LaVyrle Spencer’s Family Blessings is an older woman/younger man romance, which is the reason I picked it up. There aren’t many romance heroines in their 40s, and I’d already read Ms. Spencer’s other May-December pairing, Years, so I looked forward to this story. Although it has its flaws, it was ultimately a warm and satisfying…
When her ex-husband Frank died mid-divorce, he left Suzanne Mayhew with a lot of questions (was he cheating?) and some classic cars he never let her drive. Forty-something Suzanne is about fifteen years older than hot cop Neil Callahan, who wants to take her Mustang for a drive – and yeah, that can also be…
Narrated by Alex Wyndham One of the things I really like about Autumn Duchess is the way in which Lucinda Brant has upended a number of different romantic tropes all in the one book. Firstly, her central couple are a bit older than usual – the heroine is (by my reckoning) forty-eight – and not…
On Sherry Southerland’s sixty-third birthday, her friend Lorena gives her an unusual present: a visit to a virtual reality studio in Hollywood which can replicate two weeks in any time period. Sherry, nostalgic for a missed romantic connection from her youth, chooses 1969 London. But to their surprise, the two women actually travel through time….
I expected to like this book. A lot. Not only does it feature an “older” heroine, but she’s a chef with an interesting background. With an ex-athlete as hero, it seemed made to order with seemed being the operative word. Add into the mix excessive information dumps, no real build-up of a relationship between the…
Intersections between the present and the past, romance and just a touch of the otherworldly, and, of course, plenty of dark secrets. These are the key ingredients of the sort of books that grabbed my attention all through high school and college, and Legacy has them in spades. I don’t know how I managed to…
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…
I Can Make You Love Me is the story of a single mother in her early-forties, and the younger man who is determined to win her heart. It’s a pleasant, but ultimately average read. Real estate attorney Adam Carlyle has never forgotten Wynn Evans, his childhood babysitter and first crush. After Wynn went off to…
Have you ever wondered how reviewers balance review-reading and books for fun? Everyone does it differently, but I’m fairly regimented; starting at the beginning of the month, I’ll read three books for review (that’s our standard reviewer commitment), then my book club book. If I have any month left over (often I don’t), I’ll read…
I love stories that turn gender roles and social expectations on their head, so a book about a forty-something, tattooed, bar-owning grandma with a younger boy-toy sounded like a lot of fun and right up my alley. It was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but what I didn’t expect was a story that was…