Frenemy of the People is a YA novel by Nora Olsen, who wrote the YA science fiction novel Swans & Klons (also on my to be read list). Lexie, the daughter of two disinterested business executives, spends her time doing all she can to resist The Man. She’s a self-styled punk rock rebel–a vegan outRead More
Anna M reviews Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones
Daughter of Mystery is a debut historical fantasy/romance by Heather Rose Jones set in the tiny, fictional European country of Alpennia in the early 19th century. Baron Saveze of Alpennia has spent his life amassing a prodigious amount of wealth. A capricious man, Saveze has long kept a female duelist in his employ, despite itRead More
Anna M reviews Like Jazz by Heather Blackmore, Wingspan by Karis Walsh, and Safe Passage by Kate Owen
Like Jazz, by Heather Blackmore Although newcomer Cassidy “Cazz” Warner finds herself entranced by the most popular girl in high school, Sarah Perkins, their mutual attraction doesn’t go beyond more than a few kisses before Cazz abruptly moves away without saying goodbye. Many years later, they are reunited as Cazz, now a fraud investigator, findsRead More
Anna M. reviews The Blush Factor by Gun Brooke
Gun Brooke’s The Blush Factor, released this month by Bold Strokes Books, features a May-December romance between a savvy businesswoman and an entrepreneurial YouTube sensation. Eleanor Ashcroft has kept her distance from most people in her years as a corporate shark, but something about Addison Garry’s self-made celebrity catches her attention. Addison, also known asRead More
Anna M. reviews How Sweet It Is by Melissa Brayden
How Sweet It Is is the third novel by Bold Strokes author Melissa Brayden. It has been more than four years since chef Molly O’Brien’s wife Cassie died in a tragic plane crash, and she’s recently been thinking about testing the dating waters. She’s also struggling to keep her family business, a small town bakery/coffeeRead More
Anna M. reviews Homestead by Radclyffe
Radclyffe’s Homestead is a departure from the romances featuring doctors and first responders and so on that usually characterize her books. It’s a sequel of sorts to 2007’s When Dreams Tremble (which I don’t think I’ve read–sometimes it’s hard to tell them all apart), exploring the same upstate New York setting and featuring that coupleRead More
Anna M reviews Small Town Trouble by Jean Erhardt
Jean Erhardt’s Small Town Trouble is the first in a series of mysteries that features the somewhat reluctant detective Kim Claypoole. As the action begins, we find Kim returning to the small Ohio town of her youth to advise her mother on a potentially shady real estate deal. Behind her, she leaves a successful restaurant,Read More
Anna M. reviews At Seventeen by Gerri Hill
I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but I established a habit of purchasing and reading every Gerri Hill book as it’s released. I tend to like her generic romances more than those with thriller elements, but I foresee myself reading her new books until I am seriously disappointed by something she writes. The curseRead More
Anna M. reviews Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
I became aware of the movie Desert Hearts (1985) when I (like the protagonist of the film It’s in the Water) was scouring my local video stores for movies with lesbian content. It was the mid- to late-90s, and there were still stores with actual videos in them. I have watched Desert Hearts–and Go Fish,Read More
Anna M. reviews The Blue Hour by Beatrice Donahue
Beatrice Donahue’s The Blue Hour is a historical short story set in 1920s England. It was released May 2013. Rosina (Rose) King is unhappily married to an abusive and controlling husband. She’s well aware of her seemingly fortunate position, having married up to become a middle-class housewife. Virtually friendless and unable to bear children forRead More