Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Dear Ms. Enoch:

I really adored After the Kiss and I was hopeful, given the prominence that Bram was given in AtK that this would be his book. However, it is not. This is the story of Lieutenant Colonel Phineas Bromley who ran away from the world and joined the Royal Dragoons in his youth because of something horrible he had done. Ten years later, Phin was going home at the request of his sister, Elizabeth, who had suggested in her last missive that their brother, Viscount Quence, was on his deathbed.

When Phineas arrives at Quence Park in East Sussux, he finds William, Viscount Quence, looking pretty hale for a chair bound individual. William was paralyzed in a riding accident that occurred, coincidentally, 10 years ago. While Elizabeth’s summons are based on false reasons, what is real is a number of strange occurrences that are taking place at Quence Park, a string of really bad luck that is threatening the estate and the heritage of the Bromley family. Elizabeth begs for him to stay without giving him the reasons why and Phin decides that he has neglected his …

Dear Ms. Enoch:

Like commenter Corrine, I had admittedly had some issues with the past few historicals. I had enjoyed England’s Perfect Hero so much (as Corrine says “hands-down favorite SE title”) that it may have affected my opinion of the books that followed.

Needless to say, I adored After the Kiss. First, I loved the title. It had real meaning for the story. Sullivan James Waring joined the Royal Dragoons and while he was gone his mother, Francesca Perris, died. She was a tenant of Sullivan’s father, the Marquis of Dunston. Dunston has never recognized Sullivan although it is well known that he is Dunston’s bastard son. Sullivan is sneaking into houses at night to recover his mother’s legacy - 13 paintings that Dunston commandeered and sold or gave away.

One of the paintings was given to the Marquis of Darshear’s family. Sullivan sneaks in, grabs a number of things including the paintings and is about to scamper off when Isabel comes down for a late night snack. They engage in a short conversation and Sullivan grabs and kisses her to keep …