I’ve been reading romance since my grandmother would sneak me “approved” books when I was twelve. I’ve always felt like I was born in the wrong century, so it makes sense that historicals would be my favorites. After experiencing some autoimmune issues, I relate to characters dealing with physical or mental challenges, and those are the books that tend to draw me in. I believe many people read to escape “real life” and its accompanying stress (I know I do!). As a writer, my goal is to bring a bit of laughter and light into someone’s life for the few hours they spend with my characters.
I wrote
A Snowlit Christmas Kiss: A Warm and Witty Winter Regency
Upon reading this delight, I could not scrap it from my mind. Spicier in places than many of Carla Kelly’s other Regency romances, Beau Crusoe had a bit of grit tempered with gentle, truly likable lead characters.
Despite the trauma the hero went through prior to the beginning pages, his reserved goodness shines through. I rooted for him and the heroine and their well-fought happy ending as I devoured every page.
Stranded alone on a desert island, he had lived to tell the tale. A triumphant return to the ton saw James Trevenen hailed as Beau Crusoea gentleman of spirit, verve and action. But only he knew the true cost of his survival!Scandalous!
Susannah Park had been shunned by Society. She lived content with her calm existenceuntil Beau Crusoe determinedly cut up her peace! The beautiful widow wanted to help him heal the wounds of the pastbut what secrets was this glorious man hiding?
I have a paperback copy of the original edition of this book that is tattered beyond belief—from multiple readings.
The hero is scarred inside and out and doesn’t expect love or anything soft to enter in his life. Doing a favor for his brother, escorting his brother's bride through the Western wilderness, he is dismayed to find himself falling for her. Another book I can read in a blink and feel every emotion with both angst and joy. This book has long been a favorite.
Anxious to meet her soon-to-be-husband, Dallas Leigh for the first time, mail-order bride Amelia Carson is en route to Fort Worth, Texas. When she steps off the train and locks eyes with her betrothed, she immediately feels drawn to him. But the cowboy standing before her isn't Dallas. Instead, Dallas' brother Houston has been sent to accompany her on the three-week journey to the ranch where she'll begin her new life.
Who belongs to another...
The war Houston Leigh fought has left him with visible scars, a daily reminder of his cowardice on the battlefield.…
This is a book I both adore and abhor. Why would I say such a thing? Because my heart physically hurt in the reading of it.
On the surface, the confident, scientifically minded hero has everything, including a disdain for anyone “lower” than him. But when he’s felled in an instant, everything changes. He cannot communicate—at all—until the lowly daughter of a fellow numerist finds a way to break through the strange walls that now inhabit his brain…
Experiencing these two falling in love was both poignant and yet destructive to my peace of mind. This is one of those books I set down, yes for several months, because I could not bear for it to end, and I needed to fortify myself before reading through to its conclusion.
The Duke of Jervaulx was brilliant and dangerous. Considered dissolute, reckless, and extravagant, he was transparently referred to as the ′D of J′ in scandal sheets, where he and his various exploits featured with frequency. But sometimes the most womanising rake can be irresistible, and even his most casual attentions fascinated the sheltered Maddy Timms, quiet daughter of a simple mathematician.
This book seduced me from page one. I already liked Jennifer Ashley’s contemporary shifters, but this was my first historical romance of hers and I was captivated.
Ian is a hero like no other. From collecting Ming pottery (but only after “tasting”/testing the glaze) to his personality quirks (he’s on the spectrum, but that certainly wasn’t something being discussed nor understood in the 1800s), he is fascinating. Match him with a strong-willed woman who has her own opinions and desires? And I found this to be the recipe for a thoroughly entertaining and memorable read.
A woman is drawn to a dangerously intruiging man in this unique historical romance from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ashley.
It was whispered all through London Society that Ian Mackenzie was mad, that he’d spent his youth in an asylum, and was not to be trusted—especially with a lady. For the reputation of any woman caught in his presence was instantly ruined.
Yet Beth found herself inexorably drawn to the Scottish lord whose hint of a brogue wrapped around her like silk and whose touch could draw her into a world of ecstasy. Despite his decadence and his…
I debated over whether or not to include this book. But ultimately, books I consider “favorites” or “bests” are the ones that stick with me through the years. Even decades after I read them, they are the ones that still nudge my memory and my heart. Bliss is one such book.
The hero struggles, mightily, through much of the book with his addiction. But the eloquent writing of Cuevas cannot be denied, nor can the sophisticated layers she weaves between her characters.
Initially, Nardi de Saint Vallier, a disillusioned young Frenchman who has abandoned his passion for sculpting, thinks Hannah Van Evan is merely a naive young American, but during a summer in Normandy, he is won over by her spirit. Original.
After losing one arm on the battlefield and more than a little reluctant to make the betrothal his family desires an official one, Ed, Viscount Redford, takes the long way home, aghast when he stumbles across a female digging a grave in the dark. Despite his recent injuries, he insists on helping, intrigued by the forthright, outspoken miss and doing his stubborn best to hide his pain.
When the former soldier who chances across Anne this dismal night learns what she’s burying, the incredulous knave curses his dismay. Anne shouts right back, and soon the two are caught up in the most exhilarating evening—and kisses. But when secrets come to light, any future between them is threatened most severely.
Historical fiction inspired by the story of Mary Leakey, who carved her own path to become one of the world's most distinguished paleoanthropologists.
It's 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. Here, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories.
Their interaction reminds Mary how she pursued her ambitions of becoming an archeologist in the 1930s by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. When well-known paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey…
Historical fiction inspired by the story of Mary Leakey, who carved her own path to become one of the world's most distinguished paleoanthropologists.
It's 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. Here, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories.
Their interaction reminds Mary how she pursued her ambitions of becoming an archeologist in the 1930s by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. When well-known paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey…
