It’s always tricky starting a series without reading earlier entries. Will I care about the hero and heroine? Will appearances by past heroes and heroines make sense? And most importantly, will the book work as a standalone? Fortunately, the answer to all three of these questions for me is a resounding “yes.” I thoroughly enjoyed…
I still remember the first time I read Georgette Heyer’s Venetia. I loved that story because the intelligent characters made me want, more than anything, for them to fall in love and live happily ever after. I found myself having similar feelings as I read Practically Wicked by Alissa Johnson. The characters utterly charmed me,…
I really want to love Jill Shalvis’ books. Contemporary romance is my favorite genre, so I am always looking for new authors. In the interest of full disclosure, this is not the first book that I have tried by her that hasn’t quite worked for me. So, why try again? People who like the same…
I’m a huge fan of reality television, so this book sounded like a surefire winner, with the hero and heroine stranded on a deserted island as competitors in a reality documentary. I was disappointed that the reality TV portion of the book was glossed over, but found it to be a light, generally enjoyable read.Aust…
One Reckless Summer is the first in a series set in Destiny, a fictional small town in Ohio. It’s a lovely combination of sexy, fun, and heartbreak, and I look forward to checking out more books by this author. Jenny Tolliver has always been a good girl. She’s never broken the rules, she’s always tried…
We’ve all read the story of the tortured bad boy hero who uses sex and alcohol to escape the pain, and the heroine who breaches his walls of defenses to find the man underneath and heal his soul. Reverse the roles of the hero and heroine, and you’ve got She’s Got It Bad, a compelling…
The Runaway McBride has an interesting premise for a new series and is a second-chance-at-love story, a favorite of mine. However, there were some problems along the way. Lady Valeria, descended from a long line of Scottish seers, is on her deathbed surrounded by her three grandsons. None of them have shown any signs of…
The cover and title of Susan Donovan’s new book The Girl Most Like To… promise a light comedy. Although there are some light moments in the book, it is mostly an angst-filled story featuring parted lovers and a secret child. <!– var browName = navigator.appName; var SiteID = 1; var ZoneID = 4; var browDateTime…
I’ve enjoyed Kristi Gold’s romances before, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of any one that was truly special. In Fall from Grace, one of the debut romances in Harlequin’s new Everlasting line (which explore romantic relationships over a period of time), she truly impresses with a heartfelt story about the…
Some readers might disagree with me (and vehemently too), but I think that the fantasy of a divorced couple reconciling is an alluring one – under the right circumstances, of course. This is the primary storyline in Kathryn Shay’s Ties That Bind, and she makes a convincing argument for the possibility of a Second Chance…