Dec 5 2011
Dear Ms. Woods: I’ve developed a deep appreciation for New Zealand/Australian set books and when I saw this in the Samhain ARC listing, I requested it immediately. It is the first story of yours that I read. The Christmas story set in New Zealand immediately caught my attention. Merle Cameron comes to visit her sister [...]
Oct 11 2011
Like Jane, I’ve been reading a lot of ARCs for November and December, and wow, you’re all in for some real treats. Riptide Publishing opens its door on October 30. It’s already open for pre-orders and sending out review copies. Almost all of the initial offerings so far listed are under 30K words. And honestly, [...]
Nov 16 2010
Once October hits, we are inundated with holiday messages, primarily Christmas messages. In the romance genre, there is no escaping this either. Harlequin isn’t the only culprit. Bantam republished Mary Balogh’s “A Christmas Promise“; Sourcebooks is putting out Phillipa Ashley’s “Dating Mr. December”; NAL has Nadia Aiden’s “Twelve Wicked Nights”; and Berkley has the “Wolfsbane [...]
Nov 15 2010
Janine: It's been roughly four years since the first time I read Mary Balogh's A Christmas Promise. At the time, I loved the book, so when I heard it was being reissued, I thought this would be a great time to review it. I felt a little trepidation though, because sometimes books I used to [...]
Nov 11 2010
Dear Ms. Fielding, For a moment, I thought that this was part of some Harlequin series with the set up that the heroine loses one red stiletto and finds her HEA from it. Then after checking, I realized that “Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto” is not part of the same series as another book I [...]
Nov 8 2010
Dear Ms. Lennox, My other recommendation for this month is a Christmas book set in cold, snowy London so this is a nice balance set in warm, shirt sleeve weather Australia. It also features a rich CEO and a much-much-less-rich young woman who discover that no matter the temperature, love can be found amidst the [...]
Nov 4 2010
Dear Ms. Rimmer: I am ordinarily not a fan of Christmas stories unlike my partner here, Jayne, who has a well known affinity for these stories and given the proliferation of them in the months preceding the holidays, clearly I am in the minority. I’m always afraid the holiday spirit will overcome the story and [...]
Oct 27 2010
Dear Ms. Willig, I admit I haven’t read the latest in the “Pink Carnation” series “Blood Lily” so when Jane sent me the arc for “The Mischief of the Mistletoe” I inwardly cringed. Oh dear, I thought, there’s no way I can get “Lily” read in time so I’ll just have to plunge in and [...]
Feb 19 2010
Dear Ms. Kery: I realize it is a little late and possibly no one is in the mood for holiday stories, however, I thought it might be best to post the review now than wait an entire year. This had an interesting setup: father’s girlfriend falls for son but thinks she might be a toy [...]
Dec 25 2009
Since it’s Christmas today I thought I’d mention some favorite movies and TV shows of mine that it’s just not the holidays unless I’ve seen them. I’ll start off with the original “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” because it’s just not Christmas without the Grinch, Max, and the Whos of Whoville including little Cindy Lou [...]
Dec 1 2009
Dear. Ms. Mitchell. I’ll pretty much read anything you’ve written, so I was thrilled when you posted that you’d written a historical short. An Improper Holiday was a lot of angsty fun, and I really enjoyed it, especially with the delicious little flip at the end of figuring out how two men in the early [...]
Dec 18 2008
Dear Ms. Kelly I’m not big fan of holiday stories so one featuring two Christmas haters is probably perfect for me. There’s something deliciously ironic about the self referential nature of the story and the characters attitudes toward the holiday. It seems to me that they would hate Christmas themed stories. Noelle Bradenton overhears [...]
Oct 13 2008
Dear Ms. Kleypas: After reading the first two lackluster books in your Hathaways series, I was thrilled to jump back into one my favorites with A Wallflower Christmas. I was a big fan of Secrets of a Summer Night (The Wallflowers, Book 1), an even bigger fan of It Happened One Autumn (The Wallflowers, Book [...]
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