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

Dear Ms. Pierce:

You are a new to me author and I have to say that this book has me conflicted. On the one hand it contains a lot of trite writing and plot elements: the merry band of friends, their loving wives who appeared in previous stories and are now great friends, and a revenge plot. On the other, some of the scenes really contained raw emotionalism that moved me.

Lord Townsend Elliot Lidsaw, Viscount Everod, has been estranged from his family for twelve years. His father banished him after Everod and his father’s young wife, Georgette, were caught dallying in the gardens. After almost being garroted by his father, Everod left but vowed revenge. When Maura, the niece of Georgette who was responsible for tattling on Everod and Georgette, arrives in London to have a Season before marrying Everod’s brother, Everod sees his opportunity. He’ll seduce Maura, strike a blow against his family, and ruin the plans of Georgette all in one fell swoop.

Everod is presented as an angry man, ruled by his emotions which makes a revenge plot difficult to carry …

Dear Mrs. Blake,

Years ago, I read one of your earlier historical books and kept in mind the unusual setting of early 19th century Louisiana until I found a replacement copy for the one I lost. Then I don’t think it was so noticeable as now when almost no time exists for publishers except Regency England and every character must be a Duke. I’m glad to see you’re still writing close to home.

“I require your expertise in order to kill a man.”

Gavin Blackford paused in the act of taking a glass of Maderia from a tray on the side table. Such a clear yet low-voiced request was unexpected during the courtesy call for Reveillon, the celebration of New Year’s Day. It was particularly surprising from a lady.

From the beginning, my interest was caught. Who was this woman who needed to kill someone and why was she approaching a fencing master? Gavin is just as surprised and intrigued. At first he thinks only to hear her out then politely decline. She is after all, a delectably beautiful woman and he has a fine sense of appreciation for such things. But then her …

Dear Mrs. Canham,

This one reads like one of those old, rootin’, tootin’ shoot ‘em up Western movies. I rolled my eyes in places and had a few problems but overall this is 500 pages of pure adrenaline. I do think I would be remise in not warning readers that the violence is sometimes graphic and some of it is against women.

Aubrey Blue is on her way back to Santa Fe after ten years and she’s aiming for vengeance. Her family was killed, their ranch burned and she barely escaped with her life. Now the man responsible, Maxwell Fleming, is going to pay. But first she has to get there. Posing as a prim schoolmarm, she boards the stage in Great Bend, Kansas and along with an assortment of interesting characters, braves the hot, dusty, rutted road and attack from a renegade band of Comanches. But before she arrives in New Mexico, she realizes that her greatest danger might be in the arms of Christian McBride, a man with reasons of his own to hate Fleming.

McBride has spent the last five years breaking rocks in Leavenworth after being set up for manslaughter by Fleming. …

Dear Ms Harris,

I’d seen your books available in a few other catalogues but it took one of the 100% rebates from Fictionwise to spur me into action. As Jane says, what’s to lose? Watching the new Ken Burns PBS series on WWII had me in the mood so I took the plunge. The book starts a little slowly but I was soon lost in the wealth of visual details about life in the countryside of France during the German occupation of WWII and how this impacted the family of Framboise, her widowed mother and two siblings. Memories of the event that shattered their small town still linger in the modern day village but some spark of the defiance and stubborness that filled her youth has made Boise return as an older widow herself.

It’s hard to like almost every main character in the book at some point or another during the story, yet I still had sympathy for almost all of them. Boise, fighting against her rapacious nephew and his wife now and against her mother’s seeming stone heart then. Mirabelle, trying to keep a roof over her childrens’ heads …

Dear Mrs Beverley,

I’ll be honest up front and state that your Georgian and Medieval books are my favorites. In fact, I haven’t really read that many of the Company of Rogues books outside of the “3 Georges” novels and the ensuing single title books that followed them. I liked them, I enjoyed reading them but…see the first sentence. In addition, I’m usually beyond anal about reading a series in order. But at this point, I’m so far behind on the CoR that I decided to just jump in with “Lady Beware” and see how well a new reader could do with it.
For generations, the Cave family has been marked by scandal, madness, and violence. But after earning a reputation for bravery in the army, Horatio Cave, the new Viscount Darien, has come home to charm London society and restore the family name. He means to start with the lovely Lady Thea Debenham.

The magnetism between them is immediate, but can Thea trust the dark, sexy “Vile Viscount”? And will Thea’s brother Dare-the most dashing member of the Company of Rogues-believe that Horatio does not deserve the cursed Cave reputation?
The novel starts almost explosively with the …

Dear Ms. Charles,

I like your decision to write a western with a strong heroine in it. Like you, I grew up watching TV westerns and always wanted the women to do more than just wait at home while the menfolk went out and saved the day. You’ve certainly given your heroine something to do, too.

Bethany Hart has no intention of getting over the day her family was slaughtered by renegade Conferderate soldiers. At least not until she’s hauled all five men in to face justice at the end of a short rope. To that end, she’s spent years practicing her shooting, riding, and roping and honed her bounty hunting skills bringing in wanted criminals. One of the former soldiers has already been hanged for his crimes and she’s elated to be bringing in another to the Kansas town of Burnt Prairie. But when she drops him off with the local Marshall, Bethany gets a weird feeling. The Marshall is a little too eager to shut the man up and throw him into a jail cell. The next morning, when she finds out the man escaped, Bethany is disgusted to have to head out after the man …

Dear Mrs. Norman,

Some reviews might lead readers to think this book is dry,
historical fiction. But I feel those reviewers would be doing readers a disservice. These characters came alive for me. The times and places seemed real. Your descriptions are so deft that for a day I was back in the 18th century of Boston, London, Hertfordshire and Northumberland. Your writing is fantastic and one gets a lesson in history without being aware of it.

But…this book won’t be for everyone. It’s not a true romance and though it has a happy ending, there is heartbreak and tragedy on the way.

Characters one has come to love will die. Others aren’t always good, or perceptive and some make mistakes. The smart ones learn from them even if one wants to still shake them at times. They are real people. One sees what 18th century business women were up against, what the poor and dispossessed had to fight, that right doesn’t always lead to justice.