January 7, 2019

Janine’s Best of 2018

JanineNeed A Rec! / Reading Lists / Recommended Reads / Top Ten Lists#ownvoices / African American / Asperger's / California / class-difference / Contemporary / Doctor / Eastern Europe / econometrician / escort / Fantasy / India / Italy / journalist / LGBT characters / magic users / moneylender / monsters / Native Americans / Ocean changelings / Paranormal / police / queen / thief / turn of the century / Urban-Fantasy / Washington DC / werewolves13 Comments

I love end-of-year reading lists so I hope our readers share their own favorite books of 2018 in the comments. Here are the 2018 releases I enjoyed most: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik Naomi Novik’s fantasy novel is the story of three young women’s quest for empowerment — a Jewish ... more >

March 2, 2017

REVIEW: For Deader or Worse by Sheri Cobb South

JayneA- Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Readsclass-difference / England / family relationships / Historical / murder-investigation / Regency4 Comments

After a modest wedding ceremony, Bow Street Runner John Pickett and his bride Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, set out for a wedding trip to Somersetshire, where Pickett must face his greatest challenge yet: meeting his in-laws. Sir Thaddeus and Lady Runyon are shocked at their daughter’s hasty remarriage—and appalled ... more >

JanineB Reviews / B+ Reviewsclass-difference / department store / Historical / self made man / Victorian England13 Comments

Dear Ms. Kleypas, Last fall, I read Cold-Hearted Rake, the first book in your new series set in the Victorian era. While I enjoyed the book, I thought the main romance was somewhat overshadowed by the secondary storyline about the heroine’s sister-in-law, the aristocratic Lady Helen Ravenel, and the hero’s ... more >

May 7, 2016

REVIEW: The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp

JayneB- Reviews / Book Reviews1930s / class-difference / estranged family / family relationships / France / Historical / older heroine and hero / pre-WWII4 Comments

TRIGGER WARNING – One derogatory reference likening someone who is cheap to being like Jews. Set in 1930s France, Margery Sharp’s witty, warm-hearted novel tells the story of a free-spirited mother who is reunited with her very proper daughter after sixteen years, when her daughter asks her to inspect her ... more >

November 24, 2015

REVIEW: Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt

JayneC Reviews18th-century / class-difference / England / Georgian / Historical / London / theater / working class17 Comments

SHE’S TAKING CHARGE Prim, proper, and thrifty, Eve Dinwoody is all business when it comes to protecting her brother’s investment. But when she agrees to control the purse strings of London’s premier pleasure garden, Harte’s Folly, she finds herself butting heads with an infuriating scoundrel who can’t be controlled. HE’S ... more >

August 31, 2015

REVIEW: Lady of the Imperial City by Laura Kitchell

JayneB+ Reviews / Recommended Readsclass-difference / Historical / Japan / Japanese culture / multicultural9 Comments

Love isn’t forbidden to Lady Kirei as long as it’s with a proper gentleman of Kyo and she doesn’t mind sharing him with his wife. Her provincial upbringing makes her socially unacceptable as a true wife, yet as a lady by birth and a court favorite, her position makes it ... more >