Olivia Dade’s Marysburg series stars older teachers (all characters are forty-somethings) in workplace romances. This anthology contains three novellas: Sweetest in the Gale (in its first release), and reprints of Unraveled (originally from the anthology He’s Come Undone) and Cover Me (from the anthology Rogue Acts). All three stories are heartfelt and enjoyable, and if…
Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert is a warm, witty and gorgeously romantic romance that captivated me from the very first page and didn’t let me go until the very last. Featuring two superbly crafted and incredibly relatable protagonists, a unique premise and an engaging secondary cast, it’s a fabulous tale of acceptance and self-discovery, of healing…
Well Played – the second in Jen De Luca’s series of renaissance faire-centered romances – is a bit of a step down from the excellent Well Met. While the story itself is charming, and the heroine is wonderful, there are several rather frankly icky plot points that keep this one from a higher grade. Renaissance…
Shana Galen’s The Highlander’s Excellent Adventure is more of a lighthearted romp than usual, but the book is still graced with her typical sense of emotion and drama, although the first half of the plot is creaky, with plot choices and character beats that feel less fresh than they ought. A dismayed Ines Neves eavesdrops…
A romantic comedy with a hitman hero definitely doesn’t follow the norm of mafia romances, which tend to be of the ‘dark romance’ variety. Yet author Katrina Jackson has done a delightful job of combining a lot of humor, sexy scenes, and yes, action too, in The Hitman, the second book in The Family series….
I was in the mood for something deliciously romantic, and Marriage by Arrangement certainly delivered. I initially picked this book up because of its gorgeous cover, but the story within was equally enchanting. The author deftly explores workplace romance, cross-class issues and cultural pressures to deliver a very satisfying read. Rani Gupta is an ambitious…
The pitch for this book was enough to make me one-click it immediately: a plus-sized fashionista becomes the next contestant on a fictional Bachelorette franchise. Done. I’m in. Thanks for playing, I’ll be reading this in one sitting. And boy, did I. It’s frothy and fun and one hundred and forty-five percent the perfect book…
Talia Hibbert is a master craftsperson when it comes to romance novels, and she continues to demonstrate her ability to woo a reader’s heart with her latest release, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, book two in her Brown Sisters series. Part-time teacher and PhD student Danika – Dani – Brown has a great life. She…
A bingo hall brought Mari McCray and Hazel Johnson together as young women in 1963. Prejudice and family ultimatums pushed the two apart, but forty years later, a bingo hall brings them back together. In the meantime, however, both Hazel and Mari have married and had families. Is it too late for a second chance?…
Sweet Heat combines family drama and heated romance beautifully. A story of love between two plus-sized black characters filled with humor and drama, it’s wonderfully appealing. Marvin Carter is a wiz with a whisk and a spatula. An exemplary baker, he spends his days toiling as a line cook and would do anything to save…