I love historical romance but I’m growing a little tired of the traditional Regency stories where an innocent-but-plucky heroine can be found waltzing indecently close to a ready-to-be-reformed rake. So I was happy to see that A Duke To Remember doesn’t start in a ballroom but in Bedlam where we meet our heroine, Elise DeVries. Elise is a part-time actress, part-time private investigator/problem solver/tracker, and has been hired to rescue the Duchess of Ashland who … Continue reading A Duke to Remember by Kelly Bowen →
My name is LauraL. I recently read my first f/f romance. When I made my selections for the RITA Reader Challenge, I decided to do what my employer calls a “stretch assignment.” This means working on a project or in a job that stretches your expertise a bit beyond your comfort zone. When I finished reading Far From Home, I told my husband of thirty plus years, “A good romance is a good romance.” Far … Continue reading Far from Home by Lorelie Brown →
NB: Trigger warnings for the below description racism and threat of rape. Well, I picked this book to review because I was late to the sign-up sheet and it was the only book left. Which wasn’t maybe the best sign, but you never know with these things, and part of my idea with this challenge was to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. The Depth of Beauty is not the book … Continue reading The Depth of Beauty by A.B. Michaels →
As the book opens, we’re introduced to Zach Talbot, a veterinarian who lives in Whispering Pines, a small town in New Mexico, and Mallory Keyes, formerly an actress and now a paraplegic woman hiding from everything and everyone. Zach is a widower, he has two boys that are 3 and 8, and while he’s kind of lonely and overwhelmed, he’s doing okay. Mallory bought a house in Whispering Pines in order to hide out from the paparazzi, … Continue reading Back in the Saddle by Karen Templeton →
Carolina Dreaming is the fifth book in the Dare Island series, and I did feel like there was some character backstory I was missing by not having read previous books. People are introduced by name and it felt like those names should mean something to me. Jane, our heroine, played a minor role in a previous book, but that story is summed up in this book since our hero, Gabe, is new to town. Both Jane … Continue reading Carolina Dreaming by Virginia Kantra →
Julianne MacLean’s The Color of a Promise begins with a promising first line: “It’s kind of embarrassing to come back from the dead and still not get it.” Having no idea about the story or its series, I was charmed by that first sentence. It was self-aware and suggested that our hero, Jack Peterson, was going to demonstrate personal growth and a sense of humor throughout the story, which is always compelling. Alas, while he … Continue reading The Color of a Promise by Julianne MacLean →
Lovers of Romantic Comedy movies would love this. For a broken, dead inside person like myself it was “eye roll city” and not my favorite but still a fun, quick read. This book’s setup was a doozy of a meet-cute. Hats off to Ms. Fenske. Meg, a caterer and unsuccessful cookbook writer, goes to the hospital to bury the hatchet with her philandering former fiance, Matt, who she had pulled a Runaway Bride on previously. … Continue reading Now That It’s You by Tawna Fenske →
The best adjective I have to describe this book is unmemorable. While I was reading it, I was enjoying it and found it difficult to put down; but now as I sit down to write a review, I am finding it difficult to remember what happened. In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, the author thanks her agent, “for selling this book before I even had a subject in mind, and then for … Continue reading Now That It’s You by Tawna Fenske →
I did enjoy this, but I fear I will forget it quickly. I LOVED the aspect of Two-Time, Texas, being called that because there are two feuding jewelers/clockmakers who set their clocks differently. That the feud doesn’t just cause trouble inside the town, but causes the trains to not run on time, makes it more crucial that the feud be solved. No spoilers, but “What Time Is It?” used to be a bigger headache than … Continue reading Left at the Altar by Margaret Brownley →
Texas: Yeehaw! I put on my cowboy boots, poured a nice margarita (rocks, of course), and played me some Lyle Lovett. I was all set for my RITA Reader Challenge: historical romance in a small Texas town so quirky it has TWO TIME ZONES! I settled in for a good read, but a third of the way in, I was mystified. The hero was described as distinguished looking, and tall, and distinguishably tall, but why … Continue reading Left at the Altar by Margaret Brownley →
One of the fun things about the RITA challenge is reading books from subgenres that I don’t normally dabble in. This is partly making a virtue of necessity – I live in Australia, and the historicals and YA books tend to be gone before I wake up and see the list. But I always secretly hope to find a book that I will love that I would never have picked up otherwise. This year, One … Continue reading One Minute to Midnight by Nico Rosso →
