June 12, 2020

REVIEW: Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?: Another John Pickett Mystery by Sheri Cobb South

JayneB+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Readsclass-difference / England / family relationships / Historical / London / mystery / Regency6 Comments

When one of his colleagues witnesses a robbery in which one of the participants, a child, bears a striking resemblance to a certain Bow Street Runner, John Pickett realizes he has a young half-brother who has been “apprenticed” to a criminal gang. The brutal murder of the pursuing constable makes ... more >

September 9, 2019

REVIEW: Into Thin Eire by Sheri Cobb South

JayneB Reviews / Book Reviewsclass-difference / England / Historical / Ireland / mystery / Regency / revenge3 Comments

Now you see her… Still haunted by memories of his last case, in which an innocent woman was accidentally killed, Bow Street Runner John Pickett welcomes the challenge of a new assignment in the West Country. Unfortunately, this time he’ll have to leave his beloved wife, Julia, behind, as he’ll ... more >

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 / POC / police / queen / thief / turn of the century / Urban-Fantasy / Washington DC / werewolves15 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 >