Beguiled is the middle book in Joanna Chambers’ Enlightenment trilogy of novels set in early nineteenth century Edinburgh, and I’ll say right off the bat that this is a series in which the books really do need to be read in order. The romance between the studious advocate, David Lauriston, and the hedonistic Lord Murdo…
Imagine is the story of a wide variety of characters, all bottlenecked onto an island thanks to a shipwreck just before the turn of the 19th century. First of all there’s our hero and heroine – Margaret “Smitty” Smith, a hard-working attorney who was hoping to take a refreshing cruise in the South Seas, and…
They say never judge a book by its cover, but the cover is why I picked out The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine. I love all things autumnal, and I can’t recall seeing another romance that focuses around Halloween. This collection of three novellas centers around Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast and its somewhat mystical…
The first book in Joanna Chambers’ Enlightenment series, Provoked is set in Regency Scotland, at a time of much political and social unrest. The author immediately evokes a strong sense of time and place with the opening of the story in which two young men – weavers wrongly convicted of treason – are publicly executed. Present…
Note to self: When a book sounds good, ignore the advice of friends. Before I began reading this several friends told me it was a big disappointment and found it mediocre at best. This not only made me nervous, I avoided reading it for months. I just wasn’t in the mood for mediocre. That’ll teach…
This latest installment in Cecilia Grant’s Blackshear series is as different from the two titles that preceded it (A Lady Awakened and A Gentleman Undone) as those two books are different from each other, but is every bit as good. Nicholas is the middle Blackshear brother and has been making his living as a barrister…
Narrated by Karen White While I’ve read a number of Julie James’ books in print, this is the first I’ve listened to, and also the first time I’ve read this 2009 release. I liked the story a little more than Ellen who gave it a B at AAR, but truly enjoyed Karen White’s narration. I…
Narrated by Karen White As the Assistant US Attorney in charge of prosecuting Twitter terrorist Kyle Rhodes, (hero of About That Night), Cade Morgan could have been a somewhat unsympathetic hero. But, Ms. James cleverly redeemed Cade by the end of the previous book, paving the way for readers to get all swoony over Mr….
Sometimes an author takes a risk, and has me hooked. This happened with Bonnie Dee’s new romance New Life, which features a hero with a mental disability. When I discovered that the first pages of the book were actually told from said hero’s point-of-view, my surprise doubled. Would it work? It did: The book proved…
Fans of Karen Rose will recognize the hero and heroine of this novel from her book No One Left to Tell. Daphne and Joseph met during the case surrounding Paige but neither has made a move to act on their mutual attraction. All that changes when Daphne finds herself in the middle of prosecuting a…