Writing a review of The Book Thief, I am burdened by a sense of “What’s the point?” This book has already received copious amounts of positive press; The New York Times, Kirkus, Horn Book, The Washington Post, and Publisher’s Weekly, among others, have given it glowing reviews. What insight can I really add to this…
I can count on one hand the number of romance novels that have ever moved me to tears. Lorraine Heath’s classic Always to Remember sits at the top of that elite list, head and shoulders above the rest. In the ten years since its initial publication, it has only gained power, as its themes seem…
Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a good tearjerker – a romance that is touching and emotional and shows how powerfully love can change someone’s life. Redemption is that kind of book. The plot has its rough spots, but the romance is ultimately very sweet and well worth the time spent reading. Since the…
Nicholas Sparks says that “Romance novels have happy endings while love stories are not bound by this requirement. Love stories usually end tragically or at best, on a bittersweet note.” One of the best love stories ever written is Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, which is bittersweet indeed. Read it or watch the movie sometime…
I love the theme of unrequited love, and Remember The Time is one of the best books utilizing that theme that I have ever read. There are three main characters involved in the storyline and we are introduced to them at the beginning of the book by way of an italicized flash back. Ms Reynolds…
Some time ago a friend of mine recommended A Crime of the Heart as a good cry-your-eyes-out kind of read. I am only occasionally in the mood to cry my eyes out, so this one has sat neglected in the TBR for at least a year. But as I was picking out books to read…
It is the 1540s. Suleiman the Magnificent is the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The tsar of Russia is a man who will someday be known as Ivan the Terrible. England is ruled by the boy-king Edward VI. Mary Queen of Scots is four, and she will be used as a pawn in the high-stakes…
Reunion by Kathryn Fox is an unusual and powerful historical romance. Unfortunately, the question on the cover – Would their future be filled with love..or heartbreak? – isn’t really satisfactorily answered. The question that still bothered me at the end of this book was, “Is love going to be enough to save this marriage?” Adam…
Carla Kelly’s One Good Turn features Benedict Nesbitt, Duke of Knaresborough (Nez), who first appeared in Libby’s London Merchant There are also small guest appearances by Jane and Scipio Butterworth from Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind. Nez stops his coach one rainy day to pick up a woman and a young boy. Nez assumes that…
I am convinced that Carla Kelly doesn’t have it in her to write a bad book, or even a mediocre one, and her latest effort only confirms that impression for me. One Good Turn marks her return after several years’ absence from publishing, and it carries all her trademarks: complex and sympathetic characterization, an unflinching…