I recently said that I have a lot more patience for historical rogues than I do for contemporary assholes in romance. This is still true, but Sebastian Ballister, Marquess of Dain really tested my strength. Owing to not being loved enough as a child, he’s belligerently awful to everyone, even those who consider themselves friends. He doesn’t like anyone, but he’s especially contemptuous of “females.” In a fun bit of head-scratching irony, he sneers both at whores and ladies for perfectly opposing and complementary reasons: […]
As Primitive as Can Be – A Historical Romance
My list of unread novels from Carla Kelly’s Regency romance catalog is ever dwindling. I have as much faith that I will get to all of them eventually as Kelly herself does in the innate goodness of people. Beau Crusoe, like Libby’s London Merchant, goes in a different direction from many romances and it was pleasing to read something a little bit different and from such a skilled and experienced author. From Amazon: Stranded alone on a desert island, he had lived to tell the tale. A […]
A romance featuring canal engineering
The Way to a Duke’s Heart is the third book in a trilogy (The Truth About the Duke) and is best not read as a standalone. The romance is self-contained, but the B-plot is very much a continuation of a mystery that has developed over the course of the series. Mild spoilers for the prior two books may follow. Charlie de Lacey, eldest of a trio of brothers and heir apparent to the title Duke of Durham, has a blackmail problem: someone is threatening his […]
Regency Romance Comfort Food with Enough Bite
Oh, Mary Balogh, reading one of your Regency romances is like slipping into a warm bath. Comfortable, always enjoyable and relaxing, you are so wonderfully consistent in your heartfelt stories about broken people finding a kindred spirit to fit their pieces to. Only a Promise is book six in Balogh’s current series, Survivors’ Club, and one I greatly enjoyed. The full series, so far, is as follows – The Proposal The Suitor The Arrangement The Escape Only Enchanting – also particularly enjoyable Only a Promise […]