European-Historical

REVIEW:  Never Too Late by Amara Royce

REVIEW: Never Too Late by Amara Royce

Dear Ms. Royce: I have talked to you a bit on Twitter and wanted to read your debut, so when I saw it was available on Netgalley I snapped it up. Never Too Late is set in 1851 Victorian England, an increasingly popular time period, and it features one of my favorite pairings: older woman/younger(…)

REVIEW: Wedded in Scandal by Jade Lee

REVIEW: Wedded in Scandal by Jade Lee

Dear Ms. Lee, I fell head over heels in love with your hero in the very first few paragraphs of your novel, Wedded in Scandal. “Yer wants to go in there? But, er, why?” Robert Percy, Viscount Redhill, ignored the mine manager and began stripping off his coat and gloves. They were in the shack(…)

What Sunita was reading in February

What Sunita was reading in February

January was kind of a bust for me, but I caught up in February. I’ve been trying to read further afield, going past the usual m/m and category and trying more historical romance. They didn’t all work perfectly, but I’ve no regrets in this batch. Twice Fallen: Ladies in Waiting by Emma Wildes. I discovered(…)

REVIEW: A Lady Never Surrenders by Sabrina Jeffries

REVIEW: A Lady Never Surrenders by Sabrina Jeffries

Dear Ms. Jeffries— I was ambivalent about investing my time in the last of your Hellions of Halstead Hall series. I’ve read the first four with varying levels of satisfaction.  I found The Truth about Lord Stoneville, the first book, that of Oliver, the eldest Sharpe child, to be a contrived and insubstantial tale. I enjoyed the second, A Hellion(…)

REVIEW: Her Husband’s Harlot by Grace Callaway

REVIEW: Her Husband’s Harlot by Grace Callaway

Dear Ms. Callaway, I was interested to read your debut novel for two reasons. First, I love the title. I’ve always thought being a husband’s harlot is one of the best parts of marriage. (Plus, it reminds me of a classic song, the number one single from 1973, Charlie Rich’s Behind Closed Doors. I’m humming(…)

REVIEW: Lily by Patricia Gaffney

REVIEW: Lily by Patricia Gaffney

Dear Ms. Gaffney, When I heard the news that many of your romance titles were being released as ebooks by Open Road Integrated Media, I felt a pang of jealousy for those newer romance readers who would have the opportunity to discover your work for the first time. When the opportunity came to interview you, Jane(…)

REVIEW: Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran

REVIEW: Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran

Dear Ms. Duran, Since publishing your first romance in 2008, you have quickly become one of my favorite and most dependable authors; I have not given any of your first three books a grade lower than an A-. So I looked forward to Wicked Becomes You with a fair amount of anticipation. The book opens(…)

REVIEW: Simply Wicked by Kate Pearce

REVIEW: Simply Wicked by Kate Pearce

Dear Ms. Pearce, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began your latest book, Simply Wicked, not having read you before and having only the vague idea that you write erotic romance, a term that has come to be applied a bit too broadly to provide much useful information for me as a reader.(…)

REVIEW: A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore

Dear Ms. Haymore, When I first picked up A Hint of Wicked, I did not have much in the way of expectations. I assumed that this was your first book, since I hadn’t heard your name before. I hadn’t really heard any buzz about the book, and I had to remind myself of the plot(…)

REVIEW: A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

REVIEW: A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

Dear Ms. Ibbotson, When Azteclady asked me to review one of your romances, I was both excited and challenged. You pack so many irresistible characters into less than three hundred pages that it is difficult to do justice to these delightful folk. And how would I explain the magic by which you can take me(…)

REVIEW: What a Woman Needs by Caroline Linden

Dear Ms. Linden, I was intrigued by the premise of your first novel, What a Woman Needs. Stuart Drake has to get his hands on some money, and he has to do it fast. After becoming embroiled in not one but two scandals, neither of his own making, Stuart was cut off from his allowance(…)

REVIEW: One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman

Dear Ms. Goodman: I love your writing. If every historical was written with the depth, emotion and passion of your stories, I don’t think the historical genre would be faltering. The pacing and the absurd ending is the only thing that keeps me from giving this book an A. One Forbidden Evening features the sister(…)

REVIEW:  The Hazards of Hunting a Duke by Julia London

REVIEW: The Hazards of Hunting a Duke by Julia London

Dear Ms. London: I am not sure whether Simon&Schuster did you a big favor by giving us ebook readers a web exclusive because this is gonna be one of those “Dear Jane” letters. I have purchased several books by you and after each book, I wonder why it is that I am buying the next(…)