Sarah Mayberry's "One Good Reason"

Grade: B+

passion rating: hot

For many a woman of my advanced age--50--the mere mention of Harlequin romances engenders painful memories of crappy books with silly covers read in their teens. That's a shame because today Harlequin publishes more than a few really well-written novels. One of my favorite Harlequin authors is the Australian writer Sarah Mayberry. Ms. Mayberry's books feature real people with real problems portrayed with nuance and by excellent prose. I enjoyed her latest, One Good Reason, immensely.


One Good Reason is the story of the bumpy love affair between Jon Adamson (he's the older brother of another of Ms. Mayberry's heroes) and Gabby Wade. Jon, who was abused as a boy, is a borderline alcoholic who sheers away from any and all emotional closeness. He has lived in Canada for many years but has returned to Australia after his father dies in order to finally come to terms with his past and thus be able to define his future. Gabby works for Jon's brother Tyler, a man she lived with for years and whom she left when she realized he'd never really love her. Both Jon and Gabby long for something better than the empty emotional lives they have but both are terrified of the possible costs of commitment to another.


Gabby and Jon don't immediately fall into each others' arms. Gabby thinks Jon's a bounder, not worthy of Tyler's--and the firm's--trust. Jon thinks Gabby is an uptight, judgmental prig. They circle each other warily until they conflagrate first in anger and then in passion. Their initial relationship is almost combatively sexual and both are threatened by the deep seated emotions their encounters elicit.


Sarah Mayberry never shies away from complex issues and in One Good Reason she takes on the scars left by child abuse. Gabby is much quicker than Jon to trust the feelings their connection engenders. Despite having been hurt by Tyler, she is, after a time, willing to offer her heart to Jon. Jon, however, is truly damaged by his abusive childhood. He doubts himself too much to believe he could ever offer a safe and sane future to any woman. He knows he's a good-luck guy women like in bed but he can't see himself as a husband or a father. Gaby, once she falls for Jon, isn't willing to settle for anything less than forever.


I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Mayberry's books feature men and women that--except for being Australian--seem just like men and women I might know. Jon and Gabby are credible characters--both their pain and their passion come across as viable and compelling. When the two finally find their happily ever after, it's one I enjoyed and believed in. If Ms. Mayberry is representative of the Harlequin catalog, I'll happy brave those still pretty silly covers!

Roxanne St. Claire's "Face of Danger"

Grade: B-

passion rating: hot

First impressions matter. Fortunately they don't always presage what's to come. My initial impression of Face of Dangerwas one of annoyed incredulity. The heroine, Vivi Angelino, said to "have some of the best investigative instincts around," agrees to a contractual agreement even the most gullible of marks would question. The hero, Colton Lang, "an uptight Dudley Do-Right" FBI agent, engages in eye-poppingly nonsensical oral sex in an airplane with a scantily clad Vivi. At page 82, I detested this book. By its finish, however, I found it an enjoyable yarn.

Face of Danger is the third book in Roxanne St. Claire's Guardian Angelinos series. I've not read the first two but didn't need to for this book to make sense. The Guardian Angelinos is the name of a security firm run by Vivi and her twin Zach. (His story is told in the first book in the series Edge of Sight.) Vivi desperately wants her agency to make it to the big time. So, when she reads there's a possible serial killer slaying actresses who've won the Oscar, she sees a way to fame and fortune. Vivi looks a lot like actress Cara Ferrari and Cara is up for best actress award. Vivi approaches Cara and proposes, if Cara wins, Vivi will impersonate her. The "Red Carpet Killer" will come after Vivi (believing she's Cara), Cara will be safe, Vivi will bring in the killer and thus make her name in the security business. Cara agrees to the plan but swears Vivi to extreme secrecy: if Vivi tells anyone - including any law enforcement officers or family - she isn't actually Cara, Cara will force Vivi to pay her ten million dollars. Vivi, inexplicably, agrees.


click here to read the rest of the reivew

Liz Carlyle's "The Bride Wore Scarlet"

Grade: B

passion rating: warm

Halfway through Liz Carlyle’s latest historical romance, The Bride Wore Scarlet, I put it down and went to reread the first book in The Fraternitas Trilogy, Ms. Carlyle’s latest slightly paranormal series. I enjoyed that book, One Touch of Scandal, but had forgotten its premise. I was glad I did — One Touch of Scandal is a fun tale and rereading it placed the plot and the characters in The Bride Wore Scarlet in context. One could read The Bride Wore Scarlet without having read One Touch of Scandal, but it wouldn’t be as meaningful.

I use that word deliberately. In this series Ms. Carlyle poses significant questions about destiny, fate, and responsibility. Her heroes and heroines struggle, at times painfully, to carve out lives — and loves — true to the tasks and talents life has bestowed upon them.

The hero in The Bride Wore Scarlet is Geoff, Lord Bessett — the son of the couple from an earlier Ms. Carlyle novel Three Little Secrets. Geoff, like the hero in One Touch of Scandal, has the gift of the Sight. The word gift, though, is a misnomer. It’s no gift to see the dangers about and the deaths to come of those around you. It’s a huge responsibility and requires enormous mental discipline. Geoff has that discipline, but it’s made him a chilly, almost remote man. The one thing he gives himself to is the work of the St. James Society (the fraternity of the series), an ancient group of Guardians whose mission is to protect those with the gift of the Sight, called the Vateis, typically women and children, from those who would exploit the Vateis’ abilities for evil ends. Additionally, Geoff, who has struggled with the burden of the Sight all his life, knows a child with the Sight must be trained to understand and successfully manage the gift. So, when the Society learns there is a young Vateis in Brussels whose Guardian has been murdered and who, with her mother, is virtually imprisoned by an iniquitous man (the rogue plans to use the girl’s gift to restore the French monarchy) Geoff volunteers to go to Brussels and convey the mother and daughter back to England.

click here to read the rest of the review

Melody Thomas's "This Perfect Kiss"

Grade: C

passion rating: warm

As a reviewer, I aim to be fair. But true fairness implies a lack of context for each book and I doubt I am quite that impartial. I tend to read debuts with greater charity; I suspect I am harder on authors I’ve read and loved. Melody Thomas falls into the latter category. Her Donally family series is a favorite; its Match Made in Scandal, a DIK for me. When I read Ms. Thomas, I expect a neat plot, clever dialogue, and persuasive lovers. This Perfect Kiss was unsatisfactory on all three fronts.

The novel, a Scottish tale based loosely on the Cinderella motif, begins with a kiss between the illegitimate, half-American Christel Douglas and Camden, the earl of Carrick. He is a decorated British hero and she has crashed a ball held in his honor. Christel has loved Camden for years. She’s come to this ball to ask him to seduce her — in a few weeks time he’s to choose a bride from his class and she sees this night as her last chance to have, even if it’s just once, the man she loves. Christel, dressed in a golden mask, a golden dress she’s made, and golden slippers she’s sold her hair to buy, follows Camden out into the garden and the two kiss. As they embrace, servants call for Camden to rejoin the ball and the two then part without Camden knowing who she is.

click here to read the rest of the review

Karen Hawkins's "Scandal in Scotland"

Grade: C

passion rating: warm

Scandal in Scotland is the second in a series of books by Karen Hawkins centered on an object called the Hurst Amulet. An amulet is a charm, usually worn about the neck, which wards off evil. In Scandal in Scotland, our heroine and hero are chasing after an onyx box that does not have any charms or jewelry in it at all. The onyx box is consistently referred to as an ancient artifact - an artifact being something created by someone for some practical purpose. Perhaps later in the Hurst Amulet series the amulet will appear and the reason for the name of the series will become clear. I'll never know. This book was such a bland, predictable read; I've no interest in the rest of the series.

The book - and each chapter - begins with a letter from one Hurst family member to another. (I disliked the letters — they interrupted the narrative, and given that I hadn’t read the first book, several of them made little sense.) In the first chapter, the letter is from imprisoned explorer and Egyptologist Michael Hurst to his brother sea captain William Hurst. Michael is being held by captors who want the amulet/artifact/box. The Hurst brothers’ sister Mary apparently got the amulet/artifact/box in the first book in the series and handed it off to William. William plans to take it to Egypt and give it to the as yet unidentified bad guys holding Michael. William brings the amulet/artifact/box to his ship and is readying to set sail when, in his cabin, he encounters the only woman he's ever loved, the famed actress Marcail Beauchamp.


click here to read the rest of the review

Isobel Carr's "Ripe for Pleasure"

Grade: C passion rating: hot

Isobel Carr’s debut romance has an unusual heroine in Viola Whedon. Viola, an extravagantly beautiful woman with tumbling red-gold curls, has been one of London’s most sought after courtesans for the past decade. She is currently on the outs with her protector - he was incensed when he discovered she planned to include him in the second volume of her memoir. The first one, already published, is a favored read of the scandal hungry ton. Viola hopes the money from the second will keep her “in coal and lobster patties for years to come” as she is ready to leave the mistress business behind.

Viola, at age 27, senses her days as a top “fashionable impure” are behind her, and that without a career change she’ll slip into common whoredom. She, despite having spread her legs for money for ten years, never wanted to be even an uncommon whore. (When she was just 15, she eloped. He died, both families shunned her, and as is so often the case in historical romance, young widowed Viola was too lovely to be hired for anything else.) Even worse, she doesn’t usually enjoy the sex inherent to her profession, because “the ones worth bedding were never the ones who could afford to keep her.”


click here to read the rest of the review