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Category: Harlequin Presents

lovers touch

Category Romance Review: Lovers Touch by Penny Jordan

Posted on January 28, 2022November 10, 2022 by IntrovertReader

For me, Penny Jordan is an author who’s all over the place. One book can be great, another full of crazy-sauce, others on the blah side. Sadly, her Lover’s Touch is kind of blah. The two protagonists are kept apart by big misunderstandings and lack of communication, which is never fun. 2.5 stars

hard to get mortimer

Category Romance Review: Hard To Get by Carole Mortimer

Posted on January 13, 2022November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Oh boy, when I read “the heroine in pursuit plot” synopsis for this Harlequin Presents, was I ever excited to read it. Heroines who are determined to get their men are my favorite kinds! Alas, when the object of said pursuit is a mean arsehole, the chase isn’t worth it. Still, Hard to Get by Carole Mortimer was a wild, emotional whirlwind. With a more charismatic hero, I could have loved this as opposed to liking it. 3.62 stars

guilty love charlotte lamb

Category Romance Review: Guilty Love by Charlotte Lamb

Posted on January 4, 2022November 10, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Charlotte Lamb’s Harlequin Presents romance Guilty Love is so crazy and full of over-the-top drama. I loved every wild moment of it. As always, YMMV, although this sort of book is right up my alley. But a word of warning: it handles a dark subject that may cause readers some discomfort. 5 stars

for the love of sara don sinclair

Category Romance Review: For the Love of Sara by Anne Mather

Posted on December 30, 2021November 10, 2022 by IntrovertReader

For the Love of Sara isn’t one of Anne Mather’s bests. It features a rather unlikeable hero, which is par for the course for Mather. It doesn’t help that he’s a functioning alcoholic who keeps cans of beer in his glove compartment to help him deal with stress. The heroine isn’t any better. She’s a professional martyr who’s made a lot of poor life decisions. When the book opens, she’s about to embark on another bad choice, but in this case, she’s doing it to save someone she cares for. 2 stars

marriage on the rebound

Category Romance Review: Marriage on the Rebound by Michelle Reid

Posted on December 22, 2021November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Michelle Reid’s Marriage on The Rebound is about keeping it all in the family. Shaan Saketa is unique for a Harlequin Presents circa 1998 heroine, as she’s of mixed ethnic heritage: English and Lebanese. It’s her wedding day. Unfortunately for Shaan, she’s about to be dumped at the altar. 4 stars

the honey is bitter

Category Romance Review: The Honey Is Bitter by Violet Winspear

Posted on December 8, 2021November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

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

merry christmas

Category Romance Review: Merry Christmas by Emma Darcy

Posted on December 1, 2021November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

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

second to none

Covers of the Week #33

Posted on November 21, 2021January 12, 2022 by Jacqueline Diaz

It’s time to appreciate category romance covers again! For this edition of Covers of the Week, we’re focusing on Harlequin publishing in the 1980s. For the week of Monday, November 22, 2021, to Sunday, November 28, 2021 (boy did November fly by, or what?), let’s look upon these passionate category romance covers from Harlequin.

song of the waves

Category Romance Review: Song of the Waves by Anne Hampson

Posted on November 16, 2021November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

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

stranger in the night

Category Romance Review: Stranger in the Night by Charlotte Lamb

Posted on October 28, 2021November 10, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Charlotte Lamb’s Stranger in the Night deals with a sensitive topic she’s approached several times: rape. No, it does not employ the controversial trope of “dubious consent” found in many Harlequins from the 1970s and 1980s. This is a healing love story about a traumatic assault that upended a woman’s life and affected her relationships with men. 5 Stars

Category Romance Review: Driving Force by Sally Wentworth

Posted on September 12, 2021November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Driving Force, a Sally Wentworth Harlequin Presents, offers few surprises but is a satisfactory read regardless. West Marriot– our hero, not a 3-star hotel but a famous race car driver–was terribly injured in a race several months ago. Madeleine French, a nurse and physiotherapist, had been married to West for four years. 3 1/2 stars

viking magic

Category Romance Review: Viking Magic by Angela Wells

Posted on August 5, 2021April 17, 2023 by IntrovertReader

Viking Magic by Angela Wells was the entry for the nation of Denmark in Harlequin Presents’ line 1990s Postcards from Europe mini-series. Viking Magic features a nice guy hero and a neurotically insecure heroine (aren’t they all?) united on a quest of sorts. 4 stars

Sirocco

Category Romance Review: Sirocco by Anne Mather

Posted on July 14, 2021November 11, 2022 by IntrovertReader

An Anne Mather Harlequin Presents is what I considered to be an “old reliable.” In this category romance, Sirocco, Anne Mather employs one of her commonly used tropes: a hero in pursuit of an already “attached” woman. 3.5 stars

Bride at Whangatapu Donald

Category Romance Review: Bride at Whangatapu by Robyn Donald

Posted on June 13, 2021November 10, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Harlequin #232 Bride at Whangatapu includes the hallmark of almost every one of Robyn Donald’s books, as it intimately details the natural environment of New Zealand. Whether her books were set on a sheep station, on a yacht in the Pacific, or just a tropical backdrop, you could see the bright green grass, feel the ocean spray on your face or smell the hibiscus blossoms (which don’t even have much a scent, do they?

red rose for love

Category Romance Review: Red Rose for Love by Carole Mortimer

Posted on June 11, 2021November 10, 2022 by IntrovertReader

Harlequin Presents # 522 Usually, Mortimer’s heroes are cruel and overbearingly alpha. While in Red Rose for Love the hero-in-pursuit starts dominant and determined, when he realizes how hurt the heroine’s been in the past, he changes course and woos her in a gentle and loving manner. 5 stars

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Sweet Savage Flame has reviewed 40 books so far this year out of 100.

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