Jay Hogan takes the number of books in the Vino and Veritas series into double figures with Unguarded – the story of a closeted, repressed bisexual veterinary surgeon and an ex-pat Kiwi running from an abusive relationship – and it’s the best book of the series (that I’ve read) so far. If you haven’t picked…
Undercover is new-to-me author Eliot Grayson’s entry in the Vino and Veritas series set in small town Vermont. It’s light-hearted, and readable, and it’s got a bit of a romantic suspense vibe going on, but in the end it didn’t quite seem sure what sort of story it wanted to be. The suspense angle is…
Friends, I’ll be honest, I didn’t love the first book in the True North series, Bittersweet, and decided the series wasn’t for me. But when I learned the author was creating the World of True North – inviting other contemporary romance authors to borrow the setting for their own standalone novels – I decided to…
Earlier this year, I reviewed Sarina Bowen’s Roommate, which was the starting point for the new multi-authored True North World series, which comprises four mini-series of books set within the world created by Ms. Bowen in her True North stories. The Vino and Veritas novels are LGBTQ+ romances – mostly m/m but there are a…
Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Stephen Dexter Sarina Bowen’s The Understatement of the Year and the co-authored (with Elle Kennedy) Him/Us are some of my favourite m/m stories and go-to re-listens, so when I saw that Teddy Hamilton was on board for Roommate, the first book in a new series that takes place in the…
Bountiful by Sarina Bowen is the fourth story in her True North series. With rural Vermont as the backdrop, the series has focused on the farming community, the orchards and the country lifestyle of the Shipley family and friends. This time, the romance has moved into the small town of Tuxbury and is a crossover…
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James: A Roundtable Discussion Simone St. James is well-loved by the staff here at AAR, so we have been eagerly anticipating her new book. The Broken Girls is a dual-timeline story centered around a boarding school for the teenaged girls society has turned its back on, and the mysteries…
I’m primarily familiar with Marie Force through her Fatal romantic suspense series. I like her writing and I was curious to try her small town romance. Even though she sometimes makes family life in Vermont look a little too perfect, All You Need is Love is a fun, engaging book and I could see fans…
I was so pleasantly surprised by Sleigh Bells in the Snow. I hadn’t expected to like it too much since I’m a person that rarely gets into the Christmas spirit and, thus, I tend to avoid Christmas themed books. I’ve always worried they would be too schmaltzy. However, I never felt that way while reading…
It may sound trite, but when I read All I Ever Wanted, I laughed. I cried. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Callie Grey just turned thirty, is living with her grandfather, and is in love with her boss-slash-ex…who is now seeing another woman in the office. However, despite the Love of Her Life’s disinterest and some…