If I Loved You Less takes on a tricky Austen story (Emma) and fails to hit the right tone in retelling it. In Emma, the heroine is clueless but well-meaning as she tries (and fails) to play matchmaker. She makes mistakes, but with the help of the love interest (her older neighbor, Mr. Knightley) she learns from those mistakes and grows as a person. Unfortunately, the heroine in If I Loved You Less is annoying … Continue reading If I Loved You Less by Tamsen Parker →
Perfect Day is a conemporary m/m romance billed as a retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. As a romance, it’s very good. As an adaptation of Persuasion, it drops most of the thematic points. I found the book to be enjoyable and comforting even though it didn’t quite succeed for me in the “adaptation of Persuasion” sense. One glorious summer, Joshua and Finn fell madly in love. They intended to be together forever. At the end of … Continue reading Perfect Day by Sally Malcolm →
Oh, boy. This book wrecked me, from giving me twitchy tense reading in the beginning to requiring that I ignore everything around me and read in a parking lot so I could finish it at the end. First, yes, you should read the prior two books in the series, A Study in Scarlet Women , and A Conspiracy in Belgravia . It might be possible to drop into book three and follow the majority of the story, but the slow … Continue reading The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas →
The Mermaid is a lyrical, dream-like story about a mermaid who falls in love with a fisherman and, many decades later, agrees to perform in P.T. Barnum’s Museum in New York City. Although this is not a romance novel, there are two love stories in the book, and I enjoyed the differences between them. I also enjoyed the relationships between women and the use of different settings to create atmospheres of claustrophobia versus expansiveness. The … Continue reading The Mermaid by Christina Henry →
Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Perez is a YA retelling of Tristian and Isolde, and while it contains romantic elements, it is not a romance. If you know the story of Tristian and Isolde, then you know it’s not a happy story. I’m not sure what direction Perez is ultimately going to take the legend as this is the first book in a trilogy, but I walked into it knowing enough not to anticipate a HEA. … Continue reading Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Perez →
The always-reliable K.J. Charles outdoes herself with The Henchmen of Zenda, a retelling of the 1894 pulp classic The Prisoner of Zenda from a secondary character’s point of view. It looks like a m/m romance, and to a certain degree it is, but it has a more unconventional ending than most romances (I’ll address that in more detail later). On the way to the ending there is swashbuckling, double and triple crossing, intrigue, a moat, a castle, … Continue reading The Henchmen of Zenda by K.J. Charles →
How the Cowboy Was Won very loosely retells Emma in a modern day Texan town. As a retelling of Emma, it wasn’t great, but as a “friends to lovers” romance I liked it a lot. Ember Alzate is a woman of Irish-Native American descent who makes a good living selling real estate. She also has a knack for matchmaking – so much so that people say she should consider it as a second career. Ember … Continue reading How the Cowboy Was Won by Lori Wilde →
I have been spending this year giving presentations on, and writing about, Mary Shelley, and when I haven’t been doing that I’ve been giving presentations about Jane Austen. Thus I was thrilled that the book Pride and Prometheus was coming out. I didn’t even read the book description. I just looked at the cover and thought: “This will fix everything.” Frankenstein, the novel by Mary Shelley, does not end well. The estimated body count comes … Continue reading Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel →
Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe is a modern day, gender-flipped tribute to Pride and Prejudice. In this version, Darcy is a woman who has made it big in hedge funds and lives in New York. When her mom has a (non-fatal) heart attack, Darcy returns to her hometown of Pemberley, Ohio, for the first time in eight years, where she reconnects with her adoring mom, judgmental dad, gay best friend Bingley, and childhood crush Luke, … Continue reading Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz →
Jane is a new graphic novel that retells the story of Jane Eyre in a modern setting. The story itself gets a little wacky in places, but the art elevates it into something special. If you haven’t read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, then this comic will work for you as a solid Cinderella/billionaire romance. As homage to Jane Eyre, it’s uneven. In Jane, Jane is an orphaned art student who moves to New York City. Her scholarship is dependent on her … Continue reading Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna →
Some of you know my love for Les Liaisons Dangereuses: it’s my favorite play (EVER), has spawned three of my favorite movies, and hands down, is the greatest epistolary novel of all time (OF ALL TIME). It’s got everything – love, sex, revenge, horrible people being horrible, comeuppance, banter, and no one learning anything, at all. Ever. So when Amanda (seriously, this was like SIX MONTHS AGO) said “Hey, there’s a retelling of Dangerous Liaisons … Continue reading Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott →
