I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve found that when I’m backpacking, I do very well with romances. They are entertaining enough to keep my attention in physically uncomfortable circumstances, when exhaustion can make it hard to focus. And as long as I avoid thrillers, they are not scary enough to make me nervous when I’m sleeping alone in the woods. Knowing I was going on a trip, I picked up A Scot in the Dark (2016) by Sarah MacLean. Lillian Hargrove is a beautiful red-haired […]
I just didn’t care…at all
2.5 stars Three years ago, Seraphina “Sera” Bevingstoke, Duchess of Haven, miscarried her daughter (seriously this is NOT a spoiler, it happens in like the second or third chapter) and was persuaded by the Dowager Duchess of Haven that maybe it was best if she just disappeared. With financial help from her antagonistic mother-in-law, Sera flees her disaster of a marriage and goes to America, where she finds a business partner and something she enjoys doing enough to dull the pain in her heart. But […]
I think we all know what’s under the kilt
3.5 stars. I’m a little picky when it comes to romances, but I had such a good time with The Wedding Date that I was in the mood for another. Very happy to report that my second attempt at a Sarah MacLean was successful! Lillian Hargrove, orphaned at a young age, grew up pretty sheltered. When she falls in love with an unscrupulous, but talented rake, she allows herself to be painted nude. Said rake promises Lily that it’s just for him and that they’ll […]
Alpha Hero to Alpha Feminist
The Day of The Duchess made it on to Entertainment Weekly’s 10 Best romances of the year list. It’s also notable because MacLean tore up an earlier version and rewrote her hero, Malcom, Duke of Haven, in response to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. I’ve linked to the piece she wrote explaining that, but if you aren’t a Washington Post subscriber, I pasted most of the text below. This is a second chance at love story. Malcolm and Seraphina […]
Perhaps I Am Not the One Who Is Broken
Warning: The following review contains spoilers and feminist rallying cries I’ve read a handful of historical romance novels, including a weird period in my life where I was briefly into pioneer-era mail-order-bride stories, of which there are a surprising number. (Less surprising, however, than the number of “Earth woman becomes mated to a pair of sexy alien warlords who are sometimes also brothers” stories, which is apparently a genre that exists.) It’s not that I think love stories are inherently bad, or that enjoying them […]
“Bizarre, bespectacled, beautiful woman.”
Pippa is engaged to be married to a decent, but boring and fairly unintelligent, uninspired fellow. Pippa, on the other hand, is scientifically minded and well-read. She is also not very socially adept and worries about the marriage and especially about the wedding night. Which is why she tries to get Cross, a notorious rake, to educate her about sex–although only through lecture and not the dirty deed itself. But Cross refuses because Pippa is an innocent. Plus, she’s his friend’s/business partner’s sister-in-law so […]