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Posts Tagged ‘My Favorite Things-2006’

10 Things I’m Thankful for Romance

By Jane • Nov 27th, 2006 • Category: Letters of Opinion, Misc

Not to be left out, even though Thanksgiving has past, here’s my list.

Those Calgon, Take Me Away moments wherein you are transported from mundane suburbia into the rich lives of the Old West, the Near Future, the Distant Past, and the Alternative Reality.

No matter how many big silly misunderstandings a couple suffers through [...]



REVIEW: The Iron Rose by Marsha Canham

By Jayne • Nov 23rd, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A- Reviews, Reviews

Dear Mrs. Canham,
I hope that your muse can tempt you back into writing. I keep hearing rumors but what I want is to read another new Canham book! ;) Other reviews have decried the amount of violence and sex in “The Iron Rose.” Yes, it’s violent. Yes, it has sex. But it’s a pirate [...]



REVIEW: Honor’s Splendor by Julie Garwood

By Jane • Nov 23rd, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Garwood:
I want you to know that I open myself up to ridicule from any number of blogland sources such as my blogging partners, Jayne and Janine, Keishon, Maili, and who knows else by writing this love letter to you. Alas, I cannot let this week of thankfulness pass by without referencing at [...]



REVIEW: Of Paupers and Peers by Sheri Cobb South

By Jayne • Nov 21st, 2006 • Category: B Reviews Category, B+ Reviews, Reviews

Dear Mrs. Cobb South,
I’ve been a fan of yours since “The Weaver Takes a Wife” and was delighted to hear that a new book was coming out. I can now happily say that “Of Paupers and Peers” will take its place beside my other Cobb South keepers. I just wish that 1) it was [...]



REVIEW: Forbidden by Susan Johnson

By Jane • Nov 21st, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A- Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Johnson:
Long before there was Jaid Black and Ellora’s Cave. Long before the rise of erotic romance and the publication of lines like Aphrodisia, Spice, and Avon Red, there were authors like you who wrote historically rich, emotionally deep and impossibly erotic romances. There are three of your books that I re-read [...]



REVIEW: The Smoke Thief by Shana Abé

By Janine • Nov 20th, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A- Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Abé,
Imagine a place so ripe and thick with the promise of magic that the very air breathes in plumes of pearl and gray and smoky blue; that the trees bow with the weight of their heavy branches, dipping low to the ground, dropping needles and leaves into beds of perfume. A place [...]



REVIEW: My Lady Notorious by Jo Beverley

By Jayne • Nov 18th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews Category, B+ Reviews, Reviews

Dear Mrs. Beverley,
I had fond thought of this book before I even started it because it was the subject of the first email I ever exchanged with someone who’s become a dear friend of mine. I had mentioned after the year 2000 AAR Top 100 that I was looking for a copy and Deb, [...]



REVIEW: Ride a Painted Pony by Kathleen Eagle

By Jayne • Nov 17th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews, B Reviews Category, Reviews

Dear Mrs. Eagle,
I’ve adored your books for years and have posted in praise of them in the past. And then something happened with your writing. A new direction, I think it was called. I know you have to follow where your muse leads you but frankly, I wasn’t happy about where she was taking [...]



REVIEW: A Curious Courting by Laura Matthews

By Jane • Nov 16th, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A Reviews, Ebooks, Reviews

Dear Ms. Matthews:
I am writing this letter today because I fear that the readership believes that I am a suspense thriller junkie who only likes boring police procedure stories interrupted by bouts of hot sex. I mean, yeah, that is me, but I also like to mix things up a bit. You are a [...]



REVIEW: What a Woman Needs by Caroline Linden

By Janine • Nov 16th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews Category, B- Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Linden,
I was intrigued by the premise of your first novel, What a Woman Needs.
Stuart Drake has to get his hands on some money, and he has to do it fast. After becoming embroiled in not one but two scandals, neither of his own making, Stuart was cut off from his allowance by [...]



REVIEW: Bad Girl by Michele Jaffe

By Jane • Nov 15th, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Jaffe:
I feel for you. I really do. You really, really must have made someone angry in the art and title department. Why else would they saddle your outstanding contemporary romance suspense book with the cutesy cover and an even worse title? I imagine that those readers looking for a [...]



REVIEW: King of the Last Days by Diana Norman

By Jayne • Nov 15th, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A Reviews, Reviews

Back blurb:
“The cowled figures which stood around the open grave in the moonlight at Glastonbury in the year 1189 were used to mystery but even they were overawed by what was in the coffin.
Their great and ancient monastery was in trouble and if this sword was what they thought it was, if those bones [...]



REVIEW: Dream Man by Linda Howard

By Jane • Nov 14th, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A- Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Howard:
I know that you won’t be reading this letter as you are not an onliner, but let me tell you about my love for Dream Man. To some, this is a terrible book filled with a terrible betrayal by the hero. To me, it shows the extent I will overlook things [...]



REVIEW: Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts

By Jane • Nov 13th, 2006 • Category: A Review Category, A- Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Roberts:
If I were to rate my favorite books by my favorite authors, this would probably qualify. It’s full of classic Nora Roberts features: three dimensional characters, rich family relationships (albeit dysfunctional), and two believable individuals coming together to give each other comfort and love. Your books aren’t about the big and grand [...]



REVIEW: The Briar Rose by Dinah Dean

By Jayne • Nov 11th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews, B Reviews Category, Reviews

Dear Readers,
This was a nice little book. It’s set in 1540 England during the dissolution of the last monastery by Henry VIII. Now, when’s the last time you read a book with that background? The heroine’s father has been the bailey of the monastery of Woodham which is to be surrendered to the King. [...]



REVIEW: Dangerous Temptation by Kathleen Korbel

By Jane • Nov 10th, 2006 • Category: C Reviews, C Reviews Category, Ebooks, Reviews

Apparently this is the conclusion of the Kendall series started in the 90s(?). I haven’t read that series but I understand that there is some who have great affection for this family. To some extent, I felt that this book was written for them because I lacked any real connection to Zach Zeke which inhibited [...]



REVIEW: Various Short Stories by Jennifer Mueller

By Jayne • Nov 9th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews, B Reviews Category, Reviews

Dear Mrs. Mueller,
After I enjoyed your short story “Till Death Do Us Part,” I knew I had to try some more of your work. The problem still is that a lot of them are very highly priced. So when I noticed you have some freebies at your website, I was very happy. I love [...]



REVIEW: The Raven and the Rose by Doreen Owens Malek

By Jayne • Nov 8th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews Category, B+ Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms Owens Malek,
Are you still writing? I hope so but haven’t seen anything new from you in ages. You’ve got me worried. I guess until I learn otherwise, I’ll have to just keep re-reading your OOP books.
This is a dual ‘against all odds’ romance. Two sisters love men who are completely forbidden [...]



REVIEW: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

By Jane • Nov 7th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews, B Reviews Category, Reviews

Dear Ms. Hoyt:
At first blush, this isn’t a book I would buy. The back cover blurb reads as follows:
Widowed Anna Wren is having a wretched day. After an arrogant male on horseback nearly squashes her, she arrives home to learn that she is in dire financial straits. What is a gently bred lady to [...]



REVIEW: Cold as Ice by Anne Stuart

By Janine • Nov 6th, 2006 • Category: B Reviews Category, B+ Reviews, Reviews

Dear Ms. Stuart,
Genevieve Spenser finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time when she arrives on billionaire Harry Van Dorn’s yacht. Harry is not only rich but gorgeous and charming, and his sexiness has gotten People magazine’s stamp of approval. He is known for caring about working conditions in his factories [...]