Dec 15 2011
I haven’t had much luck with Harlequin Presents subscriptions of late. In December, I enjoyed three of my eight books. The problem is that I’m never sure what books I’m going to enjoy and thus the subscription seems worth it. I guess I’ll reevaluate mid year 2012. The Trophy Wife by Janette Kenny is the [...]
Aug 9 2011
I’m not sure how I came across this article about Olivia Wilde. I’m not a fan of hers and wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a pretty actress line up. But in an interview with Marie Claire, Wilde spoke about her divorce. “I don’t think love should be work,” she said. She acknowledged [...]
Aug 5 2011
Dear Ms. Bliss: Sometimes I think a reader connects to a writer in ways that can’t quite be articulated. I’ve felt that way about your work for a while so I don’t know how reliable of a recommender of your books that I am. What I connect with is the authenticity of the characters, the [...]
Jul 15 2011
Dear Ms. Reid: Romance is equated with porn quite often. Porn, of course, is traditionally labeled as a creative activity that has no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire. If romance is porn in any way, it is emotional porn in that the romance novel stimulates emotional responses. HPs are like [...]
Oct 18 2010
Public Marriage, Private Secrets by Helen Bianchin Bianchin has a certain trope she likes to write and most of her books are a variation on the theme of two people who married because their families wanted it and they were a good match on paper, who secretly fall in love with each other, but the [...]
Oct 7 2010
Dear Ms. March: I know when the review copy first came to my house, I pretty much passed it over. The title, I think, was a bit twee but a month or so ago, I came across the review copy again and learned that this was your debut book. I love debut books so I [...]
Sep 29 2010
If I were to describe this plot, I would say that it is a plot of estranged spouses. Ned has gone from boy to man, as is most often the result of journeys. And Lady Kathleen has suffered the rumor of her husband’s swift removal for the past three years. But this book is so much more than the reconciliation of estranged spouses. It is more than the two protagonist’s getting to know each other as they fall in love, despite the forced marriage. No, this is a book about what makes a hero.
Aug 3 2010
Hot Finish is a Save the Contemporary pick. Go here to find out details on how to win an 8 GB iPod Touch. Dear Ms. McCarthy: I love this series and I particularly love this book. One reason is because sarcastic, outspoken, irreverent and bossy Suzanne isn’t toned down when she gets her own book. [...]
Jul 8 2010
Dear Ms. Ashley: I really enjoyed The Madness of Lord Ian McKenzie and started reading the sequel featuring a brother of Lord Ian the minute Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage dropped on my doorstep. Lady Isabella met and married Roland Mackenzie on the night of her debutante ball. Mac, as he is called, crashed the [...]
Jun 17 2010
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 [...]
May 31 2010
Dear Ms. Brenna: Sometimes the hardest reviews to write are the ones about books that are totally competent yet somehow failed to reach me as a reader and this is one of those reviews. The writing was competent. There was a sense of urgency that kept the story moving. The core of the book centered [...]
Oct 16 2009
Dear Ms. Lee: The previous two books in the series have told us some awful things about James, the hero in Billionaire’s Bride of Innocence. James was desperate to have a family and when his super model girlfriend could not deliver the goods, so to speak, he divorced her, impregnated a nice young woman, and [...]
Jun 6 2009
Dear Ms. Craven: I’m never sure what to expect from you. On the whole, you are one of my favorite HP authors but from time to time, your stories send me over the cliff. I wasn’t sure how I was going to respond to this one. The Santangeli Marriage begins with a scene from the [...]
Mar 14 2009
Dear Ms. Wolff: Your book came to my attention due to the numerous and varied nominations of it for our DABWAHA tournament. I’m a big lover of good series books so I just had to pick it up. A Christmas Wedding is a Harlequin Superromance and not usually a series from which I choose books, [...]
Dec 17 2008
Dear Ladies, I’m often leery of trying anthologies. Generally there’s one author I want to read, a few I’ll deal with and at least one I automatically skip. Or, behind door number two, there’s one story I’ll love, one or two that are readable and one that’s just awful. So, imagine my delight when three [...]
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