Jan 24 2013
NOTE: This was orignally published under the title “The Respectable Miss Parkington-Smith. London, 1750 “Vibrant, titian-haired Cassandra Shelbrooke adored her husband Francis. Not only had he taken her from the stage and made her mistress of his elegant home in Hanover Square, but he pleasured her in ways that none of her dozens of former(…)
Dec 24 2012
Most books that I finish get their own reviews but here are some that either I didn’t finish or I didn’t think warranted a separate review. The Terrorist – Caroline Cooney / Fabulous writing. Intense, page turning, I was 50 pages into it before I even realized it when I finally came up for air.(…)
Dec 23 2012
Janine: We’ve all read Christmas stories which feature cynics whose hardened hearts soften during the holiday season. From Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, such figures are not uncommon in holiday stories in or out of the romance genre. But they are almost(…)
Nov 21 2012
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(…)
Jul 30 2012
Please note: This review is for book three in a series, so it contains some spoilers for the previous two books. Readers who would like to hear more about the Peter Grant series but remain spoiler free are invited to check out the review of the first book, Midnight Riot (also known as Rivers of(…)
Jul 10 2012
London, 1940. Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her(…)
Jun 4 2012
Dear Ms. Grant: Your debut novel, A Lady Awakened, is one of my favorite Romances of the past year. So I was particularly excited to read A Gentleman Undone, not only to catch up with the delightfully perverse Martha and her new husband, Theo, but also to discover if Martha’s brother, Will, made as fascinating(…)
May 21 2012
Dear Mr. Aaronovitch, Back in March, I read and reviewed your terrific debut, Midnight Riot (Rivers of London in the UK), an urban fantasy/police procedural narrated by an endearing London police constable named Peter Grant. Peter is a new recruit in a secret (and very small) department of the London Metropolitan Police which investigates supernatural(…)
Apr 27 2012
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) Genre: Romantic Comedy Grade: C This is a movie I wanted to love, yearned to love, and hoped to love. Unfortunately, I didn’t. First, some background. Back around 2003, a friend of mine who lived in Berkshire at the time, told me about a wonderful bookstore she found(…)
Mar 29 2012
Dear Ms. Zink, I admit it. The lovely cover is what made me stop and give your new novel a second look. I’m a sucker for pretty covers, and I thought this one was highly effective for the genre. If only I could say the same for the content. Helen Cartwright is the sheltered daughter(…)
Mar 21 2012
Dear Mr. Aaronovitch, I’ve been recommending enough books here lately that I have started to worry that my grades are overgenerous. But when a book is as much fun as your debut urban fantasy/police procedural, Midnight Riot, what is a reviewer to do? I picked up Midnight Riot (also known as Rivers of London in(…)
Jan 31 2012
Dear Ms. Callihan, While historical romances aren’t my favored genre, I do love paranormal romances. If I pick up a historical, more often than not there’s a whiff of the paranormal in it. I remember first hearing about your debut novel several months ago and it sounded interesting enough that it stayed on my radar.(…)
Nov 9 2011
Dear Ms. Balogh, Who knew you could be this funny? Cora Downes is the titular heroine of this 1996 book, now being rereleased in a 2-in-1 volume with The Plumed Bonnet, as well as (to borrow a phrase from the back cover copy on my old Signet edition) a fish out of water in London(…)
Sep 15 2011
Dear Ms. Pierce, I read your first novel, 666 Park Avenue, earlier this year. In it, readers were introduced to architect Jane Boyle who gets swept up in a whirlwind romance with the man of her dreams, only to discover that not only does she come from a long line of witches, she just married(…)
Aug 31 2011
Dear Ms. Morgan, I had started reading the first book in the Countess Ashby de la Zouche mystery series a few weeks ago but had put it down for other books. With an indefinite power outage from Hurricane Irene mucking up my day, I decided to apply myself and finish it. Once I refreshed myself(…)
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