forced-marriage

REVIEW: Confessions from an Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville

REVIEW: Confessions from an Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville

Dear Ms. Neville, I should probably preface this review by saying that I’ve chatted with you on Twitter and what I know of you, I really like. Ever since they met in The Dangerous Viscount, book two of your Burgundy Book Club series, I’ve wanted to see Minerva Montrose and the Marquis of Blakeney (known [...]

REVIEW: The Bride by Julie Garwood

REVIEW: The Bride by Julie Garwood

Dear Ms. Garwood: Back in 2006, Jayne and I wrote a few reviews of our all time favorite books.  We primarily read and review “new to us” books whether those are new publications or recently republished backlist titles.  Because of that, our archives are thin as it pertains to the books which might considered modern [...]

REVIEW: Cold Fire by Kate Elliott

REVIEW: Cold Fire by Kate Elliott

Dear Ms. Elliott, The first novel of your Spiritwalker trilogy, Cold Magic, was my favorite read of 2010. To say that I’ve been eagerly anticipating the sequel might be an understatement. I had a few mishaps in obtaining a review copy but thanks to Jane’s heroic efforts, I received one last week and I devoured [...]

REVIEW x 2: The King’s Courtesan by Judith James

REVIEW x 2: The King’s Courtesan by Judith James

Dear Ms James: I think I have been waiting for you to write a book like The King’s Courtesan since I read Broken Wing.  This book has a confidence and maturity, a depth, in fact, that impressed me, despite the numerous well-used genre tropes and devices it employs and the predictability of the overall story [...]

JOINT REVIEW: A Marriage of Inconvenience by Susanna Fraser

JOINT REVIEW: A Marriage of Inconvenience by Susanna Fraser

Janine: This regency-set historical romance begins with the heroine, eighteen year old Lucy Jones, receiving a proposal from her cousin, Sebastian Arrington. Sebastian is the second son of a baron and a cavalry lieutenant and Lucy is a poor relation who has loved him from afar from years, so the prospect of marrying him is [...]

REVIEW: Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

REVIEW: Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

Dear Ms. Elliott, I first heard of your book while linkhopping across various reader blogs. I can’t tell you exactly where I learned of Cold Magic but the description stuck with me: an Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency novel with airships, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendants of troodons. I later discovered this description was taken [...]

REVIEW: His at Night by Sherry Thomas

REVIEW: His at Night by Sherry Thomas

Dear Ms. Thomas, A new Sherry Thomas book is an occasion for rejoicing; I’ve given A grades to each of your three previous books. So I had high hopes for His at Night, hopes that were stoked further by the blurb on your website. A hero playing dumb (shades of  The Scarlet Pimpernel)? A desperate heroine [...]

REVIEW: The Chief by Monica McCarty

REVIEW: The Chief by Monica McCarty

I swore I reviewed this book before but I couldn’t find it in the archives so if you’ve read this, I apologize for the duplication. Dear Ms. McCarty: I tried your debut book and I’m afraid that I haven’t read you since but a friend of mine (can I say it was Angela James?) emailed [...]

REVIEW: Ravishing in Red by Madeline Hunter

REVIEW: Ravishing in Red by Madeline Hunter

Dear Ms. Hunter: Ravishing in Red begins a set of stories about a home for beguines. As the book describes it, “They were common in medieval France. Lay-women would live together as we do. Some would take employment outside the walls, and none took vows, but they lived communally.” After the war, many women were [...]

REVIEW: Knight of Pleasure by Margaret Mallory

REVIEW: Knight of Pleasure by Margaret Mallory

Dear Ms. Mallory: I remember a number of people raving about your debut in the If You Like Debut books thread. I bought the debut book, Knight of Desire, but by the time I got around to reading it your second book, Knight of Pleasure, was out. So I read that one first. While I [...]

REVIEW: Sold to a Laird by Karen Ranney

REVIEW: Sold to a Laird by Karen Ranney

Dear Ms. Ranney: I confess that the title of the this book was a bit offputting (not to mention factually inaccurate for the story).   I was initially put off by the title and the blurb but the book was sent by the publisher and after the first chapter, I was very interested in what came [...]

REVIEW: Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain

REVIEW: Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain

Dear Ms Allain : Thank you for sending me this book for review. I am a big fan of the traditional regency which is what I would categorize this novel as. The key to a successful traditional regency is the total immersion of the reader into the time period which is well done in Mr. [...]

REVIEW: Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

REVIEW: Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

Dear Ms. Kleypas: Tempt Me at Twilight brings readers closer to the end of the Hathaway family romances. We have only Leo and Beatrix left. Poppy and her family are staying at the Rutledge Hotel for the London season. Poppy is convinced that she is in love with Lord Michael Bayning, the heir to a [...]

REVIEW: Wicked All Day by Liz Carlyle

REVIEW: Wicked All Day by Liz Carlyle

Dear Ms. Carlyle: I have read you since your debut in 1999 with My False Heart. My False Heart remains high of my favorite romances of all time and it is the book against which I measure all of your other titles. The story was so fresh at the time. The heroine, Evie Artevalde, was [...]

REVIEW:  Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch

REVIEW: Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch

Dear Ms. Enoch: I’ve really enjoyed this Notorious Gentleman series which started with After the Kiss and ends with Always a Scoundrel, a book that csquared deemed one of your best in years. I agree. This is a book that had my emotions in my throat nearly the entire time. It was dark, evocative, and [...]