Feb 1 2010
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 [...]
Jan 27 2010
Dear Readers: It has been five years since we've had a new Laura Kinsale book to read, and Lessons in French is quite a departure from her last book, Shadowheart. Callie, or more properly, Lady Callista Taillefaire, is a 27-year old thrice-jilted heiress who wants nothing more than to live in relative peace – and [...]
Jan 26 2010
Dear Ms. Greiman: I think of myself as a big fan of the Beauty and the Beast tale, but I can’t help but wonder if we readers are being oversaturated with the retelling of this popular myth. Charming the Devil is the third entry in the Witches of Mayfair trilogy (and given that it is [...]
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 [...]
Nov 9 2009
Dear Ms. Smith, Your comedic trad Regencies are always a delight for me. There are some that have had me cackling with glee as I read them since I love it when an author can turn the standard Regency conventions upside down – or at least twist ‘em a little. Miss Marion Mathieson takes no [...]
Oct 29 2009
Dear Ms. Justiss, You’ve been writing Regency set stories for years now so by now, I’m sure you’re more than familiar with all the conventions, the standard plots, the trope characters, all the things we’re used to seeing in this historical category. Well, I am too so when I come across something different, I’m liable [...]
Oct 23 2009
Dear Ms. Wolf: I re-read your book recently in preparation for a year end list. I was shocked when I checked the DA Archives and did not see a review for it. I had to rectify that immediately. His Lordship’s Mistress is one of my favorite books and your work in the Signet Regency line was [...]
Oct 22 2009
Dear Ms. Austen, I will confess right off the bat that I’m one of those readers who never “got” you. I tried to read Pride and Prejudice years ago, but gave up after a few pages because of your writing style. What can I say – I had less patience in those days with long, [...]
Oct 19 2009
Dear Ms. Michaels, If the purpose of the novella “How to Woo a Spinster” was to get me to buy this full length novel, it worked. But as I started to read How to Tempt a Duke, I wondered if I would get through it. Let’s see…Regency era, Duke hero, feisty younger sister, heroine with [...]
Oct 14 2009
PLEASE NOTE: this conversational review does contain some spoilers. Jennie: I was one of many readers mightily impressed with Carolyn Jewel’s previous historical romance Scandal, which I read in January and graded an A-. Janine: Totally with you on that. Scandal was one of the most impressive books I’ve read this year, and it’s stuck [...]
Oct 8 2009
Dear Ms. Mullany, Two years ago I feel in love with “The Rules of Gentility.” Its first person spoofing of the Rules of Writing a Regency Romance had me in stitches. When Janine mentioned that you were going to have a sequel to it published this summer, I rubbed my hands with glee. Deep in [...]
Oct 6 2009
Dear Ms. Jewel: When I met you recently, I had to sheepishly admit that I had not yet read any of your books. So I volunteered to review your new release Indiscreet, relishing the added bonus that it was a Regency set in Turkey. Despite all of the stereotypical sheikh novels and the often fetishized [...]
Oct 3 2009
Dear Ms. McLeod, You’ve never let me down with any of the past novellas of yours I’ve read and you don’t do it this time either. I confess that I was slightly dismayed at the length of the story which formatted to 20 pages on my reader. She’s going to get two people together that [...]
Aug 31 2009
Dear Ms. Michaels, When I was checking out the new offerings from Harlequin, I saw your name and popped the book in my ecart without looking too closely at it. So, when I opened it up on my reader, I was dismayed to see that this is obviously a novella. Now, novellas can work for [...]
Aug 19 2009
Dear Mrs. Moore, After I had read “A Lover’s Kiss,” I fell in love with the secondary character of Lord “Buggy” Bromwell, friend to the hero of that book and the ones that preceded it. So when I checked out the August Harlequin Historical releases and realized that this was Buggy’s book, I pounced. Justinian [...]
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