Set in Oklahoma Territory in 1907, on the brink of its statehood, Pamela Morsi’s Wild Oats makes for a lovely bushel. (Oats come in bushels, right?). Divorced and impecunious Cora Briggs is the town scandal, so when young undertaker Jedwin Sparrow feels ready to, well, sow some oats, she seems like the woman to discreetly…
By now, y’all know the drill. It’s December, so that means it’s time for another volume of the Best Women’s Erotica of the Year. In 2021, editor Rachel Kramer Bussel has, as usual, included pieces from several well-known romance authors (Adriana Herrera, Angelina M. Lopez and Holley Trent in this edition), but news names abound. …
Queen’s Surrender: To A Higher Calling is the latest release in Pat Simmons’s ten-book series The Jamieson Legacy, and as I had not read the previous books, I knew I was coming in late to this long-running story. Nonetheless, with a little attention I was able to get a handle on the large Jamieson clan…
I recently downloaded this 2005 release to my Kindle. Why? My original paperback is falling apart from countless readings. Yes, this book is a DIK for me and a buried treasure since I’ve seen virtually no buzz about it online. Sam Frazier and his four-year old son are heading to town when a camper swerves…
I love early 20th century history. The world was such a changing place then, with modern technology just taking its first hesitant steps onto the stage and women beginning to find their place in the world beyond being a wife and mother. The changes these years saw had to be some of the most astounding…
Together Always is a book I’d heard great things about, and it lived up to its reputation. A story of rare sensitivity and touching emotion, it really is something special. The book is divided into two parts. In the first, Trace Dushane is just a teenager when his stepfather’s young niece Lily comes to live…
Untamed is the second book in Merline Lovelace’s series about the history of Oklahoma. It takes place in the early 1800s, back when the territory was still known as Indian Country. It certainly has a distinct sense of place. It’s also a flat, uninvolving and often annoying read. Lady Barbara Chamberlain comes to Indian Country…
Dorothy Garlock first drew my attention when she moved from 19th century to 20th century American settings, mining a time period that I love, and that has so far been underused by romance authors. I’ve read and enjoyed several of her books, and Mother Road is another to add to the list. Garlock specializes in…
A Place Called Rainwater is the second in the Jones family series that began with The Edge of Town and tells the story of Jill, youngest of the Jones clan from Fertile, Missouri. Jill has come to Rainwater to help her widowed aunt Justine, whose “creeping paralysis” is gradually eroding her ability to manage the…
When it comes to series romances, I am enormously fond of those set in the same town. It’s always nice to see couples from earlier books bask in their happy endings while you follow another couple on the way to theirs. Some of my favorite series are Karen Templeton’s books set in Spruce Lake, Michigan…