What We’ve Been Reading

The Collection

Explore our full library of honest reviews and literary recommendations.

Never Gamble Your Heart

I enjoyed the first book in this series, Never Blow a Kiss. It was wallpapery, sure, but very entertaining, with leads who sizzled and dialogue that made me laugh. This…

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Lady Anne’s Lover

This is–in some ways–an odd book. The mood is light and humorous and yet the hero struggles with alcoholism, the heroine is on the run from her father who has…

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Kill For Me Kill For You

Steve Cavanagh’s Kill For Me, Kill For You takes its cues from Strangers on a Train, whose premise has inspired works from the gripping (Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa…

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His Enemy’s Daughter

Terri Brisbin’s His Enemy’s Daughter is the third book in her Knights of Brittany trilogy, but it reads just fine on its own. Set in the time of William the…

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Beautiful Ugly

I am so over the big twist. You know what I’m talking about, right? They’re as common in thrillers today as six packs are in contemporary romance. These end of…

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A Sea of Unspoken Things

After 20 years away, James Golden returns to Hawthorne, a remote town nestled within Six Rivers National Forest, to settle the affairs of her twin brother, Johnny. His death has…

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It Takes a Thief

I have a soft spot for Anne Stuart’s books. When she’s at her best, her romances are a masterclass in dark, gripping romance, her heroes are morally iffy and complex…

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Elsewhere

In 2022, I was, in the best way, destroyed by Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I thought it was my first experience with her fiction—until I came across…

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How To End a Love Story

How to End a Love Story is billed a romance shaped by grief and healing. It delivers a shallow, joyless hash instead. I’ve read it–you probably shouldn’t. This is a…

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Nothing But Trouble

I loathe football and you couldn’t pay me to watch a hockey game and yet two of my favorite romance series feature each: Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars (football) and…

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One Forbidden Evening

Jo Goodman hasn’t published a historical romance in over five years and more’s the pity. Her work, often dark, always smart, and peopled with leads that feel vividly real, has…

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Eleanore of Avignon

As a child, I’d clasp the hand of another on the playground, skip in a circle, and sing Ring-a-ring-a-roses, A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down….

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