Dec 12 2013
Dear Ms. Gibbs: The All or Nothing trilogy (or in the UK Knight trilogy) is a series of erotic romance stories that feature the same couple–Katherine Hart and Dominic Knight. Both stories end with some cliffhanger although the first is “worse” than the second. I’m reviewing the stories together but the third doesn’t come out(…)
Dec 12 2013
Dear Mss. Ritchie: I picked this book up because the heroine had an extremely unusual issue: sex addiction. You don’t see that every day, and I was curious as to how it would be handled, especially in a New Adult novel. I’m not actually sure I believe in sex addiction as a real thing (medical(…)
Dec 11 2013
Dear Readers, I struggled with this “What Janine is Reading” column. I’ve been in a reading slump for over a year, and only a handful of books have succeeded in absorbing me completely. The majority of books I’ve picked up with excitement this year, I’ve put down unfinished. All three of the books I mention(…)
Dec 11 2013
Dear Ms. Mae, I have a soft spot for romances about people in love with the wrong person. Doubly so when it turns out someone else is more suited to them and the story is about them learning that. The premise of your new adult novel sounded like it would deliver. Unfortunately, a trope can’t(…)
Dec 10 2013
Dear Ms. Solheim: Julianne Marchione is a famous bridal gown designer who has a one night stand which results in a surprise pregnancy. Determined to raise the child on her own, she never reconnects with Will Connelly, a pro football player. When her baby has a life threatening illness requiring a blood transfusion, however, she is(…)
Dec 10 2013
When Karma writes you a ticket, pay up or else… If life was like the movies, Jem Mitchell’s wouldn’t be such a mess. In LA’s glittering world of dreams, he works an unglamorous job at a gourmet grocery store. His past is so deep and dark, the details are lost even to him. All(…)
Dec 9 2013
Dear Ms. Stacey: You are one of my go to authors in contemporary romance. I feel safe in one of your books. I’m not going to find assholes or cheating or anyone getting their heads cut off. The most unexpected thing I can expect in a Kowalski book is how badly an ATV will be(…)
Dec 9 2013
Dear Ms. Aubrey: I enjoyed the short story “the Love Letter,” so decided to try this debut novel, despite not being a big fan of contemporary trilogies about innocent virgins and billionaire tycoons. As it turned out, I liked it… except for the innocent virgin/billionaire tycoon parts. There might be a lesson in that. Mia,(…)
Dec 8 2013
Dear Ms. Fanetti: Both Kati D and I enjoyed your first book and we recommended it to many other readers with the caveat that the motorcycle club featured in the book helps to traffic meth throughout the St. Louis pipeline. It’s not heroic behavior but given that we are reading about an outlaw motorcycle gang,(…)
Dec 7 2013
Miles thought he and Itai would make a great team, despite the infidelities haunting their past. After all, Itai is smoking hot, they’re both driven entrepreneurs, and they love each other. What else did a person need? Well, a lot more, apparently, because not only are they no longer passionate, they don’t even share the(…)
Dec 6 2013
Solace Ames is a Japanese-American writer with roots in the Southeast US, although her heart lives somewhere along the Pacific coast of Mexico. She’s worked in restaurants, strip clubs, academia and the corporate world and studied everything from the philosophy of science to queer theory to medieval Spanish literature. Rejecting neat categories, her writing sprawls across(…)
Dec 6 2013
After an eye-opening congressional hearing, former corporate shark Jack Morgan redirects his ill-gotten gains toward charity work. However, his attempts to bring holiday cheer to a Bolivian village meet with one disaster after another: canceled flights, crumbling luggage, implacable customs officials. His plans disintegrate further when he runs into a sexy tourist with . .(…)
Dec 5 2013
Dear Readers, When readers talk about their favorite books that feature gay or LGBT protagonists, Mary Renault’s The Charioteer is usually at or near the top of their lists. Renault is most well known for her historical novels set in ancient Greece, one of which, The Persian Boy, may be even more well-known and well-loved(…)
Dec 5 2013
Dear Ms. Kelley, I first heard of Take Me Home when you posted about it in the author promo thread, and was intrigued by the West Virginia setting – not a particularly common one in romance – as well as the characters’ backgrounds. This is a difficult book for me to review, as there were(…)
Dec 4 2013
Dear Ms. Hill: After many books exploring the vampire world, Unrestrained returns to the contemporary setting in a book very loosely connected to the Knights of the Boardroom series (a series that I found entertaining but very troubling). Athena is a widow and accomplished businesswoman with a challenging bedroom issue. She served as a dom(…)
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