A Reviews / Book Reviews / DNF Reviews1880s / botany / Cornwall / duchess / fish-out-of-water / gardener / heroine in disguise / historical romance / joint review / redemption / Road Trip Romance / runaway bride / snobbery7 Comments
Janine: Layla and I reviewed Joanna Lowell’s last two historicals and when I saw that this one was coming out, I asked her if she would like to review it together as well. She agreed. The Runaway Duchess is the story of Lavinia Yardley, who was engaged to Anthony, Duke ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ Reviews1880s / Across the Tracks Romance / businesswoman / class differences / fish-out-of-water / historical romance / joint review / Late Victorian / long-lost heir / romance series / Scotsman / The Wallflowers meet the Ravenels19 Comments
Note: Since we had fun reviewing Chasing Cassandra together, Janine and I decided to do a joint review of Devil in Disguise. Jennie: Before Janine got me into reading the two most recent Lisa Kleypas historical series (the Ravenels and then the Hathaways—Kleypas had a couple of contemporary series in ... more >
B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads1920s / 20th century / fish-out-of-water / Historical / historical mystery / Hollywood / Hollywood Golden Age / Los Angeles / murder mystery / silent movie8 Comments
“You shall never have a penny of my money. Leave me alone or I will shoot you dead!” 1924. After six months in Hollywood, young British widow Emma Blackstone has come to love her new employer, glamourous movie-star Kitty Flint – even if her late husband’s sister is one of ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsContemporary / fish-out-of-water / Montana / opposites attract / runaway bride / self discovery2 Comments
She promised she’d go anywhere… When lifestyle “it” girl Lilou Langdon dumps her wealthy, snobby fiancé days before their highly-promoted society wedding, she can’t get out of Manhattan fast enough. Desperate to escape, she begs her magazine editor for the first assignment out of town. With her designer luggage and ... more >
Book Reviews / C ReviewsContemporary / epistolary / Fiction / fish-out-of-water / London / long distance relationship / nurse / PTSD / Scotland7 Comments
Lissa, is a nurse in a gritty, hectic London neighborhood. Always terribly competent and good at keeping it all together, she’s been suffering quietly with PTSD after helping to save the victim of a shocking crime. Her supervisor quietly arranges for Lissa to spend a few months doing a much ... more >
B Reviews / Book ReviewsContemporary / dysfunctional family / family relationships / fish-out-of-water / Hillwilla series / older woman / West Virginia / Womens-FictionComments Off on REVIEW: On the Hillwilla Road by Melanie Forde
This follow-up novel to Hillwilla explores how disparate characters can grow to need and depend on one another In Hillwilla, Beatrice Desmond, a former Bostonian Ivy Leaguer, found herself in midlife on a llama farm in remote West Virginia. Clara Buckhalter, a troubled young girl, drew Beatrice out of her ... more >