Paradise by Judith McNaught - A Review

Paradise is an emotional roller coaster that left me both exhilarated and exhausted by the end of the 709 page book. It's one of those books where you can't wait to get to the end to see how it all gets resolved, yet at the same time, you don't ever want the experience of reading the story to come to an end.

It begins with the story of Meredith Bancroft's childhood. Her father banished his wife from their lives when Meredith was a baby, because he believed she'd been promiscuous. In an effort to ensure Meredith didn't have a chance of being like her mother, Phillip Bancroft exerts unfair restrictions and control over Meredith's childhood, effectively robbing her of it. So instead of a normal childhood, Meredith grows up in a world of privilege, yet terrible loneliness. She acts as her father's business hostess and absorbs and loves everything about the Bancroft department store, which is her family heritage.

Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - A Review

When a circus came to our suburb, it reminded me of a book I'd read the year before. Being set in a circus is a fairly unique setting for a romance novel, so it had stuck in my head. I'd borrowed heaps of books from the library the previous year and try as I might, I could not bring to mind the name of the author or the name of the book. So in the books section in Amazon, I typed in the search words 'circus Alex icon Russian' and to my delight, Kiss an Angel came up in the results. I didn't think I really needed to read the book again, but something about it kept bugging me, so I borrowed it a second time, and regardless of a few issues I had with the story and some of the characters, it still had enough of something to get me in sufficiently to read it all again.

Daisy hasn't had an easy life. She's the illegitimate daughter of an exhibitionist, promiscuous socialite mother, whom she's accompanied around Europe, acquiring a hit and miss unusual education in the process and trying to stay unnoticed in the background. When her mother dies, Daisy finds herself with a heap of debts and no formal training or skills to support herself.

Flowers From the Storm by Laura Kinsale - A Review

When Christian Langland, Duke of Jervaulx is first introduced in Flowers from the Storm, he is in the middle of a tryst with his married lover. All is going according to hisunrepentant rakish plan, until his mistress's husband comes home. Jervaulx experiences a minor stroke, without knowing what has actually happened to himself. A few days later, when he is called out in a duel, Jervaulx suffers a second, greater stroke that renders him literally speechless.

In the unenlightened times, he is judged mentally ill, as his speech is almost completely impaired. He can't form proper sentences, he yells and rants and becomes abusive. He can't write, nor recall the name of everyday objects and his understanding appears damaged as well. A previously expert shot, athlete and outdoorsman, he can now no longer even button his own clothing. The messages between his brain and his hands fail to connect and he can't even explain this to people. As a result, his family admits him to a 'progressive' lunatic asylum, where he's treated like a caged animal.

Best Romantic Novels

In historical romance novels the time periods vary widely. A large scale event or series of events in a particular time period is a particular time period is often the focus of many writers while some tell tales that span hundreds or even thousands of years. Roman emperors, gladiators and even soldiers at war can be the characters in these tomes.

Here are some of the time periods covered by historical romances.

Elizabethan novels are set in England between 1558 and 1603. They are usually centered around the court of Queen Elizabeth I or on the high seas.

Book Review For: "The Violin"

Book Review for: "The Violin"
Written by: Sarah J. McNeal
Publisher: Rebecca J. Vickery Publishing
Avail as: print & ebook
4 Stars

McNeal pens a haunting romance full of longing and desire with "The Violin." Genevieve Beaumont was born and raised in modern times, but when she discovers a violin owned by a man who died in 1927, her heart aches to learn more about him. Dare Genevieve follow her heart wherever it takes her or will the secrets the violin holds destroy her chances at finding happiness?

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux - A Review

Not being a fan of time travel stories, I put off reading 'A Knight in Shining Armor' by Jude Deveraux, even though it makes its way onto a few lists of recommended romance reads. Surprisingly, I actually did enjoy it.

It contains a number of similarities to the movie 'Kate and Leopold', in that the reader is exposed to the reactions of the transported person to their new surroundings, encountering the unfamiliar customs, foodstuffs, machinery inventions and so on. It also has the suspense and urgency element of people needing to find a way of returning to their original time in history, in time to prevent or facilitate future happenings.

Dougless Montgomery considers herself to be a failure when compared to her high achieving siblings. With her low self-esteem, she's allowed herself to be used by her boyfriend whom she lives with in America. While on holiday in England in 1988, she has a huge argument with her boyfriend and his teenage daughter, ending in them abandoning her in an old English church without money or passport.

After The Night by Linda Howard - A Review

Ever since she was a girl, Faith Devlin has adored superb, sophisticated Gray Rouillard. They're at opposite ends of the social scale. Gray's father virtually owns the small township of Prescott and Faith looks up to Gray as the ideal adolescent hero. That image is shattered in one devastating night that forever changes the lives of both Gray and Faith.

Gray's father, a notorious womanizer has finally gone over the edge and left his family, vanishing into the night with his lover - Faith's mother. Upon discovering these disappearances, Gray takes out his overwhelming rage on Faith and the rest of her family by evicting them in the middle of the night, from the Rouillard-owned shack that they'd been living in for free.