The paranormal romances I like best are those that make magicians and supernatural beings not larger-than-life and above the rest of society, but instead show the struggle of creating a society that consists of both magical and mundane beings. Lessons After Dark is such a story set in an alternative Victorian England, and it is,…
There’s good news, and there’s so-so news. The good news is that The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is a rollicking, kick-ass, funtastic series from a Kiwi and American duo, and I look forward to more adventures featuring Agents Books and Braun. The so-so news is that the second book, while a good read, suffers a…
I really like gothic romances, but they’re so dependent on the narrator. If the heroine doesn’t work – if I’m not happy when she is, and despair when she does – then the book has basically failed. In that and most other senses, I’m happy to say that Sea of Secrets is a success. But…
Whether described by Sappho — “she that far surpassed all mortals in beauty” — or Marlowe — “the face that launch’d a thousand ships” — there’s not a woman in literature more lovely than the famed Helen of Troy. In Ms. Thomas’s latest historical romance, Beguiling the Beauty, the allure of her heroine Venetia rivals…
One of the great things about ePublishing is that it has opened up a whole new world for authors. Ms. Tarr published this book ten years ago, but has revised and released it in electronic format only. Now, I haven’t read the original (now out of print), so I can’t comment on superiorities or inferiorities…
Debut author Kristen Callihan creates a moody, gothic vision of Victorian England for her characters and there is a lot about this book that I liked. However, the curious lack of intensity to the romance for much of the book combined with some rather odd pacing also provided less likable moments. In the end, this…
If you like a well written historical with a good beta hero and a couple kept apart by morals, angst, and treachery, you’ll love All About Seduction. I don’t like those plot devices, so while I acknowledge a well written book, I found reading it tiresome in the extreme. Sold into marriage at age fifteen…
The diamond trade. A business seemingly corrupt from day one. Murder. Oppression. Bigotry. How can something so beautiful be born of things so ugly? Ms. Lofty takes us right into the heart of that question, straight to South Africa for a look at an enterprise that is far from a gentleman’s trade. Flawless is the…
Reviewing Paranormals, Fantasy, Steampunk, and, well, anything with a lot of world building is getting to be a somewhat dicey proposition. When I first started reviewing, there were a handful of authors that we insisted reviewers be completely up to date on before reviewing the latest. That number is growing progressively larger, and certainly includes…
You may not realize it from the cover or back cover copy, but Wild Desires is a rather intense historical romance set in India with a fairly prevalent paranormal element. I wasn’t disappointed to find this instead of the road trip romp I had expected as it remains a thoroughly enjoyable journey of a story….