Dear Ms. Mallery:
July, August, and September sees the release of your Keys’ Bakery sisters series. The series begins with Claire, a piano virtuoso. Claire has been estranged from her family since, well, almost forever. When she was 3 years old, she walked up to a piano and started playing and [...]

Dear Mr. Bonnamy,
My fellow reviewers know I’m always on the lookout for historical romances that utilize the rare and unusual setting. “Hero, the Amazon” certainly does that as well as give us an Amazon for a lead character. It’s filled with adventures centered not only in and around the Mediterranean but also ranging as far [...]

Dear Readers,
Since this review covers my responses to nine short stories and two novellas, I’ve decided that for the sake of clarity, it would be simper to address this letter to you rather than to eleven authors.
Tangle is an anthology featuring a variety of same-sex love stories. All the romances here have two heroes, [...]

Dear Ms Vincent,
I love Georgian historicals and if authors can toss in some daring do as well, I’m a happy woman. I read the first book in this series, “A Bond of Honour” and while I didn’t like two particular things that happened towards the end of the story, I was intrigued by the [...]

Dear Ms. Howard:
I was ruminating about this book as I polished up the review. At first I thought, this is a departure for you because it is such a dark book, featuring a very different type of heroine. But you’ve had darker books before (Cry No More) and you’ve featured [...]

First up is one of my favorite Harlequin Presents author, Helen Brooks. Last month’s release wasn’t a favorite of mine but The Billionaire Boss’s Secretary Bride (I know, the title) is delicious. Gina Leighton is leaving her job as the personal secretary to the founder of an agricultural-machinery firm in [...]

Dear Readers,
Last month we received an unusual request at Dear Author. We were asked to review something other than a book — a DVD set called “The Romance Collection: Special Edition.” The 14 DVD set, which can be found here, retails for $99.95 and contains nearly 30 hours of programming (not [...]

Dear Mrs. Townend,
When I read the description for your newest book, “His Captive Lady,” all I truly noticed is that it’s a medieval and set in the fens of East Anglia. It’s not until I began reading it that it dawned on me that it’s also a Saxon vs Norman story [...]

Dear Ms. St. Claire:
This is the 7th installment in the BulletCatcher series comprised of five books and two novellas. Generally, I’ve liked each one of the installations. A lot of the times I think how well I like one of these books depends on how well I respond to the main characters.
Then You [...]

Dear Mrs Belmond,
When I finished reading “A Rather Curious Inheritance,” I knew there ought to be more about Penny Nichols (who is aware of the silliness of her name) and Jeremy Laidley (her sort of English cousin) after their show of interest in each other and in combining the actually rather [...]

Dear Ms. Dimon:
Hard as Nails is an anthology that takes place inside a house that is being rehabbed. The first story is an architect working on the project, the second is of the lawyer to the construction company and the third is the project manager of the rehabbing project. All three books [...]

[Jia's Note: The English translation was done by Cathy Hirano.]

Dear Ms. Uehashi,
With the increasing popularity of manga and anime in the West, it only makes sense that Japanese novels would follow. I first heard about your ten-volume Moribito (Guardian) series via various blogs discussing the anime adaptation of the first book, Guardian of [...]

Dear Ms. Gifford,
Your name was on my list of authors to try so when I spotted your latest release and realized it was about weavers in Flanders during the middle ages, I decided to try it. Hey, no knights, different setting, middle class, little used historical incident - I’m there. True it has a [...]

Dear Ms. Showalter,
Even though the prequel and first book of your Lords of the Underworld series failed to impress me, I wasn’t ready to give up on such a great premise. I hoped one of the later installments would work better for me. With this second book in the series, I have to [...]

Dear Ms. Hailstock,
I have to admit it was the beautiful cover of “Wrong Dress, Right Guy” which caught my eye followed by the blurb. Yeah, I’m a sucker for weddings too as long as I’m not the one running the last minute errands or having to spring for any more of [...]

Dear Ms. Ward,
It might be an understatement to say your previous novel, Lover Unbound, elicited some very passionate reactions from readers. I can’t say I disagree with those criticisms. Even though I ended up liking the book because it developed John Matthew’s storyline, the main romance drove me insane for so [...]

Dear Ms. Brand,
I’ve been on a WWII kick the last few weeks which is what made me focus on the blurb for “Blind Instinct.” The heroine obtains a Nazi codebook that’s going to lead to all kinds of secrets and threats to her life. This is what brings her together with the hero as [...]

Dear Ms McCabe,
Happy days, it’s something different. Tudor England with a French heroine and Russian hero. Definitely not the same old Regency we get offered everyday. Thank you Harlequin Historical.
Sinful Alliance starts out wonderfully with a Venetian brothel scene showdown between two spies. One of them knows what’s up but the other [...]

Hunting Love is a series of novellas offered by Samhain which feature shapeshifters of Felidae. Like all Samhain themed novellas, the books share a very similar look so that the reader can easily identify the connection. I read three of the four. * These books are related only by the [...]

Dear Ms. Marr:
I was blown away by your debut book, Wicked Lovely, and thus my expectations for Ink Exchange were quite high. While the smooth narration and elegance of prose are still present in Ink Exchange, the storyline didn’t deliver for me.
Leslie, friend of the protagonist in Wicked Lovely, lives a very [...]

Dear Mrs. Lovelace,
When I’ve had a bunch of disappointing books in a row, I know I can turn to you to pull me out of my rut. Whether it’s a historical (which you don’t seem to write much anymore) or contemporary or romantic suspense, you generally hit the spot and give me [...]

Dear Ms. Dain:
Women in the Regency period had but few choices in life. A society woman had only one: be married. I see these books as showing how women in society flirted and schemed to achieve the best result possible which was marriage to a well favored man that they actually liked. [...]

Dear Ms. Harris:
First I have to admit that I adore this series; I feel very connected to the characters and to the world of the novels. Although I’m not old enough to be Sookie’s mother, I have very protective feelings toward her and wait impatiently for my yearly fix of her continuing saga, cheering [...]

Dear Ms. Stuart,
Fire and Ice is the fifth and (if I’m not mistaken) final book in your Ice series, which features the agents of a ruthless spy organization known as the Committee. This one is all about the flamboyant Reno, Taka’s younger cousin.
Back in the third book, Ice Blue, [...]

Dear Ms. Murphy,
Your urban fantasy novels have failed to work for me in the past but I like giving authors second chances, especially when they expand into a favorite subgenre. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a political fantasy, and this book reminded me why I enjoy it.
Set in an [...]