Meant To Be Married by Ruth Wind (aka Barbara Samuels) is a powerful romance that moved me to tears. This second-chance-at-love story is underscored by great characters and a sensitive writer’s hand. 5 Stars
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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: Falling Angel by Anne Stuart
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
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: 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
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