are often common people, Harbaugh’s are about as uncommon as you can get. In Cupid’s Kiss, the final installment in Harbaugh’s Cupid trilogy, the hero is Eros –…