Violet Winspear’s bestseller, The Honey is Bitter, was originally published in 1967 by Mills & Boon. Paul, a Greek tycoon, blackmails Domini into marriage. 4 stars
4 stars
Category Romance Review: Merry Christmas by Emma Darcy
Simply titled Merry Christmas, Emma Darcy’s category romance foray into the holidays will have you near tears. It may have you wishing some evil villains get their well-deserved comeuppance. This book is an angst-filled yet ultimately very happy Christmas Harlequin Presents. 4 stars
Category Romance Review: Song of the Waves by Anne Hampson
Wendy Brown is a not-yet-21-year-old Englishwoman who’s been given the worst news imaginable: she has an inoperable brain tumor and will die in a few months. Rather than spend her last days wallowing in despair, Wendy decides to make the best of her lot. Alone in the world, she sells her family home and buys a ticket for the maiden voyage of a glamorous cruise ship that’s set to sail the world. Thus begins Anne Hampson’s Song of the Waves, a vintage Harlequin Presents written in 1976. 4 stars
Historical Romance Review: Passion’s Bride (aka The Captain’s Lady) by Jo Goodman
This review is of Passion’s Bride, aka The Captain’s Lady by Jo Goodman. The book begins in 1809, where the fledgling American navy hopes to enlist the services of the pirate Alex Danty to help sink British ships. 4 stars
Category Romance Review: Rainy Day Kisses by Debbie Macomber
I adore a love story where one partner is restrained and uptight and the other is open and free-spirited. Rainy Day Kisses, a Harlequin Romance by Debbie Macomber depicts those elements just perfectly. It’s about a woman who has zero time for frills and silly moments enjoying life. However, she butts head with her neighbor, a laid-back kind of guy who loves flying kites. 4 stars
Historical Romance Review: The King’s Pleasure by Shannon Drake
Shannon’s Drake’s (aka Heather Graham) The King’s Pleasure is set amid the intense medieval backdrop of the Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death. It’s a solid romance in a historical age that always grips my attention. 4 stars
Category Romance Review: A> Loverboy by Judith Arnold
Published in 1991, Judith Arnold’s A> Loverboy is the final installment in the Harlequin American Romance line “A Century of Romance” series. A> Loverboy is a humorous romance about two coworkers falling in for each other in an unusual way. Before there was “You’ve Got Mail” with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, there was this book. 4 stars
Historical Romance Review: Sarina by Francine Rivers
Sarina is a bodice ripper-lite written by Francine Rivers, the best-known and most successful author of Christian-centered, or “inspirational” romances. If you can read get your hands on this hard-to-find book, give it a chance. 4 stars
Category Romance Review: Tabitha in Moonlight by Betty Neels
Tabitha in Moonlight is a light romance about an efficient, capable nurse (aren’t they always in these books?) of an elderly men’s ward who falls for the new surgeon, Dr. Marius van Beek. Betty Neels wields the typical doctor-nurse romance into a Cinderella story, with Tabitha starring as the poor, down-trodden stepdaughter who gets no love from her wicked step-mother and equally wicked step-sister. Dr. van Beek plays the role of the prince, but fortunately, this Prince is far more astute than his fairy tale predecessor, not requiring a glass slipper to identify his true lady love. 4 stars
Category Romance Review: The Pirate and His Lady by Margaret St. George
Margaret St. George’s The Pirate and His Lady isn’t a historical romance, but a time-traveling adventure published through Harlequin’s American Romance line. The romance here is bittersweet, as most time travels romances are. 4 stars