What We’ve Been Reading

The Collection

Explore our full library of honest reviews and literary recommendations.

The Other Guy’s Bride

As I read Ms. Brockway’s much anticipated The Other Guy’s Bride, I was reminded of one of my favorite featherweight films, the 1999 romantic comedy caper “The Mummy.” The novel,…

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A Beginner’s Guide to Rakes

In Ms. Enoch’s latest, The Beginner’s Guide to Rakes, the first paragraph reads: “Very few things in the world could make Oliver Warren, the Marquis of Haybury, flinch. He could…

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To Pleasure a Duke

When I was growing up, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” was regularly put forth as an argument against premarital sex. This awful phrase…

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Real Men Will

Ms. Dahl’s final book in her Donovan Brothers Brewery series tells the story of Eric, the eldest and least at ease of the Donovan siblings. He, like his brother and…

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A Lily among Thorns

I had hoped to love this book. I thought Ms. Lerner’s debut, In for a Penny, was marvelous. I did not love this book…but I did really like it. And…

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A Bride Unveiled

The first two chapters of Ms. Hunter’s A Bride Unveiled are terrific. Violet Knowlton is thirteen and growing up in the sleepy English town of Monk’s Huntley. She has three…

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Only His

The penultimate love scene at the end of Only His involves a giant metal vagina. Yep. True love is declared amidst a giant metal vagina. This didn’t work for me….

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A Scoundrel’s Surrender

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover and the couple on the cover of Ms. Petersen’s latest is downright skanky. The chick looks like a stripper at a…

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Slow Ride

Slow Ride, the latest in Ms. McCarthy’s Fast Track series, is a wreck of a book. The heroine is abrasive and has an unpleasant drinking pattern; the hero, an emotionally…

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Swept Off Her Stilettos

Somewhere out there are readers who will love this book. It’s sweet, the heroine didn’t get enough love as a small child, she hides her true self under a faux…

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Seven Years to Sin

Seven Years to Sin commences (and concludes) with coitus. At its start, Lady Jessica Sheffield, on the eve of her wedding, is walking her dog on her fiancé’s estate. The…

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Animal Attraction

Jill Shalvis has a reputation for writing light, funny, sexy romances. Her latest, Animal Attraction, blows that reputation to smithereens. Make no mistake, Animal Attraction is funny and hot as…

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