Normally a book cover does not influence me, but I thought the cover of Duchess of Fifth Avenue was quite stunning. Would the story inside be as good as the cover? Lana and her best friend Siobhan escape their harsh lives in Ireland and settle in New York City. Unfortunately, Siobhan’s husband, Billy, a charming…
While I read a paranormal romance every now and then, I can’t recall reading an old-fashioned ghost story so reminiscent of 1950s horror flicks wherein a reluctant hero must rush to save everybody in a house that is best described as haunted. Set in the notorious town of Diablo Springs, Arizona, Whispers gives us two…
I first read Anna’s Book in 1998, before once again starting to read romance. I’d recently made my way through almost all of Stephen King’s oeuvre, and I remember asking the librarian if she had any good recommendations for fiction. She handed me this book, and I took it home and quickly became enthralled by…
The Bachelor List is the first in a trilogy focusing on three sisters living in early 1900’s England. In this installment Constance Duncan holds center stage, in a romance that pits her feminist sensibilities against those of Max Ensor, a politician who believes women should stay at home – barefoot and pregnant. While much of…
When I first started reading romances, they all featured young heroines with older heroes. My reading tastes have changed over the years, and I don’t enjoy young heroines as much anymore. They inevitably seem, well, immature and naïve. Although the heroine of this book isn’t terrible, she did set my teeth on edge at times….
Writing a trilogy can be a tricky proposition. Some authors seem to start very strongly and then lose steam – and, unfortunately, that seems to be the case with A Wedding Story, the conclusion to Susan Kay Law’s Marrying Miss Bright trilogy. While I enjoyed the thoroughly charming The Bad Man’s Bride very much, this…
A 5th Avenue Christmas didn’t work for me. At all. Though the premise is interesting, the actual execution falls short. Part of the problem is that the book itself is short, but it’s also crippled by characters who would be annoying in a book of any length. Meryl Carrington is the youngest daughter of a…
Take a little trip to a coastal Carolina town and meet a couple of engaging characters whose struggle against each other – and themselves – provides for a few hours of entertaining reading. A solid sense of time and place, and a good dose of humor, add to the enjoyment of reading Tides of Passion,…
Beast by Judith Ivory is one of my two all-time favorite romance books and also simply one of the best books I have ever read. When I read books or watch movies, afterwards I have a certain feel for them, a textural sensation. Beast has left me with one of the richest, most voluptuous “feels”…
Every once in a while the tried and true is set slightly askew to great effect. Carla Kelly is famed for her ability to take oft-used regency characters/settings and make them fresh and thought provoking. She’s able to make you think of the people and the times they lived in a different light. Yvonne Jocks…