I’ve been very disappointed in myself this year! I only read 31 books, compared to 102 last year, and almost all of those were in the first few months of the year. I have barely read anything at all since June. Admittedly, I’ve been very busy, with moving and starting a new job, but one… Continue reading Best of 2009

It’s nice to see Harlequin continuing the tradition of the Regency Christmas anthology, even if only one of the stories was really worth reading. A Regency Christmas by Lyn Stone, Carla Kelly and Gail Ranstrom(2009, Regency) 12/28/09Grade: 2, 4 and DNF Three Christmas stories by Lyn Stone, Carla Kelly and Gail Ranstrom. The Lyn Stone… Continue reading A Regency Christmas (Anthology)

I haven’t posted in so long! I’ve barely read anything in the past few months. It took a library notice to nudge me into reading something new. Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb(2009, Futuristic Romantic Suspense) 12/26/09Grade: 3.5 When the 16 year old daughter of a NY police captain is murdered, Eve Dallas is on… Continue reading Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb

For some reason I forgot to enter this in my database, back when I read it in April. Strange! Hopefully I’ll get the details right after this long delay. My only excuse is that I was in the middle of packing… Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James(2009, Contemporary) 4/21/09Grade: 4.5 Payton Kendall has worked hard,… Continue reading Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

Although medieval England isn’t my favorite setting, I enjoy reading medievals from time to time, to have some variety if nothing else. But for a long time they’ve been almost extinct, especially in single titles. (Harlequin Historical kept publishing them.) It’s nice to see a new author who is writing medievals, with more on the… Continue reading Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

I don’t normally write about books that I don’t finish, but in this case, I made an exception. I made it over 100 pages into this one before giving up, and it was a book that I was really looking forward to (and thought that I would enjoy). So I wanted to write something about… Continue reading The Courtesan’s Wager by Claudia Dain

There’s a huge spoiler in this review. I couldn’t really talk about how I felt about this book without discussing the ending. I hardly ever read Harlequin Presents. The uber-rich, uber-dominant alpha heroes just don’t appeal to me. But I love the exotic settings, which are so rare in other contemporary romances, so I’ll pick… Continue reading The Santangeli Marriage by Sara Craven

I like the idea of interconnected stories – there have only been a few Regency anthologies that had this idea, and I’m sure it’s a lot of work for the authors, but it gives the stories a common background, and that helps when trying to create a romance that works despite the short page count.… Continue reading The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor

I’m always a fan of unusual heroes, so of course I was all over this book! The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley(2009, Victorian) 5/21/09Grade: 4 Lord Ian Mackenzie is considered rather “odd”. Some people call him mad. But widowed heiress Beth Ackerley sees his kindness and his sexual attraction, and wants to… Continue reading The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

About six months ago, I decided I needed to significantly downsize my TBR pile. I had a lot of books that I had gotten at book signings, from sales tables, romance conferences, etc., that I realized I would never read. I’d bought many of them 10-15 years ago, when my reading tastes were different. So,… Continue reading My New TBR Pile (Much Smaller!)