Once More With Feeling is the second outing from the Silhouette Intimate Moments line. Nora Roberts’ category romance tells the love story between two musicians, one a rising star and the other an established musician, who knew each other in the past. Now they must try to make beautiful music together again–literally. Only later does the situation take a turn for the metaphorical. 3.5 Stars
Harlequin Presents #366 Savage Possession by Margaret Pargeter Ryan is Melissa’s parents’ landlord. He demands Melissa pay up! 4 stars
Glory Days by Marilynne Rudick is a Harlequin Temptation from the early 1990s. It’s one of the few books from that line that I truly disliked. Why? Because it was so dreadfully dull. 1 star
Lynne Graham’s The Italian’s Bride is unusual from her other books I’ve read in the past.
Holly Samson is the first Graham heroine I can recall who was not a virgin, and who’s borne another man’s child. The hero is typical of her heroes: dark-haired, ultra-masculine, ridiculously wealthy, smitten with the heroine, and of Italian descent. 3.62 Stars
Celia Scott’s Rumor Has It is a modern-day Cinderella story where the fairy godmother is not an actual person but a false rumor that transforms a frumpy heroine into a glamorous new woman who finds her prince. 5 stars
The Marriage War by Charlotte Lamb may not have the worst hero in Harlequin Presents history, but he certainly ranks up there in the top twenty. .5 stars
Liar’s Moon, a Dell Candlelight Ecstasy Supreme by Heather Graham is an overwrought foray into romantic suspense. There’s intrigue, murder, and a long-ago love affair between a teenage girl and a much older, close family friend. Events lead to a dramatic and happy conclusion in this so-so-category romance.
Harlequin Presents #567 Mansion for My Love is one of those Robyn Donald books where you can’t believe what the supposed hero does to the heroine. 3 stars
There’s good reason Violet Winspear’s Devil In a Silver room had many reprints: it’s an enthralling, hypnotic love story that pulls you in from the moment the hero enters the story. And oh, what a hero he is! 5 stars
Sad to report, but A Naked Flame has to be the worst Charlotte Lamb book I’ve read so far. It features a wishy-washy, stupid heroine who wouldn’t know her butt crack from the Grand Canyon. 1 star
Dark Fire by Elizabeth Lowell, a 1988 Silhouette Desire takes us on a trek through the jungles of Peru. 4 stars
Miranda Lee’s An Outrageous Proposal is an outrageously sexy Harlequin Presents. Laura had been happily married to Dirk Thornton. Laura was so obsessed with having a child, however. Soon their difficulty to conceive led to a divorce. But now Laura wants Dirk back. 4.5 stars
The Sheik by Edith M. Hull, published in 1919, is as influential to the modern romance genre as Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Perhaps, even more so.
It was a blockbuster of a success, despite its many detractors. While some modern readers may cringe at its depiction of women, sexual roles, and racial attitudes, The Sheik remains a compelling read one hundred years after its publication. 5 stars
Flora Kidd’s Beloved Deceiver still sticks out in my mind for one big reason. It’s the only Harlequin/Mills-and-Boon I’ve read to feature a hero from the Dominican Republic, which is my parents’ birth country. 3.45 stars
Gina Wilkins’ Could It Be Magic is a comfy romance read. Gwen DeClerck is a staid, young widow, who had been married to a man twice her age. When Jeremy Kane, a famous magician moves next door, he turns her stable world upside down with excitement and passion. 4 stars
Wish on the Moon by Sally Wentworth has gotten mixed to low reviews around the internet, but it’s a romance I fully enjoyed. This is an unusual romance because technically, the heroine is “the other woman.” She comes in and breaks up a seemingly happy engagement–and not just a random stranger’s but her cousin’s. 4 stars
Harlequin Presents #38 Moon Witch by Anne Mather In this vintage romance, a much older man falls for his younger ward. It’s an uncomfortable, but compelling read. 3 1/2 stars
In Anne Mather’s A Passionate Affair, the heroine, Cassandra, is a divorcee whom the hero pursues and they engage in a…passionate affair. This was revolutionary. Before this book, lovemaking in this line had been restricted to married couples or “forced seductions” of initially unwilling virgins whose bodies “betrayed them.” A solid romance. 3.5 stars
Silhouette Intimate Moments #621 It’s difficult for me to give Laurey Bright’s A Perfect Marriage a coherent review because it’s a romance novel that deals with adultery. 3 stars
Melting Ice by Rosalie Ash is a hard little book to find in its original form. It was released by Mills & Boon in 1989 but only published as a special edition for Harlequin Romance subscribers. The book was #55 of that line. I’d give Melting Ice 2.95 stars.
