I’ll Make it Anywhere: Duchess by Design

The dress shown on the cover does not match the practical dressmaking discussed in the book. Maya Rodale's 2018 Duchess by Design is a great story, with a perfect balance of romance, humour, and social commentary. It's 1895, and the Duke of Kingston has inherited an estate in desperate need of funds. His solution, a …

Cheap, Cheerful, and Chaste – Regencies from Joyce Alec

Although my eReader of choice is Kobo, I have the Kindle app on my phone. I have my phone with me when busing (and ferrying) about town, so I do most of my reading on that. When I finish a book, suggestions for something similar are right there. Buy Now With 1-click is a terrible …

It’s all taken care of: The Marriage Pact

The Marriage Pact, Wendy Sotis, 2018 Several years ago, Sotis started writing Austen fan fiction, and has published many variations of Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship, with more promised, but The Marriage Pact is an original Regency romance. James and Celia have been friends for years, due to connections between their families, and as the story …

Historical Reads

I am behind in reviews, thanks to a busy month which has had more opportunity for reading, but less for writing. I praised historicals in my last post, have read many recently, and I'm going to try and catch up on reviewing them here. Click a title in the list to jump to that review. …

Escape to the Past: The Rock Creek Six

After several years of reading romance novels, I've narrowed my preferred romance story type for reading and writing: Contemporary tales featuring ordinary people, with strengths, flaws, and pasts, who are happy on their own, but find another person who helps them grow. I've enjoyed other types - paranormals, millionaire, billionaire, suspense, and so on - …

A Breathless Race: Chasing the Heiress

Chasing the Heiress is a 2016 historical romance  from Rachel Miles. This is from Zebra books, specifically their Shout Fresh New Romance line. Not sure what that all means. The story is in a series called Muses Salon, but in this book the titular salon is just an idea occasionally mentioned. It's been a while …

Pride and Other Worlds: The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic, by Emily Croy Barker, is a 2013 fantasy novel. As I said when I reviewed The Demon's Daughter, many stories marketed under the umbrella of fantasy have the superficial aspects of the genre, but not the core elements. I'm happy to say that Guide to Magic has the …

My Lady’s Honour

My Lady's Honor, by Julia Justiss, is a 2002 Historical Romance from Harlequin. My copy was originally printed in England, so titled My Lady's Honour and sold by Mills and Boon. I wrote about the book's history in The Well-traveled Book. I can't decide if this story is charming or annoying. Gwennor's father has died, and …

Royal’s Bride

After reading Kat Martin's Royal's Bride, a 2009 book recently republished by the upscale Harlequin imprint Mira Books, I had two thoughts. First, this is great, and second, this wonderful mix of melodrama, passion, and realism seems familiar. That's because I read another Martin, Heartless, about a year and half ago, and loved it too. …

The MacGregors: Rebellion

I've never read Roberts before, though I know the name. I didn't associate her with Romance novels, but instead with the sort of works published by Harold Robbins and Jacqueline Susan. That may sound a bit snobby, particularly coming from a fan of category romance, not known for its great literature, but I prefer works …