I feel like this was an experiment of a book: take a girl, make her a surprise heiress, and don’t tell the reader which of three potential gentlemen is the actual hero until the last act of the book. I don’t think it really worked. Elisabeth Elham is a penniless governess when her estranged and extremely rich uncle dies and leaves everything to her, because when her parents died, she did not beg him for … Continue reading Last Gentleman Standing by Jane Ashford →
The Dark Affair is a dark historical that doesn’t involve ballrooms or ratafia, and features themes of addiction and madness. I’d say it’s what would happen if Bellatrix Lestrange started writing a historical romance and then Hermione finished it for her. Margaret Cassidy is a former noblewoman, now impoverished due to the Irish famine. Her parents are dead, her brother has fallen onto the wrong side of the law, and her world is collapsing. When … Continue reading The Dark Affair by Maire Claremont →
I have NO IDEA who recommended this at our Reader Rec party at RT, but they said “19th century German glassblowers” and I said, “What’s that author’s last name again? Yeah, that’ll be waiting for me when I get home.” And all three books were. In the fall of 1890, a glassblower living in the village of Lauscha, Germany, with his three daughters dies, leaving them in dire straits. The eldest, Johanna, feels responsible for … Continue reading The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning →
Squee from the Keeper Shelf is a feature wherein we share why we love the books we love, specifically the stories which are permanent residents of our Keeper shelves. Despite flaws, despite changes in age and perspective, despite the passage of time, we love particular books beyond reason, and the only thing better than re-reading them is telling other people about them. At length. If you’d like to submit your reasons for loving and keeping … Continue reading Keeper Shelf: The Velvet Montgomery Series by Jude Deveraux →
I mentioned this in a previous “Whatcha Reading” and I totally admit that the title and the cover got me interested. I like Boyle’s writing, and I enjoy her books, but it was the gorgeousness of the cover moved this one up the TBR pile. Marketing: it works! Rosalie Stratton’s father worked in the Home Office as a spymaster and diplomat. Of all his children, she is the one who inherited all his skills and his brains. Of course, … Continue reading Six Impossible Things by Elizabeth Boyle →
Goodnight From London tells the story of Ruby Sutton, a journalist who is sent to London at the dawn of World War II to cover the war from the perspective of a young American woman. Once there, she endures the deprivations of war on the home front, the Blitz, sees the changes and horrors that the war causes in Britain, meets a man, falls in love, and all that good stuff. Honestly, while this was … Continue reading Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson →
Note from Sarah: We’re running this review and the Wedded Bliss review from Carrie together because they illustrate how one item in a larger context can ruin a book for a reader. Thanks to Poppy for submitting such a thoughtful guest review. Poppy is a long-time fan of SBTB and loves cats, books and coffee, in that order. … Confession: I spent a long time thinking about how to grade this book. Here are the … Continue reading Guest Review: The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long →
Note from Sarah: We’re running this review and the guest review from Poppy together because they illustrate how one item in a larger context can ruin a book for a reader. Wedded Bliss is an incredibly enjoyable story with one horrible problem that ruined the whole book for me. I’m going to start off by describing the plot and why I liked it, and then I’m going to get into the problem. There will be … Continue reading Wedded Bliss by Celeste Bradley →
No Mistress of Mine is the fourth book in the An American Heiress in London series and is second-chance-at-love catnip with competence porn sprinkles on top. It isn’t necessary to read the other books in the series in order to follow and enjoy this one. And, unusually, this book takes place in 1892 – shout-out to late Victorian industry! Our stars, Denys (a British lord) and Lola (an American cancan/music hall star) have quite the … Continue reading No Mistress of Mine by Laura Lee Guhrke →
Never Trust a Pirate does not include a single iota of historical accuracy, but it sure is a lot of fun. This Regency romance by Valerie Bowman is about spies, a map, derring-do, disguises, how to fix one’s hair in the latest French style, and the importance of knowing how to swim. This book takes place after The Irresistible Rogue, in which Captain Rafferty Cavendish wooed his wife Daphne while the two of them engaged … Continue reading Never Trust a Pirate by Valerie Bowman →
If I had to sum up in a few words what I thought of this book, I would say: It’s the first too stupid to live heroine I like. No, no, cross that. Both main characters where pretty stupid or reckless in the course of the book. The thing is I found them endearing most of the time and the banter between them was very entertaining too. So, let me begin again with this review. … Continue reading How I Married a Marquess by Anna Harrington →
