Luck and Privilege: Book Inserts

Many of the older romances I pick up, and even some of the newer ones, have mail-in cards that sign you up for a monthly book subscription. The cards usually include a gift, sometimes a contest, and always a sticker of some sort that you must remove from one page and attach to another. Presumably …

The Well-traveled Book

My library is not what it used to be. For decades I accumulated books, dragging them back and forth across the country, and my library was a source of pride. Vanity, to be honest. Changing priorities (a euphemism for not having enough money) meant I had to drastically prune the collection, but that task was …

The Babel Codex

I’m a sucker for free ebooks, from the monthly University of Chicago freebie to the collections from Harlequin, and don‘t always pay attention to what I’m downloading. When I clicked “Read Now” on Alex Archer’s The Babel Codex, downloaded free from Harlequin, I assumed it was another romance, albeit with an odd title. One of …

Wicked Loving Lies

Another serendipitous find from the laundry room, Wicked Loving Liesis a classic bodice ripper. From 1976, by Rosemary Rogers, this historical is almost 500 pages, covers a span of several years, and is over the top in every respect. We meet young Marisa in a Spanish convent, where she awaits the arrival of the man …

Where’s Daddy?

My reading of romance novels is too erratic and sporadic to identify trends, but I have noticed a disturbing pattern in many books. Last summer I read several books featuring women who were single, but either pregnant or with a new baby. More recently I have read several books featuring single women with a child …

The Countess Angelique

I thought I was old enough to have learned not to judge a book by its cover. Apparently not. I found The Countess Angelique in the laundry room library. The author is Sergeanne Golon, which I later learned is the pen name for the French writing couple Anne and Serge Golon. Apparently book six in …

Menage on 34th Street

The world of romance novels is much larger than male and female couples. There are romances featuring gays, lesbians, and, in the case of Menage on 34th Street, threesomes. This ebook was written by Elise Logan and Emily Ryan-Davis, and recently published by Carina Press, a division of Harlequin.  Menage on 34th Street is my …

Brandon’s Bride

Santa was good to me, and among other goodies I got a spanking new romance novel (no, not that kind of spanking). Brandon's Bride: A Family Secrets Novelwas originally published in 1998, as a Silhouette Intimate Moments Romance. At the time, the author wrote as Alicia Scott, but she now uses Lisa Gardner, and is …

Married by Mistake

I started this blog intending to review one ebook from each of Harlequin's lines, but lately I've been distracted by laundry room finds. Today I'm getting back on track, at least for one book. This time I'm looking at Married by Mistake, a 2007 Superromance by Abby Gaines. Alert readers may recall that the laundry …

A Princess of Mars

Romances are not the only books I read, but that is the subject of this blog, and it would be irresponsible of me to wander off into action, fantasy, or science-fiction. Yet the boundaries between genres are fuzzy. There are suspense and para-normal romances, and I'm sure science-fiction romances are out there too. A Princess …