How about a fairy tale where the heroine is the fairy godmother and the prince needs a beautiful gown? Prince Sebastian of Belgium is hiding a secret: he loves wearing gowns, and dreams of donning something more bold and glamorous than his mother’s old castoffs. When he sees a ballgown by seamstress Frances, he immediately…
Part mystery, part adventure, part romance, The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory is her entry in the current trend of regal-themed romances. Princess Theodora is recovering from the humiliation of being dumped on her wedding day but discovers things aren’t quite what they seem in this story of duty, self-discovery and love. It straddles the…
I read a ton of young adult fantasy, and while I enjoy most of what I pick up in the genre, I’ll be the first to admit to the lack of originality that seems to pervade many of today’s best-selling novels. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I volunteered to review Star-Crossed, the latest…
(NOTE: This book was previously published in 1993 as The Princess and the Barbarian) It’s interesting how a person’s keeper shelf can change over time. When I was fourteen, Betina Krahn’s The Princess and the Barbarian was one of my favorite tales, kept alongside Johanna Lindsay and Catherine Coulter. I’ve still got a number of…
Mirage is a YA fantasy novel based on a recent historical period from the author’s ancestral land of Morocco. Known as the Years of Lead, it was a bloody episode during which dissidents were arrested or executed. In spite of the heavy subject matter, the author tells a charming story of love, friendship and being…
I haven’t found much in the way of historical fiction set in Russia that doesn’t deal with the Russian Revolution, and while that time period does interest me a great deal, I do like a bit of variety in my reading. So, when I read the blurb for C.W. Gortner’s latest work The Romanov Empress,…
Spinning Silver is a lush, richly imagined, gloriously magical fantasy novel that takes its inspiration from Russian and Jewish folklore. A story full of adventure, wit, dangerous fey and clever queens, it is everything, EVERYTHING that a fairy tale for adults should be. Irina is the plain daughter of the first wife of an upstart…
Jeffe Kennedy offers an exciting new look at the world she created in her Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series with Prisoner of the Crown. The opening tale in the trilogy about the lost princess of Dasnaria, this is one of the best books in this fantasy saga. It is a standalone novel, so you…
Katharine Ashe hits only high notes in this memorable fourth book in the Devil’s Duke series. The Prince elevates two previously minor secondary characters – and my friends, the pairing is brilliant. He’s an exiled prince of a fictional Mediterranean realm, hidden away in Scotland and biding his time until he can return home; she’s…
I’ve been looking forward to The Henchmen of Zenda, K.J. Charles’ ‘queered’ retelling of the classic The Prisoner of Zenda, ever since she announced it months ago, and in fact the book made my ‘most eagerly awaited of 2018 list‘ here at AAR. I love a ripping adventure yarn, and that’s exactly what the author…