Death and the Harlot by Georgina Clarke I read 39% of this book historical mystery set in mid-eighteenth century London before quitting. The period detail seems quite good and the book is pretty pa…

Dear Joanna Lowell, Your Victorian-era historical romance, Dark Season, came to my attention via this article in Publishers Weekly. The article mentioned that you are a professor who writes literar…

Dear Aster Glenn Gray, I think I have fallen in love with your voice. Your writing is, as our sometime commenter Cleo has said, deceptively simple. I start out each of your works thinking it will b…

Dear Sarah Hogle, Months ago, my friend Elyssa Patrick recommended your debut contemporary romance, You Deserve Each Other, to me. I was intrigued by the blurb and the concept, so I requested the A…

Jennie:  Five years ago, I read and loved Mandel’s breakout novel, Station Eleven. It would probably have not come to my attention if not for Janine’s terrific review. I loved Station Eleven so muc…

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley A couple of you mentioned enjoying this book in our December open thread. It had been languishing on Mount Kilimanjaro my TBR pile for years, and the love in the o…

This past January, I read Mary Balogh’s Huxtables series. Although it was a mixed bag for me, even the Baloghs that don’t work for me often make for interesting reading. Here are my tho…

Janine: Since Sirius and I both enjoyed Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett’s first novel in his Founders Trilogy, we decided to review the sequel, Shorefall, together. Here is the novel̵…

Dear Rebecca Roanhorse, I purchased Storm of Locusts, the second book in your post-apocalyptic Sixth World series featuring monster hunter Maggie Hoskie, because I liked your debut novel and Storm …

Dear Emily Henry, Your debut contemporary romance had what sounded like a fun concept and a great title, so I requested an ARC from the publisher. January Andrews is a newly down-on-her-luck romanc…

Dear Readers, As a child, I loved Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. It’s considered a classic novel and is the story of children beginning to blossom as they bring a locked, abandoned ga…

Alpha Night can be viewed as either the three hundred forty-second nineteenth book in Nalini Singh’s the Psy/Changeling series, or the 842nd fourth book in the Psy/Changeling Trinity series. Janine…

Trigger warning: Dear Meryl Wilsner, The setting of you debut novel, a contemporary romance titled Something to Talk About, was one of the first things that brought the book to my attention. Entert…

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, narrated by Rosamund Pike I listened to this audiobook a long while ago so I’ve probably forgotten some things. A lot of you already know this, but Sense and S…

Dear Allison Montclair, I heard good things about you debut historical mystery, The Right Sort of Man, from Barb in Maryland and Liz McCausland. The book concerns two women, Iris Sparks and Gwendol…

Dear Katherine Addison, Your steampunk fantasy novel, The Goblin Emperor, was my second favorite book of 2014 (my favorite being Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel). The Goblin Emperor held a …

Trigger warning: Dear Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Gods of Jade and Shadow, your 2019 fantasy novel, was terrific, and Untamed Shore, your noir thriller from earlier this year was also good. I don’t usual…

Trigger warning: Content warnings: Dear Ken Follett, I started reading this, your historical saga set in twelfth-century England, because a friend of mine has been mentioning it for years as her fa…

Dear Maggie Osborne, I enjoyed another of your books in the past and had heard good things about Silver Lining, a 2000 release. Recently, I was in the mood for an absorbing, well-written book, and …

Dear Tiffany D. Jackson, I checked your YA novel, Monday’s Not Coming, out of the library after reading this blog post by Kristin Cashore, author of a couple of YA fantasy novels I hold as favorite…

In London 1946, The Right Sort Marriage Bureau is just beginning to take off and the proprietors, Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, are in need of a bigger office and a secretary to h…

Dear Cara Bastone, I heard about your debut contemporary romance, Just a Heartbeat Away, when it was recommended somewhere on social media. The main conflict (May-December) and the background of th…

Jennie: I was alerted to the terrific debut The Flatshare by Janine’s review last year, and read it myself earlier this year. Janine gave it an A-, but I liked it so much I gave it a straight…

Once again, Kaetrin and are reviewing one of Balogh’s Westcott novels together. – Janine Janine: Someone to Romance begins with Lady Jessica Archer, half-sister to the Duke of Netherby, escorted by…

Sirius and I enjoy discussing the books in the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews, and we did it again with Emerald Blaze, the most recent of the books. -Janine “As Prime magic users, Cata…

Dear Readers, Kathleen Gilles Seidel was once one of my favorite romance authors. After a long hiatus, she returned to the romance genre last year with Stand Tall, a trilogy about three Olympic sno…

Trigger warnings: Dear Gregory Ashe, I saw your Hazard and Somers series recommended and though I don’t read many mysteries or m/m novels, something made me want to pick it up. There’s a long free …

Trigger warnings: Dear Tiffany D. Jackson, A couple of months ago I read and reviewed your YA novel, Monday’s Not Coming, and was impressed. The book had a powerful mystery at its center, a disappe…

Trigger warnings: Dear Gregory Ashe, Recently I finished Pretty Pretty Boys, the first novel in your Hazard and Somerset series. While it wasn’t a keeper for me, the slow, slow burn relationship be…