I keep picking up western romances, hoping I’ll find one as good as those I used to read in the nineties. Since virtually all of them I’ve read in the last five years are terrible, I’m not sure if my behavior is optimistic, or just stupid. Sadly, Luck of the Draw is yet another of…
His Dark Desires is set in Reconstruction Era New Orleans. Heroine Juliet Boucheron is still dealing with the after-effects of the war. Her husband disappeared with thousands of dollars in Confederate gold, and as a result, she and her son have been shunned by all of their friends. They also have little closure in their…
Though His Dark Desires takes place in the midst of a sultry New Orleans summer, it represents something quite the opposite for romance readers: a welcome breath of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a bonafide Regency girl from w-a-a-a-y back. But somewhere along the way, a steady diet of All-Regency-All-The-Time, interspersed with…
Something Like Love is a lighthearted and humorous look at the residents and town of Henry Adams, Kansas in the late 1880s. Beverly Jenkins provides us with two engaging leads – Olivia Sterling, a proper, self-employed woman, and Neil July, a train robber. Olivia and Neil find immense enjoyment in each other’s company and, of…
Leslie LaFoy wraps up her Perfect trilogy in winning style, pairing the slightly reckless, danger-seeking private investigator Barrett with his “perfect” feminine counterpart. The result is a thoroughly engrossing relationship between two equally strong and self-sufficient characters. Barrett Stanbridge awakes one morning to find himself the chief suspect in the murder of Mignon Richard, who…
They say that good things come in small packages and, in the case of Loving Mercy, this came so very close to being true. While this rather charming debut novel is still somewhat better than average, it did have its flaws. The author manages to pack an impressive amount of plot and emotional wrangling into…
I remember reading some of Laurie Grant’s medievals back when she wrote for Harlequin Historicals and I initially looked forward to reading her again. Unfortunately, while the German immigrant community forming the setting for Midnight Satin sets it apart from many Western romances and gives it an interesting flavor, an unnecessary villain and some choppy…
The Irish Devil would have been a lot better if it had not had so many sex scenes. I don’t think there was a chapter where there wasn’t one (or two, or three, or four) sex scenes. After I finished the book, I couldn’t help but think it would have been a marvelous big, juicy…
I’ve read so many disappointing westerns lately that I am almost afraid to pick them up. But At Twilight’s back cover copy sounded intriguing, so I gave it a shot – and I’m glad I did. It’s easily the best western I’ve read in the last couple of years. Slow paced and thoughtful, it’s a…
Normally, I love big, gritty historical sagas since they are just the sort of stories that make me want to suspend disbelief and fall into the twists and turns of a larger-than-life epic plot. Crosswinds opens with the promise of just such a story, but, unfortunately, it failed to hold up. As Crosswinds opens it…