Reading Restored was like a balm to the soul. It’s a beautiful – and beautifully written – story of love, forgiveness and second chances that I practically inhaled and which left me with a warm glow and a book hangover of the best kind. It’s book five in the author’s Enlightenment series, but it’s not…
Narrated by Joyce Bean Back in 2008, I hesitantly picked up the print version of Death Angel wondering if I could enjoy a romance featuring a cold-blooded assassin and a mistress to a drug lord. My curiosity combined with faith in Linda Howard and an appreciation for edgy heroes rewarded me after just a few…
When I started reading A Gentleman Undone, I could tell almost immediately – within a page, really – that the writing was simply a cut above. It’s just that good. It’s not necessarily my favorite premise (war-scarred, ex-military hero meets and falls in love with life-scarred, ex-prostitute/current mistress of another man), but when a book…
Monica Burns’ latest is an excellent read about two characters with problems that have been intensified by the cruelty of those around them. I greatly enjoyed this character and dialogue-driven novel and was certainly able to sympathize with the main characters as well as share in their triumph of finally accepting themselves. Pleasure Me has…
Earlier this year, there was a lively discussion about Death Angel, my favorite book for 2008, on our books forum. When I recently realized there was no AAR review, I felt both compelled and eager to share my fascination with this book. It is difficult to give many plot details as I don’t want to…
I’m not sure how I’ve managed to miss Mary Brendan. I picked up A Practical Mistress at the bookstore, thinking that the plot sounded interesting – but not really daring to hope that it would actually be good. My Regency reads of late have nearly all been disappointing. Happily, this one was a nice surprise,…
In the France of olde, Diane de Poitiers returns to the court of Francois I after an informal exile of five years. The two were involved in a scandalous relationship then, and though he’d like to start it up again, she wants to begin anew. She is thirtyone, beautiful, and clever. She is also strong,…
No Man’s Mistress the sequel to Balogh’s More Than a Mistress, features Viola Thornhill, an independent woman with a mysterious past, and Ferdinand Dudley. Ferdinand wins Viola’s home in a card game and when he arrives to take possession, Viola swears the home is rightfully hers and should never have been wagered in the first…
I would call myself a tentative Balogh fan. One of my favorite romances is Heartless. I read that book and then, in a frenzy of excitement, snapped up a good deal of her backlist. Unfortunately, I have not found another Balogh that I felt equalled Heartless, and there have been three of her books that…
“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare. A lot, as it turns out. What we call each other, what we allow others to call us, sets the parameters of our relationships. But sometimes a relationship bursts past the limits of names and descriptions, and redefines the people involved. This is the heart of the matter in…