If You Like
With the New Year, I’ve been thinking a lot about fresh starts and new beginnings. There’s a mind-boggling array of books devoted to this theme: — In some cases, the fresh start is internally driven, like L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle or Colleen McCullough’s The Ladies of Missalonghi, in which the downtrodden spinster heroines decide…
Read MoreThursday Give Away Winner
The winner of Molly O’Keefe’s Can’t Buy Me Love is… Rhonda! (Of Comment #3.) Congrats, Rhonda! If you send me your details, I’ll pop the book in the mail to you. Coming up soon on Thursday Give Away: Donna Thorland’s The Turncoat, Sarah MacLean’s One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, Bee Ridgway’s The River of…
Read MoreWeekly Reading Round-Up
Here’s what I’ve been reading this week: — Barbara Michaels, Smoke and Mirrors. This is one of my less frequent Michaels re-reads. The inside look at a political campaign is fascinating (and reminds me of one of my old teen favorites, The President’s Daughter, by Ellen Emerson White), but this one has never captured my…
Read MoreAsk Miss Gwen
It’s time for me to be preparing the extra bits that go into the back of The Passion of the Purple Plumeria. I suspect that you’re probably all just as bored with Q&A’s with me as I am. So, instead of asking you for questions for me, I’ve decided it’s time to interview Miss Gwen.…
Read MoreThursday Give Away
Today’s Thursday give away is an advance copy of Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary romance, Can’t Buy Me Love. Here’s the official blurb: In Molly O’Keefe’s captivating new contemporary romance, a woman with a past and a man without a future struggle to find a place where they belong. A girl from the wrong side of the…
Read MoreTeaser Tuesday: Ashford 1919
Since this is Downton homage week, this seemed like a good time to give you a little snippet of the postwar portion of The Ashford Affair. It’s the social Season of 1919, crepe paper instead of flowers in the ballrooms and a marked lack of able-bodied escorts. The world has changed… but not everyone has…
Read MoreDownton Spoofs
In honor of the launch of Season Three of Downton Abbey, here’s a compendium of my favorite Downton spoofs so far (or at least those that were linkable): — The musical tribute, The Fresh Prince of Downton Abbey. — The Red Nose Day spoof, Uptown Downstairs Abbey, Parts I and II (seriously, you don’t want…
Read MoreIf You Like
Season Three of Downton Abbey started last night here in the States– or Series Three, if we’re going to be British about it– moving from World War I into the postwar period. If you like books set in England during the early part of the interwar period, you’ll probably like…. — The Ashford Affair! A…
Read MoreThursday Give Away Winner
The winner of the advance copy of Beatriz Williams’s A Hundred Summers is… … Suzanne! (Of Comment #42.) Congrats, Suzanne! If you’ll email me with your info, I’ll pop the book in the mail to you. Stay tuned for another Thursday Give Away this Thursday!
Read MoreWeekly Reading Round-Up
Here’s what I’ve been reading this week: — Elsie Lee, Prior Betrothal. In the past, I’ve tended to avoid Elsie Lee’s historicals, sticking with her 1960s romantic suspense (with the notable exception of Silence Is Golden, a Victorian-set, classic Gothic, annual re-read for me). But there was an Elsie Lee Regency in the care package…
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