While Composing Love by Audra North might look like a conventional contemporary romance, in a lot of ways, it isn’t. There’s the primacy of work, even something as formal as what I might term “calling”. The hero and heroine are both enmeshed in questions of identity and ability as they relate to the world and
Alexis Hall’s Glitterland is a flawless gem of a novel. Certainly the best thing I’ve read all year. Maybe one of the best things I’ve read ever. When I start ranking books in my head, it approaches Prince of Midnight, my favorite Laura Kinsale book and Stardust, my favorite Neil Gaiman book. So I think
[Elisabeth here. I gushed so effusively about Liam, the hero of Emma Barry’s latest DC-set romance, that my husband pestered me until I let him read it. I asked if he had any thoughts he wanted to include in my review. As it turned out, he had lots of thoughts. So I just let
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
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
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
A couple of months ago, I asked my husband if he’d be interested in reading one of my romance novels. Since he’s usually game for pretty much anything and already a genre fiction reader, he agreed. Admittedly, I didn’t expect much. I figured he might read one, get the general gist and then leave me
I’m a late Laura Kinsale convert. Her first book was published when I was still a kid, but in my early absorption with Julie Garwood and a whole host of Harlequin titles (which could be had for 25 cents each from my local used bookstore), I never ran across her work. It wasn’t until
