Anne Stuart’s Falling Angel is yet another paranormal from the American Romance line. Read it during the Christmas Holiday season, and it will get you in a merry mood
3 1/2 stars
Harlequin
Covers of the Week #33: Category Romances
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.
Category Romance Review: Hilltop Tryst by Betty Neels
Hilltop Tryst was another sweet romance by the famous Betty Neels featuring–as always–a fair-haired doctor as a hero, although this time he’s British, not Dutch. Nor is the heroine a nurse. She’s the daughter of a local successful veterinarian and works with Dad. 3 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
Category Romance Review: The Jade Affair by Madeline Harper
Madeline Harper’s The Jade Affair happens to be one of my top Harlequin Temptations due to its engaging reunited lovers’ plotline. The chemistry between the protagonists is fantastic as they play detectives to find some missing jade artifacts. 4 1/2 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
Category Romance Review: Stranger in the Night by Charlotte Lamb
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: Seduced and Betrayed by Candace Schuler
This review is of “Seduced and Betrayed”, #8 in the “Bachelor Arms” series, and book #2 of 3 in the series written by Candace Schuler. The book begins in 1970. A woman finds her boyfriend, naked, in bed with another woman, who is also naked. Their relationship isn’t the only thing that ends that night. 4 & 1/2 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