What We’ve Been Reading

The Collection

Explore our full library of honest reviews and literary recommendations.

Blame it on Bath

When I was growing up, my mother made it clear there was a path for nice girls who wanted to wed some day. One met a wonderful man, fell in…

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Capturing the Silken Thief

There’s a line in Jeannie Lin’s novella, Capturing the Silken Thief, that evokes the effortless, lyrical beauty of her tale. A man – a scholar – and a woman –…

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Breakaway

Many a romance novel features an adorable small town, filled with people and places a reader might love to experience. Ballycraig, Ireland, the fictional setting of Ms. Martin’s latest New…

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Forever and a Day

The hero of Ms. Marvelle’s latest is in the very first chapter in the book, crashed into by an omnibus on a busy New York street. When he wakes, he’s…

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A Scandalous Countess

In 1763, England passed a law fixing the minimum age for marriage at 16, with parental consent needed for anyone under 21. During the Georgian Period, the average age of…

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She Tempts the Duke

The beautiful and unexpectedly brainy — in the early 1940’s, she designed and patented a sophisticated weapons system, technology is still in use today – actress Hedy Lamarr once said,…

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The Danger of Desire

I can tell you what’s in a book, what I think works, and what doesn’t. It’s much harder to convey the experience of reading that same book. So let me…

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An Affair with Mr. Kennedy

I realized I wasn’t enjoying this Victorian romance when, for the tenth night in a row, I avoided the book. I turned on my Kindle and, instead of opening the…

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The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae

I literarily wended, linguistically traveled, and read with eager purpose, burgeoning desire, and incendiary yearning. Utterly determined — alone and seeking a reviewer’s sweet satiation — engaging my somnolent disbelieving…

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Unraveled

Over a rainy post-holiday weekend, I read – back to back – Courtney Milan’s Turner series. The series comprises three books and a novella and tells the tale, novella excepted,…

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A Lady Awakened

Ms. Grant’s excellent debut should really be titled A Lady and a Gentleman Awakened. Both the heroine, repressed Martha, and the hero, feckless Theo, are, by this novel’s end, alert…

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Seductive as Flame

I delight in sizzling sex and absorbing ambiance in my romances, so I was sure I’d love Susan Johnson. I’ve not read any of her other books, but she’s definitely…

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