Maya Rodale takes on the real-life tale of adventuresome journalist Nellie Bly in The Mad Girls of New York, which brings mystery to Bly’s time at a horrific mental institution. Blending fact with fiction and a typical dash of her usual strong-women-in-triumph panache, Rodale feels as home in the world of mysteries and historical fiction…
The first books by Emma Barry that I read were her Fly Me to the Moon modern historical romances (co-written with author Genevieve Turner) set in the era of the American space race. They were all favorably received here at AAR. But prior to this series, the author had written and published a political romance…
In The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, author Chanel Cleeton shines light on a period in Cuban history many Americans know little to nothing about. Through the eyes of three very different heroines, Cleeton allows us a glimpse into a war-torn Cuba and a New York City poised to take the world by storm. It’s…
People We Meet on Vacation is a novel about a wanderer and a homebody, and how their friendship changes through a dozen years of summer trips. Poppy and Alex have been best friends since college, despite being an odd couple pairing. Poppy wears loud clothes and desires adventure, and Alex is a sweet grump who…
This spicy box set contains three novellas by author Adriana Anders, and with wounded heroes, virgin heroes, and excellent sex scenes, they’re well worth a read. Loving the Secret Billionaire Grade: B City Council candidate and preschool teacher Veronica Cruz is fighting an uphill battle against an established, affluent candidate when she knocks on reclusive…
Historical western romances used to make up a large part of my reading quota, but in recent years, I’ve found myself gravitating toward other types of romance. However, when I read the blurb for Wild Rain, book two in Beverly Jenkins’ Women Who Dare series, I knew I had to return to the subgenre, even…
You know you’re in the hands of a master when you part the covers of a Beverly Jenkins book. Wild Rain is no exception to that rule, providing us with a wonderful romance worth falling into impassioned love with. Spring Lee is a self-possessed woman who lives on her own terms on her own land,…
I’ve reread Sarah Sundin’s first novel (A Distant Melody) so often that there are parts of it I could quote by heart. What I love about that story, and many of her books since, is that they remind me of the 1950s era WWII movies my parent’s loved. They are sweet, innocent, romantic and revolve…
The Ex Talk is a contemporary romance about a woman on the brink of thirty, trying to figure out how to fulfil her career aspirations without killing one of her unfairly hot coworkers or being way too dishonest. It’s an amazing rivals-to-lovers romance, with some serious depth and intense emotional range. I initially picked it…
In Lady in the Lake, Laura Lippman sweeps readers back in time to 1960s Baltimore, where the body of a young, African-American woman is found floating in a lake. No one seems to know who she is, nor do they seem all that interested in finding out, so housewife-turned-reporter Maddie Schwartz decides to solve the…