Carly Phillips

Cross My Heart Cross My Heart is a contemporary romance with skullduggery and redemption to drive along the plot.  The reading by Marie Caliendo works well for the central couples but is a little off for the older characters, especially the mothers.  The hero and heroine have been emotionally static since they were separated in…

Kristen Callihan

Darkest London series Regency romance thrillers with paranormal elements. Firelight I liked the story – but I would have preferred the heroine to be a little less invincible and a little more trusting; and the hero to be a little less like Beast.  Callihan makes creative use of the restrictions of the couple’s secrets in…

Katie Lane

The Overnight Billionaires The conceit of this series by Katie Lane is that three extremely hunky Beaumont brothers working to charm their way out of the Southern bayou, inherit shares in a San Francisco-based lingerie business (French Kiss), decide to run the company instead of selling out, and fantastically succeed in both business and love. …

Catherine Coulter

Contemporary Thrillers Power Play (2014) by Catherine Coulter and read by MacLeod Andrews and Renee Raudman had some likeable and despicable characters but with an overly burdened plot (or should I say “plots”?) and mystical elements (most notably a villain capable of instant hypnosis), this audiobook was just okay.  I did like the reading; having…

Fern Michaels

When the Snow Falls is a collection by Fern Michaels, Nancy Bush, Rosanna Chiofalo, and Lin Stepp connected by couples finding romance in snowy climes.  The library has this filed with the Christmas books but the stories didn’t have much to do with the holidays. I most related to Fern Michaels’s story, more for its…

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Match Me If You Can as a book on CD read by Anna Fields was an amusing long-drive listen with a few LOL moments and only a couple of winces and eye rolls.  The Chicago setting and realistic professional (and somewhat professional) women was appreciated.  As in some of the Regency romance series the preponderance…

Thriller Romance Novels

Contemporary Thriller / Mystery Jayne Ann Krentz See the Castle Krentz Quick post for reviews of books by Jayne Ann Krentz under her married name (Jayne Ann Krentz), her given (maiden) name Jayne Castle, and and her pen name Amanda Quick.  Her Krentz novels are in the murder mystery / thriller / romance genres with…

Paranormal Romance Novels

(Also see the Adult Paranormal Fiction post.) Contemporary Paranormal Lynsay Sands Argeneau series Entertaining and sexy ‘immortals’ (in the vampire) mode long for their life-mates – a life-mate being the one person whose mind you cannot read… unless you’re in the throes of sexual passion – but then have to overcome a life-threatening obstacle or…

Contemporary Romance Novels

Elsa Watson Dog Days by Elsa Watson offers a lightly amusing take on the ‘Freaky Friday’ premise – but with a woman and a stray dog swapping places. I was willing to suspend belief for the story, but found myself getting impatient with the characters and their dialog so I skipped chunks to get to…

Historical Romance Novels

‘Historical Romance Novels’ are set in bygone eras other than ‘Regency’. Thirteenth Century Maya Banks (Note: ‘Neamh Alainn’ is ficitional.) Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks is both entertaining and eye roll inducing – likable characters once you get past the (supposedly) thirteenth century Scottish Highlander gender-appropriate behavior.  I liked the story a lot…