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I’m not sure if Jade Lee meant the opening scene in her latest “The Dragon Earl” to be hysterically funny or if it’s just me. But as soon as I began picturing the scene in my head I couldn’t stop giggling. The lavish society wedding of a future Earl interrupted…by 3 Chinese monks in robes. The scandal! Can’t you just see the oh-so-proper upper class British nobility snobs? Too delicious.
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Another tortured hero served up for our delectation! “Where There’s Fire” is my first contemporary romantic suspense by Maureen McKade. I didn’t realize that I had recently read one of her historical romance novels until I was typing this review and my fingers remembered the name. Then, of course, I had to check out why and bingo! Now, I find myself comparing her writing styles and realizing that there are many similarities. Not so strange, I guess, but still. A serial arsonist turned murderer, a twisted pimp, a drug-addicted ‘ho, and in the middle of it all one female cop and one mysterious man.
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I have shivers running up and down my spine. I just finished “Broken Pieces” by Carla Cassidy and I really hope none of my stairs creak tonight or I’ll likely have a heart attack screaming my head off. If you like books that scare you and have you looking over your shoulder, this one will fit the bill.
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My, my, my. How to describe “Prey” by Melina Morel? It’s NOT a romance, although there certainly is a smidge of animalistic, scratching, biting sex (well, it’s about shapeshifters!) included. It’s NOT just a mystery. It’s not just urban fantasy. It’s NOT horror. It’s a very interesting mix of all the above. But I would have to say is more of an urban fantasy suspense mystery. How’s that for a new category?
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I just love reading romances that leave me with a sappy smile on my face! “Passion and Pleasure in London” by Melody Thomas is just such a novel. It has a dastardly villain with a witchy daughter that both receive their well-deserved comeuppance at the hands of our hero and heroine who then live happily ever after. Happy sigh.
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I’m always on the lookout for new authors to enjoy. So having the opportunity to review a book from an author new to me is a great way to spend a Sunday. I opened “The Wild Sight” by Loucinda McGary with anticipation and proceeded to travel to Ireland into a mystery and became caught up in a love story.
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During the late regency period in England, there were fears of a ‘British Revolution’. Remember that not so long before this time the ‘colonies’ had successfully achieved their independence and established a democracy, throwing off the bonds of a monarchy. France had their ‘Glorious Revolution’ and did away with their monarchs via ‘Madame Guillotine’. In any event, the regency period encompassed more than the blissful excesses of ‘Prinny’ and the ton, but it’s very rare to read anything about this in a regency romance novel.
“The Dangerous Duke” by Christine Wells opens with the plight of a vicar imprisoned under suspicion of sedition because he refuses to name the rebels accused of burning a peer’s home. The fire killed four members of the aristocracy and is assumed to be a prelude to revolutionary activities. I personally found this fascinating (history geek alert!), but the author quickly moves on to more salacious events involving the theft of a scandalous diary, a headstrong widow, and a hardboiled Home Office investigator who has become a Duke.
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Yes! I took a quick break from all things romance to read “Death’s Half Acre” by Margaret Maron. This is a story about greed and murder in small town America. It’s not bloody, it’s not scary, it’s just a good way to pit your ‘li’l gray cells’ against those of the author for a couple of hours.
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What woman hasn’t dreamed of being irresistible to men? Of having any man you want at your feet, either figuratively or maybe even literally for those bad girls out there. Well Allyson Roy has written a cleverly plotted mystery about just that. “Aphrodisiac” is a slick, intricate mystery about a murder committed over an ancient aphrodisiac brought back to life.
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If you had a magic ring and could make one wish, what would it be? Now imagine you are a typical regency miss secretly in love with a dashing rogue of a Lord and you get the wish…what now? Well, that’s pretty much the plot of “Tempted By The Night” by Elizabeth Boyle. This is her second book in the ‘Marlow’ series about a family who comes into possession of a magic ring that grants the holder one wish…then forces events to cause the wish to come to fruition. An interesting twist on a ‘genie-type’ theme.
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I should confess from the start that I am not a big fan of conspiracy theories. So I was probably the wrong person to read and review “Faceless” by Debra Webb. Once I figured out how just how many ‘dirty’ police, politicians, doctors, lawyers, etc were involved, the story was far outside the bounds of believability for me and that pretty much put paid to my enjoyment of the rest of the novel.
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How can any red-blooded woman pass up a book with the title “Don’t Make Me Choose Between You and My Shoes”? The latest offering by Dixie Cash is a hilarious caper starring two of the most unlikely private eyes you’d ever want to meet: Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin, owners of the Styling Station Beauty Salon in Salt Lick, Texas! I would definitely classify this book in the genre of madcap mystery.
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