A few weeks ago, I read a string of hero-as-chef romances all in a row: The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand, Ruby by Jeffe Kennedy and this one, Truly by Ruthie Knox. I waited to review it until closer to the release date, which is this Tuesday. I’d read one other book by Knox in
There are phrases that get repeated in romance novels all the time. I’ve never been sure whether these are genre markers or what, but they’re part of what non-romance readers find irritating about romance. They’re not quite purple prose: they’re not flowery enough for that. But maybe lavender? A couple of weeks ago, I wrote
I admit it. My reaction to most paranormal romance has been eye rolling. It’s ridiculous because I love fantasy and even some horror; my first “book boyfriend” was the Phantom of the Opera. It’s also unjust to dismiss an entire sub-genre because of some horrible covers you once saw fifteen years ago. For the record,
It’s books like Have Mercy that make me sad more people don’t read erotic romance. Shelley Ann Clark may be a first-time author, but this book doesn’t read like a first effort. It’s super hot, it’s tightly written and Clark conveys truth about humanity and feminism that will stick with me for a long time
When I started Cooking Up Romance a couple of months ago, there were a few books that people kept pointing me toward and saying I absolutely had to read, largely for their sheer volume of food. Laura Florand’s Chocolate Series was at the top of that list. And they were totally right. The Chocolate
Ruby by Jeffe Kennedy* is just one of those books that I wish I could dive into and paddle around in for a while. It seems oh-so-appropriate to set a BDSM-flavored erotic romance in the town that has everything to teach the rest of the United States about the meaning of true debauchery. This wickedly
Over the past few months, I’ve gotten rather picky about newer historicals. I’m not immune to a good romp through drawing rooms and gaming hells, but there usually has to be some distinguishing factor like a really broken hero (see last Thursday’s post) or a bluestocking heroine. Even writers who are doing Very Different Things
The second book of Molly O’Keefe’s Boys of Bishop series, Never Been Kissed (pre-order now for release on July 1st), is an intensely personal journey of two very different people helping each other find love. When the book starts out, the heroine has been kidnapped by pirates. The hero rushes to her rescue, arriving in
Here at Cooking Up Romance, I post a romance novel review with a matching recipe on Mondays and then Thursdays usually mean a brief essay on some topic tangential to my interest in romance like how to find great writers on Twitter and why romance gets so little literary credit. This week though, my brush
