The Secret Pearl is a book that grips you by the throat from the very first scene, and never lets you go until the end. The first chapter of this book is utterly shocking. A man we have barely met hires a prostitute we know nothing about for a night of his pleasure. As we…
Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth is the sequel to Stolen Charms. Heroine Madeleine DuMais is a Mata Hari-type Frenchwoman spying for the English. Winter Garden brings her together with another English spy, Thomas Blackwood. Thomas has had Madeleine summoned to England ostensibly to help him with a smuggling investigation, but it is quickly obvious that…
The Hostage is a wonderful book for folks who like a romance to develop slowly. It’s the story of two people who not only fall in love, but grow and change from the experience of knowing each other. The American characters are the best I’ve read in ages, because they are complex and insightful individuals,…
Again was the first book I read by Kathleen Gilles Seidel. It was the winner of the RITA award for best Contemporary Single Title for 1995. I enjoyed it so much that I bought her entire backlist. Again combines a wonderfully humorous concept with a poignant love story. I laughed quite a bit at the…
Heaven, Texas is the second book in Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ football series, all of which can be read independently from one another. The first book in her football series is It Had To Be You, continues with Nobody’s Baby But Mine, and finishes with Dream a Little Dream. Personally, I do not like football. I…
Lord Ragsdale is an intelligent and witty man who is bored. He squanders his talents on careless amusements, and surrounds himself with people who have not one half of his insight and wit. His accounts are a mess. His estate is neglected. This fascinating man has no one with whom to hold a worthwhile conversation…
Halfway through reading The Weaver Takes a Wife, I was tempted to stop and look again at the copyright notice, just to assure myself that I wasn’t reading a long-lost and recently rediscovered work of Georgette Heyer’s. This was a delightful read from start to finish, reminiscent of the writing that made me fall in…
Lord Carew’s Bride is a Regency Romance about a very unlikely couple. Though the hero is wealthy and titled, he is plain and hindered by a disability. The heroine is beautiful and popular, but she is avoiding love. It is magical to watch their initial friendship grow into love. Samantha Newman is visiting her friends…
Regency romance. Lords and Ladies. Elegance, glitter and the haute ton. Been there, read that. Not if it’s a Carla Kelly Regency you haven’t. The Lady’s Companion flouts the conventions of a regency romance and tells a wonderful story in the process. Susan Hampton is waking up in a bare, cold house. Her father, Sir…
Since Mary Balogh is no longer going to write traditional regency novels, Carla Kelly is now the regency author whose books I am going to prowl the stores for. Whenever I hear anyone sat that romance novels are nothing but tripe, I feel like giving them a copy of With This Ring and saying, “Read…