Have you ever finished a romance novel and needed a few moments of quiet reflection before you can rejoin ‘the real world’ again? Time to sit and savor the pleasures of a well written story? If you haven’t – or, if you’re eager to do it again – I recommend you read Fair as a…
A Convenient Fiction beautifully mixes Georgette.Heyer with Victoria Holt. Part gothic romance, part family story with a tiny sprinkling of humor thrown in, it’s a lovely, spooky heartbreaker of a novel that sinks its claws right into you, then kisses the wound it leaves behind. Laura Hayes is taking a dip in a leaf-strewn pond…
As a big fan of May McGoldrick’s historical romances, I’m sad to say that Highland Jewel was a bit of a disappointment. While the first book in the Royal Highlander series, Highland Crown, balanced romance and action perfectly, Highland Jewel loses its way, leaning heavily upon action sequences, and giving us a hero who moralizes for…
Please note that this review was originally published in October 2018 upon the UK publication of this novel. The book’s original title is The Corset. Laura Purcell first came to my attention as the author of a couple of very fine pieces of historical fiction, and earlier this year, I awarded her fabulous, spooky supernatural/gothic…
Like many a fan of Deanna Raybourn’s series of Victorian-set historical mysteries starring the intrepid lady lepidopterist, Veronica Speedwell, I’m as much drawn to the complicated relationship established between Veronica and her delicious partner-in-crime, Revelstoke Templeton-Vane (Stoker), as I am to the mysteries the pair is called upon to solve in each book. We’ve watched…
Laura Purcell first came to my attention as the author of a couple of very fine pieces of historical fiction, and earlier this year, I awarded her fabulous, spooky supernatural/gothic mystery The Silent Companions DIK status and gushed about it to everyone who crossed my path! I’ve been waiting eagerly to read her next novel…
Author Mimi Matthews has been on my radar ever since the release of her début novel, The Lost Letter in 2017, but this is the first time I’ve read one of her books. The Matrimonial Advertisement is the first in her Parish Orphans of Devon series, and as the title suggests, the story is a…
This book. Oh my goodness. I was bewitched and captivated from the first page to the last, and I barely took any breaks in between. Magical. Romantic. Suspenseful. Mysterious. Sexy. It’s all of those things and a tremendously engaging story. It’s also Ms. Welch’s first full-length novel. Friends, Salt Magic Skin Magic will definitely find…
K.J. Charles always finds fresh, new angles to pursue in her stories and peoples them with characters in unusual walks of life – and her new novella, Unfit to Print, is no exception. Set in late Victorian London, one of the protagonists is a purveyor of naughty books and has a shop in Holywell Street,…
I’m a big fan of Courtney Milan’s – her Brothers Sinister series is comprised of six of the finest historical romances written in the last decade or so, and hers are books I always recommend to people who want to read entertaining, character-driven historical romances that are well-grounded in actual history and which don’t blithely…