A- Reviews

REVIEW:  The Only Gold by Tamara Allen

REVIEW: The Only Gold by Tamara Allen

  Dear Ms. Allen, This review is long overdue. I loved this book when I read it last year, so much that I put it on my Best of 2011 list. But I didn’t get the review written in proper time, and then the Dreamspinner Press debacle happened and Sarah and I stopped reviewing DSP’s(…)

REVIEW: Heart of Flame by Janine Ashbless

REVIEW: Heart of Flame by Janine Ashbless

And on the One-Thousand-and-Second night, Scheherazade told this story… By day, Taqla uses her forbidden sorcery to move freely about the city of Damascus in the guise of an old sage. Her true identity known only by her faithful servant woman, Taqla is content with the comfortable, if restrictive, life that keeps her safe from(…)

REVIEW:  The Price of Innocence by Susan Sizemore

REVIEW: The Price of Innocence by Susan Sizemore

Dear Ms. Sizemore, I loved The Price of Innocence. And, I expect to get grief from a few for doing so. The relationship between your leads, Jack and Sherrie, begins with what could be called at best forced seduction and what will be seen by some as rape. This trope makes many crazy. Before I began(…)

REVIEW:  Mariana by Susanna Kearsley (and giveaway)

REVIEW: Mariana by Susanna Kearsley (and giveaway)

Dear Ms. Kearsley, It’s no secret that I love your books. The Winter Sea and The Rose Garden made my Best of 2010 and Best of 2011 lists, respectively, so it’s probably past time that I let one of my DA colleagues have a chance to review you. But when I heard that Mariana was(…)

REVIEW:  At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran

REVIEW: At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran

Dear Ms. Duran— As I read At Your Pleasure, I wondered if you will ever write a book I dislike. It seems unlikely. I love three of the books you’ve written and the two I don’t love—A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal and Wicked Becomes You—I like tremendously. I am enamored of your use of language, your deftness of(…)

REVIEW: Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison

REVIEW: Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison

Dear Ms Harrison, While I enjoyed Dragon Bound, the first novel in your Elder Races series of paranormal romances, I had a hard time finishing the second novel, Storm’s Heart. The third book, Serpent‘s Kiss, felt rushed and left me unsatisfied. I went into your latest novel, Oracle’s Moon, hopeful, but worried. I wanted the(…)

REVIEW: Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik

REVIEW: Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik

Dear Ms. Novik, Though I fretted for almost two years waiting for this book, I can see from your author’s notes that you’ve had a lot to keep you busy having had your own little egg, as the dragons would say, in the interim. Still, what a book you’ve written for us. Excitement, danger, new(…)

REVIEW: The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh

REVIEW: The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh

Dear Ms. Balogh, I first read The Temporary Wife, one of your most beloved trad regencies, several years ago. At the time, I liked it but was distracted by an initial similarity to another of your regencies, The Ideal Wife, which I had read first and liked even better. The opening premises of the two(…)

REVIEW: Heat by R. Lee Smith

REVIEW: Heat by R. Lee Smith

Dear Ms. Smith, This book was not what I expected when I picked it up. In fact, I’d even venture so far as to offer a caption. Heat is probably the best independently published book I have read, and one of the best books I have read in a long while. It is also one(…)

REVIEW: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

REVIEW: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

Dear Readers, When I reviewed The Nonesuch a few months ago during Sourcebooks’ summer Heyer sale, I mentioned in passing that I really wanted to review Sprig Muslin, but it hadn’t been digitized yet. Now it is, so as promised, here’s a review. This book wasn’t in my Top 10 Heyer Regencies during the first decade(…)

REVIEW: Dark Soul Vol. 1 by Aleksandr Voinov

REVIEW: Dark Soul Vol. 1 by Aleksandr Voinov

Dear Mr. Voinov, With the exception of The Lion of Kent, which I enjoyed reading last year but which didn’t stick in my mind, I haven’t read your work (even though I’ve heard many good things about it). Your choice of settings and characters aren’t the type I usually seek out, but when I saw(…)

REVIEW: A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

REVIEW: A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

Dear Ms. Grant: I don’t remember reading a book like this lately. I’m sure that there have been ones written, after all, romance has been published for decades at a clip of several hundred a month. There are no new stories, only new ways to tell them. However, Marta Russell and Theophilus Mirkwood are two(…)

REVIEW: Bad Boyfriend by K.A. Mitchell

REVIEW: Bad Boyfriend by K.A. Mitchell

Dear Ms. Mitchell. You’ve done it again. While Bad Boyfriend is perhaps not as perfect (to my mind) as No Souvenirs, I much prefer it to Bad Company. The book focuses on two fascinating men and their relationship with each other and with those that surround them. There’s no intrigue, no mystery. There’s just people trying to(…)

REVIEW: G-A-Y series by Kim Dare

REVIEW: G-A-Y series by Kim Dare

Dear Ms. Dare. I’ve been intrigued by your writing for a while. Your tagline is “Kink, love, and a happy ending. Do you Dare?” which I think is incredibly cute. Honestly, though, I’ve been put off by your publishers (Total-e-Bound and Resplendence Publishing…who?) and by the fact that your series are quite so long (TWELVE(…)

REVIEW: Steampunk! edited Kelly Link and Gavin Grant

REVIEW: Steampunk! edited Kelly Link and Gavin Grant

Dear Authors, Steampunk is that subgenre I want to love, that I think has so much potential. Unfortunately, we have a rocky relationship. I’ve attempted to read too many novels in which the steampunk trappings are superficial — put a pair of goggles on someone, mention an airship, and have someone drink some tea seem(…)