I would have bought Scoundrel, the second volume in Zoë Archer’s Blades of the Rose series, for the setting alone: Most of its pages are spent on a small sailing boat island-hopping in the Aegean Sea – can you imagine anything more romantic? With lots of adventures magical and otherwise, it’s a ripping good yarn,…
Queen Victoria had nine children and 40 grandchildren. Of her granddaughters, five became queens. They all reigned during tumultuous times and all suffered their share of hardship and disappointment. Julia Gelardi tells the story of these five women in Born to Rule, a fascinating look at a lost era. The five queens were: Maud, Queen…
Sometimes, as a reader, I must admit defeat: An author just isn’t for me. I don’t consider her characters appealing or her jokes funny, and what I ought to do, is just stop reading her books. Unfortunately, when I am reviewing a book, I can’t just DNF and leave it at that, however much I…
I always enjoy Laura Lee Guhrke’s books and With Seduction in Mind is no exception. The characters were a delight to meet – witty, intelligent and well matched. The story had a bit of a silly misunderstanding at the end, but for the most part I had a wonderful time reading this one. Years ago,…
The romance genre is a funny thing. It is the only genre that I know of whereby, of the three narrative components (plot, setting, and character), reader expectations limit and predicate two: Plot and character. The plot limitation is, of course, the Happily-Ever-After. But the character limitation is more personal – I defy any romance…
Note: This review contains series spoilers. We get many review submissions here at AAR and sometimes a book will slip under the radar of both reviewers and readers and, with a series this good, that’s almost a crime. I discovered Deanna Raybourn’s Silent series late last year and quickly read Silent in the Grave and…
The setup of Kat Martin’s Heart series already made my eyes roll: A Viking civilization on an island north of the Orkneys was cut-off for several centuries, but somehow some of them wound up in Victorian London, full-blooded warriors and all. Heart of Courage, the third volume, tells the story of Thor Draugr, the younger…
As those who love historical romance know all too well, the landscape these days is littered with wallpaper. The Duke of Shadows, written by the winner of the Gather.com romance first chapter contest, aspires to be – is being promoted to be – something better than the usual fare. It’s on that scale that I…
Though the story is interesting, I struggled to get into the setting of Allison Chase’s newest. For me, it was one of those books that I started, put down, picked up again, read a few pages, picked up something else to read, and then finally forced myself to finish. I discovered that even though the…
Untamed is the last in Hope Tarr’s Men of Roxbury trilogy. This series, set in late Victorian England, features friends who grew up in an orphanage and later became successful adults. Each of the books in the series should appeal to readers who are tired of wallpaper historical romances. While this book has some wonderful…