C- Reviews

REVIEW:  The Forbidden Ferrara by Sarah Morgan

REVIEW: The Forbidden Ferrara by Sarah Morgan

Dear Ms. Morgan: Secret baby stories are often hard for me to swallow, particularly in this modern day when fathers are more involved in their children’s lives than ever before. Ordinarily, I likely would have set this book aside after the first chapter when it is revealed that the heroine, Fia, has kept her son’s(…)

MINI REVIEW: Rock Chick Revenge, Rock Chick Reckoning, Rock Chick Regret

MINI REVIEW: Rock Chick Revenge, Rock Chick Reckoning, Rock Chick Regret

Rock Chick Revenge by Kristen Ashley This is a friends to lovers story and generally speaking I love those. Luke moved next door to Ava when she was eight and she promptly fell in love. Luke stoked those feelings unintentionally by championing Ava. When Luke’s dad dies, Ava and Luke promise to go out for(…)

MINI REVIEW: Rock Chick Rescue, Rock Chick Redemption, Rock Chick Renegade series by Kristen Ashley

MINI REVIEW: Rock Chick Rescue, Rock Chick Redemption, Rock Chick Renegade series by Kristen Ashley

The following are mini reviews of books 2, 3, and 4 in the Rock Chick series by Kristen Ashley.  I read these in lieu of my category books even though they are each about twice as long as an HP.  All the books feature a woman in jeopardy, girl parties with the Rock Chicks that(…)

REVIEW:  Embrace of the Damned by Anya Bast

REVIEW: Embrace of the Damned by Anya Bast

Dear Ms. Bast, I have long been a fan of your books, particularly your Elemental Witches series. I find that your voice lends itself well to building paranormal worlds, and I’ve always appreciated your ability to build a fascinating mythology while never losing sight of the main couple’s romance. Which is why I was disconcerted(…)

REVIEW: One Night to Remember by Kristin Miller

REVIEW: One Night to Remember by Kristin Miller

Dear Ms. Miller, You can’t seem to go anywhere lately without hearing about the Titanic. It’s been on TV all weekend and commercials for the 3D movie seem to play every 10 minutes. It must have worked for me, because I went looking for Titanic books online and settled upon yours. The price seemed a(…)

REVIEW:  The Origin by Wilette Youkey

REVIEW: The Origin by Wilette Youkey

Dear Ms Youkey, The promotional information for your self-published, professionally-edited novel, The Origin, listed several ingredients I like. It’s a superhero-themed romantic Urban Fantasy, which seemed like it would be a refreshing change from the usual vampires, werewolves, demons, etc. that dominate the subgenre. Plus, it looked to have one of my favorite character types(…)

REVIEW:  Trouble Me by Laura Moore

REVIEW: Trouble Me by Laura Moore

Dear Ms. Moore, The first two pages of your novel Trouble Me made me uneasy. Your heroine, Jade Radcliffe, is driving to her family farm, Rosewood. As she drives, she thinks about all the people there she’s looking forward to seeing. There are her two sisters and their two husbands, her six nieces and nephews, and an(…)

REVIEW:  The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst

REVIEW: The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst

Dear Ms. Probst: Your publisher kindly sent this book for review and given the recent announcement of the great sales success of this book, I was eager to read it. I can only conclude that the success of this book is due to a great hunger for category books by readers who believe that they(…)

REVIEW:  The Saint by Monica McCarty

REVIEW: The Saint by Monica McCarty

Dear Ms. McCarty, The Saint is the first of your books I’ve read and, if they are all like this, it will be the last. This book combined the worst of the two components of historical romance. The history, of which there is a ton, is info-dumped in large swathes into your prose—I began to feel(…)

REVIEW:  Bound for Trouble by Envy Augustine

REVIEW: Bound for Trouble by Envy Augustine

Dear Ms. Augustine, Lately, I’ve been suffering from a problem that affects many paranormal romance fans: Sexy Vampire Fatigue. Yes, I’m kind of tired of sexy vampires. I miss the scary vampires. The blurb for your novella Bound for Trouble promised a sci-fi world in which vampires once brutally ruled humanity, but are now imprisoned(…)

REVIEW: The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens

REVIEW: The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens

Dear Ms. Stevens, I enjoyed your previous novel, The Restorer, about the self-styled Graveyard Queen, Amelia Gray. It’s a morbid name but a fitting one. Amelia is a cemetery restorer, as well as the owner of a niche, but popular, blog. What few people know, however, is that she can also see ghosts. Because I(…)

REVIEW: Broods of Fenrir by Coral Moore

REVIEW: Broods of Fenrir by Coral Moore

Dear Ms. Moore Thank you for sending me your book for review. I was sold when you told me that this werewolf story was based on the Norse mythology and involved a lot of discussion of pack dynamics.  While I appreciated the fresh take on the werewolf myth and the focus on the pack, I(…)

REVIEW: On His Honor by Jean Brashears

REVIEW: On His Honor by Jean Brashears

Dear Ms. Brashears: This book really didn’t work for me. For one thing I felt like the tone and content of the story was quite dated. I’ve often lamented how many Harlequin Superromances lack sexual tension and this is emblematic of the issue.  I never felt like these two had any attraction for each other(…)

REVIEW: Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

REVIEW: Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

Dear Ms. Gould, I love stories that feature relationships between female relatives, especially sisters and cousins close in age. I also love the idea of an all-female secret society that controls the world from the shadows. So when I saw that your novel combined the two, I snatched it up with excitement. Unfortunately, I discovered(…)

REVIEW: A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh

REVIEW: A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh

The following review contains SPOILERS. The spoilers from late in the book are hidden, but others are visible. If you have never read A Promise of Spring and prefer to avoid spoilers, read this review at your own risk. Dear Ms. Balogh, A Promise of Spring, now being reprinted in a 2-in-1 volume with The(…)