A Review Category

REVIEW:  The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand

REVIEW: The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand

Dear Ms. Florand: I have been eagerly awaiting the next installment in your Chocolate series, and I’m delighted to say that it was worth the wait. You are writing my favorite type of series: all the books are set in the same world, but while the characters from past books make an appearance, they don’t(…)

REVIEW: A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan

REVIEW: A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan

Dear Ms. Milan, I hope you are having a lovely holiday season. This year, as in 2011, you enriched my December by releasing a stellar Christmas tale. A Kiss for Midwinter is not quite as brilliant as This Wicked Gift (mentioned here in my list of favorite holiday stories) but it’s still wonderful. Thank you. The heroine of your novella, Miss Lydia(…)

REVIEW:  Naughty & Nice 3-Story Bundle (Room at the Inn, All I Want for Christmas Is You, and One Perfect Christmas) by Ruthie Knox, Molly O’Keefe, Stephanie Sloan

REVIEW: Naughty & Nice 3-Story Bundle (Room at the Inn, All I Want for Christmas Is You, and One Perfect Christmas) by Ruthie Knox, Molly O’Keefe, Stephanie Sloan

Dear Ms. Knox, Ms. O’Keefe, and  Ms. Sloan: I suspect a conspiracy. Every anthology I’ve read this year, composed of three novellas, contains one novella much weaker than the other two. I can’t figure out if the point is to get the writer of the lesser work to be considered a writer on par with(…)

REVIEW:  Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley

REVIEW: Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley

Dear Ms. Ashley: You were easily my biggest discovery this year, and probably my favorite. Sure, I gnash my teeth and moan about the editing and the weird writing ticks that you have, but I read your books over and over and I pimp them relentlessly on Twitter. So, as I started to come up(…)

Red Hot Holiday: Wish List\I Need You for Christmas\Breath on Embers by K.A. Mitchell, Leah Braemel, and Anne Calhoun

Red Hot Holiday: Wish List\I Need You for Christmas\Breath on Embers by K.A. Mitchell, Leah Braemel, and Anne Calhoun

I came to this holiday anthology in a non-traditional, non-festive way. During a Twitter conversation with another reviewer, I mentioned ménage scenes rarely raise my pulse. She suggested I read Anne Calhoun, an author I’d never heard of. I searched on NetGalley and this collection, Red Hot Holiday, came up. I downloaded it thinking at best(…)

REVIEW:  A Galactic Holiday Anthology by Stacy Gail, Sasha Summers, and Anna Hackett

REVIEW: A Galactic Holiday Anthology by Stacy Gail, Sasha Summers, and Anna Hackett

When looking around at the holiday offerings this year, I saw this anthology from Carina Press. It was a complete stab in the dark for me as I knew nothing about any of the authors and SF/futuristic usually isn’t my thing. Perhaps having no expectations allowed me to just read in the moment but I(…)

REVIEW:  Lean on Me by HelenKay Dimon

REVIEW: Lean on Me by HelenKay Dimon

Dear HelenKay Dimon: Your Harlequin Intrigue books are autobuys for me, so when I saw that you had a straight contemporary romance coming out I snagged it right away without paying attention to what it was about. When I discovered one of the main characters was a professional climber, I was even happier, especially when(…)

REVIEW:  Knaves’ Wager by Loretta Chase

REVIEW: Knaves’ Wager by Loretta Chase

Dear Ms. Chase, I’m sure you are familiar with Choderlos de Laclos’ 18th century epistolary novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses. It has been adapted to stage and screen, and the cinematic versions include Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont, and Cruel Intentions, among others. In Les Liaisons dangereuses, the corrupt Vicomte de Valmont wants to seduce the married Madame(…)

REVIEW:  Suddenly You by Sarah Mayberry

REVIEW: Suddenly You by Sarah Mayberry

Dear Ms. Mayberry: Immediately after reading your latest, Suddenly You, I knew exactly what my review of it should say: “Yet another well-done book by Ms. Mayberry with appealing characters and a sweet love story.” However, DA readers expect a bit more. And while their time would be better spent reading your prose than mine, here(…)

REVIEW:  Diverse Energies edited by Tobias Buckell and Joe Monti

REVIEW: Diverse Energies edited by Tobias Buckell and Joe Monti

Dear authors, When I first heard the premise of this anthology, I was thrilled. Science fiction and dystopia stories about multicultural characters and worlds written by diverse authors? Sign me up! I say science fiction and dystopia because I’m not entirely sure how this anthology is being marketed and to be fair, the lines are(…)

REVIEW:  His Very Own Girl by Carrie Lofty

REVIEW: His Very Own Girl by Carrie Lofty

Dear Ms. Lofty, I put off writing this review. Had I written it right after finishing His Very Own Girl, I’d have nattered on and about the importance of abandoning partisan politics and working together for a greater good. But, once I calmed down and stopped bawling–His Very Own Girl is a surpassingly affecting novel–I realized I don’t have to beseech anyone to do(…)

REVIEW:  Archangel’s Storm by Nalini Singh

REVIEW: Archangel’s Storm by Nalini Singh

Dear Ms. Singh, I’ll be honest, this is a book I’ve been waiting for since your Guild Hunters series began and we first met the Archangel Raphael’s spymaster, Jason. So I started Archangel’s Storm with a sense of great anticipation. What I found was a quieter than expected romance, but one that I found great(…)

REVIEW:  Riveted by Meljean Brook

REVIEW: Riveted by Meljean Brook

Dear Ms. Brook: “For two people who don’t fit anywhere, we get along well” sums up the romance between two outsiders, David and Annika.  This unusual romance between a the volcanic naturalist David and the airship engineer Annika might be my favorite entry in your Iron Seas series.  It is one of my favorite books(…)

REVIEW:  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

REVIEW: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Dear Ms. Wein, I had not heard of your book before one of our posters mentioned it in glowing terms. In a way that managed to catch my attention yet not sound like fawning praise, she described it and urged people to try it. I bought it but then set it aside as I had(…)

REVIEW:  Ella’s Big Chance – A Jazz Age Cinderella  by Shirley Hughes

REVIEW: Ella’s Big Chance – A Jazz Age Cinderella by Shirley Hughes

Dear Ms. Hughes, A few months ago, I was looking to buy another retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale and your book, “Ella’s Big Chance – A Jazz Age Cinderella” was recommended to me at the same time. Intrigued by the setting and cover illustration, I bought it as well. Though I love the Cinderella(…)