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REVIEW: To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt

David Xie wrote an interesting post today on
Here’s a quick excerpt
Dear Mrs Hoyt,
I love the beginning of a new series. New characters to meet, new situations to explore, new relationships to work out. Everything’s fresh and (hopefully) wide open. “To Taste Temptation” is, I believe, book one in what looks like a four book series if the fable at the start is our guide. Okay, let’s get going.
Lady Emeline Gordon starts off so correct, so polished, so controlled that I just knew she’d end up rumpled, turned upside down and very out of control. I enjoyed watching Samuel slowly peel away her perfect exterior. She’s afraid to love again after losing her first husband, afraid to trust a man’s promises after the deaths of her brother and father have left her alone and it takes a lot of work to get her heart to crack open enough to admit love again.
Samuel Hartley is a man who enjoys […]

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REVIEW: One Love for Liv by Marianne Arkins

David Xie wrote an interesting post today on
Here’s a quick excerpt
Dear Mrs. Arkins,
My decision to try another of your books coincided nicely with Samhain’s offer of this novel. It’s longer length, screwball comedy feel and more contemporary setting are a 180 degree contrast with the historical novella “Don’t Fence Me In” and gave me a good chance to see what else your writing has to offer.
Screwball comedies require a level of suspension of belief from a viewer/reader. Bizarre situations must be accepted, strange things that would never pass muster in real life have to taken on faith and we have to be willing to be lead where the story goes. Could I keep from staring in disbelief if someone told me about a woman who is almost totally controlled by her rich father despite being a successful business woman and she’s going to marry a man for whom her feelings are tepid at best? And that this woman, thinking that […]

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REVIEW: Thigh High by Christina Dodd

Ned wrote an interesting post today on
Here’s a quick excerpt
Dear Mrs. Dodd,
Despite the promise of eccentric aunts and zany robberies, I decided to try this contemporary novel. The conflict between sensible Nessa Dahl and undercover bank investigator Jeremiah MacNaught sounded intriguing, especially with the implied show down once the truth was revealed. And at first, things worked great but then slowly the eccentricities took over and ended up dimming my view of the whole book.
Books which feature lead characters with whom everyone is seemingly in love usually irritate the crap out of me. It just seems so Mary Sue-ish. Nessa could have annoyed me if you hadn’t have immediately paired her with Mac who doesn’t fall for her as she’s used to. Or at least he doesn’t let her know what his feelings are for her. He added the necessary tonic to balance out the setup that everyone in NO loves the Dahl women. And then the […]

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REVIEW: The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Jayne Did an interesting post today on dearauthor.com
The first bit is quoted here:

Dear Ms. Donnelly,
When I opened the package containing the arc of your latest book “The Winter Rose” I gulped. Reason one: it’s got a very nice cover. Reason two: it’s a hella lot of book. 700+ pages of trade paperback sized book to be exact. It’s the type of book that requires a big time commitment from a reader. Not only because of the length but also because of the plot and intensity of the read. Readers who have longed for a return to the sprawling sagas of days past will rejoice, I think. That is if they really want to read this type book again. As I read it, I unfortunately found that that type of reader is not who I am anymore.
After a trip over to the Big Internet Bookstore to check out reviews of the prequel to this novel, “The Tea Rose,” I found that a lot […]

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REVIEW: On the Wings of Love by Elizabeth Lane

Jayne Blogged about a good topic today on dearauthor.com
The first few lines….

Dear Ms Lane,
Fans of historical romance novels have had slim pickings the past few years. And most of the books from which we’ve had to choose have been set in the overused Regency. Not that a good Regency novel can’t work for me but when presented with something different, something out of the ordinary I get excited. I get hopeful. I hold my breath while reading it, cross my fingers and and almost chant, please let this be good in and of itself and not just a tired, standard plot dressed in fancy clothing. “On the Wings of Love” answers my prayer.
Let’s start with the cover. Simple, lovely, conveying the era and the feelings of the hero and heroine yet without bare chests, heaving bosoms and embarrassing postures. Whoever is responsible for this artistic delight needs to be congratulated.
The period feeling is carried on throughout the story. […]

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REVIEW: Annie on the Lam A Christmas Caper by Jennifer Archer

Jayne Made an interesting post today on dearauthor.com
The first paragraph is here:

Dear Ms. Archer,
The other Next book of yours I read, “Off Her Rocker,” also featured an older heroine stranded in the snow who ends up in a small town where she finds people to help and who help her. Only this time you also throw in a cute former police officer turned PI and send them both on the run from drug dealing bosses and over protective rich daddies.
Annie Macy might seem like she’s an unbelievable character but I know fourty-some year olds who are still daddy’s girls, drifting around life and waiting for Mr. Right. At least Annie is trying to earn a place in her father’s bank even if he’s too protective of her to allow her to take over after he retires. And when she discovers that the latest man her father hoped she’d marry is in love with another woman and that her long dead mother […]

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