Little Miss Crabby Pants Pours One Out: RIP Harlequin Historical

Y'all it's a dire timeline we currently find ourselves in and it's spilling over into Romancelandia. Word got out this week that Harlequin is killing the Harlequin Historical line. I follow longtime HH writers Terri Brisbin and Amanda McCabe on Facebook and they both posted the news - so that's good enough for me when it comes verify your sources.   Terri's post has the most thorough information so I'll embed that below: 

There have been rumors that Harlequin was going to kill the Historical for over a decade now, with things ramping up to a fever pitch when Harlequin was acquired by Harpercollins in 2014. Surely with the juggernaut that was Avon, Harpercollins would jettison Harlequin Historical. I mean why put up with red-headed stepchild HH when you got Julia Quinn, Lisa Kleypas and Eloisa James?  Fast forward to 2026 and Avon has thrown all their weight behind contemporary romance with cartoon covers and the only historical on my radar is the upcoming Julie Anne Long, coming in June 2026 (with an illustrated cover, natch). Harlequin Historical hung on a lot longer than I think anyone gave them credit for, even as Harlequin bungled their way through the marketing of that line (legit, there was a stretch where they stopped distributing HH to physical retail spaces - like, you could not find an HH in a bookstore!)

I've been out in these Harlequin streets a long time but it's getting hard to love them. Look, I understand the economics of the situation. Inflation and rising costs - not to mention the economics of big box stores and our Evil Overlords at Amazon - have killed the mass market paperback format. Then you look at the fact that romance readers were the first to truly embrace digital reading, in droves, which I think also helped hasten the demise of mass market but also caught the industry by "surprise" and, having learned nothing from the music industry, they bungled their way through the transition to digital - which, honestly, they're still bungling. Digital gave rise to self-publishing, which gave rise to "cheaper books," which larger conglomerate publishers just cannot compete with because of overhead costs. A romance reader buying retail (and reading 100+ books every year) was going to take a flier on a 99 cent book, even if that traditional publisher priced their digital formats at a reasonable price point (and many of them didn't - how many times have we seen ebook editions that are more expensive than the print?).  Compounding this? Publishers dug in their heels with libraries when it came to digital lending. Early on this wasn't an issue with Harlequin, who were REALLY friendly with library digital buying and borrowing until they were sold to Harpercollins (hello, metered access), but it's another reason why we're in the boat we're in folks. 

All of these economic factors, plus shifting reader tastes, has led to Harlequin jettisoning several lines. I'm still pissed about SuperRomance y'all. However, it was when they killed the Desire and Love Inspired Historical lines that I knew things were about to get real - and here we are. In a genre chasing TikTok popularity, the days of going into a bookstore and walking to the register to buy a category romance, a historical, an erotic romance, a contemporary romcom, and a gritty paranormal romance are fading fast. If it's not a romantasy or a women's fiction novel masquerading as a contemporary romance publishers just have no frickin' clue what to do with it. The days of being able to read a back cover blurb and look at the cover art to determine what you were actually buying or reading are long gone. All the packaging looks the same now to the point you could stack the books face out against a wall and basically get something resembling a wallpaper pattern. 

Am I old and cranky? Yes. But it's my blog and I can crank all I want.

It's hard to stress what Harlequin Historical brought to Romancelandia but I've been single-handedly trying to remind y'all for years now. When Regency England wallpaper took over, you could still find some variety and history with Harlequin. They were the last historical publisher to abandon westerns (albeit they too eventually did), you could routinely find medievals there along with Vikings.  Oh sure, they had Regencies, but they also had Victorians that read like actual Victorian era settings and not Regency 2.0: The Revenge. And then they'd slip in some off-the-beaten path gems, like Jeannie Lin's Tang Dynasty books or Michelle Styles' stories set in Ancient Rome. 

I realize we have many more books to come until the line shuts down in 2027, and the backlist will live on for a long time (although backlist also has a shelf life...) but I'm vacillating between sadness and pure rage that this moment has come. I'm mad publishers keep fumbling their business so poorly. I'm mad at the state of the world we live in where nobody can or even wants to read a book anymore. I'm mad at the state of my chosen profession for continuing to stress that Libraries Are More Than Books while the world burns down all around us because NOBODY IS READING BOOKS ANYMORE AND WHY AREN'T WE ADDRESSING THAT AS A PROFESSION?! I'm mad at everyone who felt abandoned by historical romance and stopped reading it even though I understand why you feel that way.  In general I'm just cranky and mad about all of it right now, even as my TBR can be seen from space.

So, what to do in the meantime? I need to spend more time focusing on my own Harlequin Historical pile and sharing that love. I also hope that you all go out and pick up an HH title that tickles your fancy - then talk it up to where ever it is you may talk books. 

When I was a wee baby romance reader I remember how frustrated I would get with Old Lady Romance Readers lamenting the demise of the genre because of erotic romance, and now, as they say, the shoe just may be on the other foot.  For I am lamenting the demise of the genre thanks to TikTok, publishers not knowing what the hell they're doing, and a world that has rendered most of us incapable of doing much outside of trudging through our daily existence hoping to keep our heads above water even as we all feel like slipping under.  Books can be a life preserver in a lot of ways, but the market is narrowing and shrinking, at least in traditional publishing spaces, and it doesn't instill much hope. Can self-publishing save us? With so much of it grossly dependent on Amazon? Doubts, I have them. 

Edited to add: Many thanks to Eurohackie for providing the link to the official Harlequin announcement. Also, they're reducing the number of Presents they publish every month which HOLY SH*T YOU GUYS!

New Year, New Unusual Historicals for January 2026

Welcome January 2026 - I guess. Besides the current news cycle, which is all bad all the time, I'm still sick. Am I getting better? I mean, sort of? I'm back to sleeping in bed (and not sitting up on the couch) and the cough is better (I guess?) although it's still here. At this point there's nothing for it, I have to go back to work this week and figure out how to string words together to tell y'all about this month's crop of Unusual Historicals (be gentle). I don't hold out much hope for my ability to do that right now, but if nothing else new historical romances are something we can hold on to - a small glowing light burning in what is currently the very dark cave we find ourselves in. Be good to each other Romancelandia and romance will be good to you.

Reclaiming His Viking Queen by Lucy Morris

He will have his queen… 

For better or worse! 

Viking Agnar has had many names: Usurper. Warlord. Wolf Slayer. Still, there’s one role he’s hell-bent on claiming—Skadi Friggsdottir’s husband! Rejected by Skadi years ago, he’ll be denied no longer. Storming her hall is easy. Taming his warrior queen will be much harder…

Young Skadi chose survival by marrying another over honoring her promise to Agnar. Now, believing Agnar has killed her husband, she’ll surrender her hand but never submit! Yet behind Agnar’s fury lies a man deeply wronged…one she can’t help but want. Is her enemy husband her doom, or her greatest desire?

 A new stand-alone Viking romance from Morris featuring a hero ready to claim the heroine who threw him over for another years before. I'm hoping for lots of sizzling Enemies to Lovers tension in this one, which is already locked and loaded on my Kindle.

How to Get Away With Scandal by Caroline Linden

Don’t fall in love with me . . .

Evangeline, Lady Courtenay, has flirted with scandal her entire life, and paid a steep price for it, with two unhappy marriages and a tarnished reputation. She’s vowed never to get entangled with another man—until a dashing explorer, just passing through London, smiles at her and sends her heart leaping. Just one night, she tells herself; that’s all she wants from him or any man.

Sir Richard Campion is entranced by Evangeline the moment they meet, even before she takes him home with her for a night of pleasure, only to be gone when he wakes. When he encounters her again years later, he is just as fascinated—and elated to find that she still feels the attraction, too. But this time, he intends to persuade her that he’s worth getting entangled with . . . forever.

 I can't say no to a scandalous heroine and Linden's latest features a twice-married heroine who sounds like she's earned every bit of her reputation. She's vowed to stay away from men, but then meets the "dashing explorer" hero and really, what's one night?  Turns out enough to ensnare them both.

When the Earl Was Wicked by Jess Michaels

Popular courtesan Evelina Comerford thought she had her life in order. She had been with her protector, a powerful duke, for years and believed they would be together forever, even if he was forced to marry and produce legitimate heirs. And then he broke her heart by walking out of her with no feeling to be with someone else’s wife.

Vaughn is the Earl of Blackburn and he is enduring a scandal to end all scandals. His wife of three years has not only begun a public affair with a duke he once called friend, but she’s demanding a divorce. He’s angry and hurt and he wants a little revenge, which is how he finds himself on Evelina’s door, asking her to pretend to enter an affair with him to make both of their former loves jealous.

But a fake affair swiftly turns to something more powerfully passionate. And spying and trying to undermine their former partners begins to lose its shine. But can they both overcome loves that were never meant to be and recognize the true love that is looking right at them? Or will it all be too late when they finally figure it out?

The second book in Michaels' Comerford Courtesans series features a heroine dumped by her protector Duke and a hero whose wife wants a divorce because she's in love with his friend, that same Duke. So naturally hero and heroine decide to enter into a fake affair in the name of revenge - only to get more than they bargained for.

Hollywood Glitz and Glamour by Ariella Talix

It's 1939, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the major movie studios make all the rules.

Only a very lucky few receive the coveted contracts from Hollywood producers—but they come with heavy strings attached. Actors and actresses are beautiful, talented, and treated like pawns on a chessboard. It's all about image, income, and hedonism.

Troy Kingsley is a handsome, gifted actor who explodes onto the Hollywood scene, gathering fans from all walks of life. Little does anyone know that Troy is a lawbreaker and morally corrupt by society's standards.

When the studio determines it's time for Troy to marry, he’s not at all happy about it and gives the studio his own ultimatum.

Rosalie Channing came to Hollywood to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. She doesn’t know anything about Troy other than he’s a terrific movie star who’s captured her attention in the past couple of years, and now she’s ordered to marry this stranger if they both want to keep their jobs.

She doesn’t know that Troy is a package deal.

If you're going to write a MMF historical, there may not be a better setting than 1930s Hollywood. Studios ran everything, spun stories out of whole cloth, and for the price of fame and fortune many an actor found themselves in one closet or another. Which is what we have in Talix's latest. I'm intrigued by this one for sure.

Waves of Desire by Lauren Everly

Two enemies bound by danger—and undone by desire.

Savannah socialite Samantha Warstein has finally been given the chance to earn her place within her family’s secret pirating legacy. Her first obstacle as a captain? An ambitious—and annoyingly handsome—navy lieutenant tasked with destroying the pirate trade. And she’s not sure which challenge appeals more: proving her worth or putting him in his place.

Having lost his parents to pirates, Lieutenant Christian Thompson takes his assignment seriously, determined to spend his life married only to the sea. But when a mysterious, red-headed beauty bests him in battle, the mission becomes personal. He’ll see her brought to justice, no matter how her laughter haunts him... or how her courage stirs something he thought long buried.

When a notorious pirate kidnaps Samantha, her uncle hires Christian to track her down. Little does he know, the woman he’s chasing and the woman he’s rescuing are one and the same. Bound together by danger and deception, they must work together to take down the most ruthless man on the seas. But as treacherous waters and buried secrets close in, their greatest peril may be the desire neither can resist.

This is Everly's debut and according to the bio listed on her web site she "first discovered her love for historical romance at the age of twelve, when she stumbled upon a hidden box of Johanna Lindsey novels in her mom’s closet..." I mean, I've never been less surprised by anything in my life after reading this blurb which is pure, unadulterated throwback featuring a pirate heroine and the hero determined to run her to ground, only to fall in love with her not realizing her true identity. The only thing missing is the heroine rocking blue eyeshadow on the cover 😂

Wife Wanted by Wren St. Claire

He advertised for a wife and found his soulmate.

Renowned antiquities scholar, Deodonatus (Deo) Kinninmounth Earl of Pendrell, needs a secretary to help him with a new project, but the lonely, socially awkward, bespectacled giant, also wants a wife. He decides to advertise for a lady to fill both roles.

Miss Emily Grenfell is a closet antiquities enthusiast, heiress, and social disaster. Escaping from her draconian mother and a suitor she doesn’t want, Emily arrives a day late for the job interview and is shocked to discover she has applied for a post working for a man.

However, when the enormous, hawkish-featured man with red hair and freckles, proposes a marriage of convenience, Emily is happy to accept, rather than return to a home where she is mistreated and misunderstood.

Embarking on a project to dig up a Celtic burial site on the Duke of Troubridge’s estate, Deo and Emily discover they have more in common than a shared passion for antiquities. As desire sparks between them, Deo struggles to come to terms with physical and emotional intimacy, and Emily falls for her adorably nerdish and irresistibly attractive husband. And when Emily’s rejected suitor tries to cause trouble for the pair, Emily must learn to understand the harsh childhood that has robbed Deo of normal emotional responses and help him discover what his heart is for.

A red-headed hero (with freckles! I love this guy already!) proposes a marriage of convenience to a heroine who will fill his need for a secretary and a wife. Our heroine, a social disaster, accepts in order to escape a family and suitor determined to keep her under their collective thumbs.  This is the final book in the author's All for Love trilogy.

The Explorer Returns by Ramona Elmes

Love hadn’t been enough years ago; would it be now?

Lisbeth, the widowed Duchess of Lusby, travels to Syria to deliver an ancient map that will allow her antiquities club in London to find important artifacts. She expects to deliver them to her colleague, but instead comes face to face with the man whose heart she broke years ago. Gone is the quiet man she once loved, and in his place is a brash, famous explorer. She is unimpressed.

Thomas Easton is astounded when Lisbeth appears in the Syrian café where he is spending time with friends. He never planned to see her again after she ended their betrothal with a letter. Gone is the daring young woman he once knew, and in her place is a regal duchess. This different Lisbeth annoys him. Shocking them both, Thomas goads her into staying for one more adventure. He insists to himself it isn’t because of any lingering feelings.

As they hunt for artifacts, feelings and temptations start to grow between them. Could they have another chance at love? Perhaps, but secrets and dangers both in Syria and England have a way of derailing even the most certain happily-ever-afters.

Want more antiquities? January seems to be the month for it, with this third book in Elmes' Brazen Curators trilogy.  She's a widowed Duchess come to Syria to deliver an ancient map and he's the explorer whose heart she broke years before. They agree to one last adventure and complications, naturally, ensue. 

Envy Unchecked by Alyson Chase

London’s first gentlewoman’s club — Tea, On Dit, and …. Murder.

London, 1820. Lady Mary Cavindish has scandalized society by opening her Minerva Club, a place where women can escape the constraints of propriety. But when a prominent member is found strangled inside its elegant walls, the club’s future teeters on the brink of ruin.

Already under siege by a moral crusade decrying her establishment as a den of vice, Lady Mary knows this murder could spell its doom. Refusing to let her creation perish, Lady Mary launches her own inquiry, probing the dark secrets of her members and the ton’s elite.

Frustrating her efforts is the arrival of a Bow Street Runner, a by-the-book investigator whose moral code doesn’t want the involvement of an eccentric widow in his case. Complicating the matter, as the investigation deepens, so do his feelings for the daughter of one of the prime suspects, a liaison that blurs the lines between duty and desire.

As they search for answers, Lady Mary and her fellow sleuths uncover a tapestry of betrayal, envy, and revenge. When scandal surrounds her, Lady Mary is forced to decide just where her allegiances lie.

The first in the Lady Mary Mysteries series, the publisher is marketing this as a mystery - but this blurb teases readers with plenty of romance-related shenanigans. She needs to find a killer in order to keep her club open and he's a "by the book" Bow Street Runner. One suspects that this romance may end up playing out over future entries. 

Once Upon a Wicked Wager by Cassandra Samuels

If love is a gamble, this is one wager they cannot afford to lose.

Notorious widow and social pariah, Lisbeth Carslake, Countess of Blackhurst, was acquitted of her husband's murder, but no one believes in her innocence. Known as the Black Raven, bringer of bad luck and death, she is the topic of gossip and wagers. She knows the only way to prove her innocence beyond doubt is to return to society and find her husband's killer.

Oliver Whitely, Earl of Bellamy, is well and truly in dun territory and drunkenly takes on The Black Raven Wager and ends up agreeing to a business proposal at the end of a fire poker, to escort Lisbeth back into the viper's pit known as the ton. Together, they must find her husband's killer before the killer finds them. That is, if her schedule allows and they don't kill each other first.

If antiquities aren't your thing, this month's Unusual Historicals also give you murder as an second option 😂.  She's a social pariah thanks to everyone thinking she murdered her husband and the only way to get her life back is to find the real killer. For that she's going to need help, which shows up in the form of our hero, who foolishly accepted a wager only to end up on the wrong side of a fire poker. A heroine with spirit - I like that. 

The Earl's Indifferent Daughter by Elizabeth Heights

Lady Esme de Neville has found true love… or has she?

Among the flatterers and fortune-hunters lining up for her hand, one man alone has captured her heart - and she will do whatever it takes to convince him of her affections. But after surrendering her virtue, Esme finds herself unceremoniously abandoned and forced to await her lover’s return at the country home of her sister, Frida, and brother-in-law, Callum.

Adam is a seasoned warrior, tasked with bringing Callum home to the highlands to his father’s deathbed. Upon arriving at Ember Hall, he unwillingly accepts a new assignment; to guard Lady Esme – whose youth and beauty threaten to topple the high barricades that have protected his heart for many years.

For Esme, the long days of waiting pass slowly, with her brooding bodyguard providing her only source of distraction. Despite his best efforts, Adam is unable to resist her overtures of friendship. Opposites attract and soon the sparks of romance begin to fly.

But fate has an extra surprise in store. Just as Esme recognises the depths of her feelings for Adam, a figure from the past threatens the future she longs to embrace. Her happiness – and Adam’s too – depends on two things: de Neville family loyalty and the power of true love.

Heights wraps up her Sisters of Ember Hall medieval trilogy with a heroine who fancies herself in love and only managed to ruin herself in the process. Now she's moldering away at her sister's country home being guarded by the hero, not the man she fancies herself in love with but the the one who ultimately ends up capturing her heart. 

Hopefully by the time I start thinking about February's Unusual Historicals post I'll be past whatever plague I managed to catch and we'll all have had some measure of good news to hold on to. In the meantime, share what Unusual Historicals you're looking forward to in the comments section. 

Review: Such a Clever Girl

Half the fun of a Darby Kane thriller is getting to the point where the vile antagonist gets exactly what's coming to them. I think that was my issue with Such a Clever Girl, there's not an antagonist per se. I mean, there kind of is, but while she's definitely leans hard into sociopathic behavior, her main goal in this book is get everyone else to finally tell the truth. 

Sleepy Hollow, New York, a small town steeped in ghost stories and legends, was the scene of the Tanner family disappearance fifteen years ago. Historian, Patrick, his wife, Victoria, and their two kids - Aubrey and Noah. No bodies, no word, simply vanished. A blood stain on the floor of the entryway in their home and a fire at the bookstore they owned the only clues. 

Xavier Tanner, Patrick's father, has finally died. A man no one will mourn, but his death means the reading of his will, and that brings together three women who know more about the disappearance of the Tanner family than they are letting on. There's Stella, a local psychologist and Xavier's great-niece. Her marriage imploded after the Tanners vanished, she's a single mother to a toddler daughter, and dealing with her grasping mother. Marni is a local elementary school teacher who was Victoria's best friend and then there is a Hanna, owner of a local café and single mother to Jeremy, now in college. All three of these women were at the Tanner home the day the family disappeared. All three of them have secrets they want to stay buried - and then Aubrey Tanner, prodigal daughter who has been missing along with her family for the past 15 years walks through the doors of the courthouse.

This story started slow for me. Probably the first 30% is Stella, Marni and Hanna unspooling when Aubrey reappears, and then in waltzes a guy who claims he's writing a book on the Tanner family disappearance and wants to interview them. Kane then spends some time introducing a few more secondary characters, including Stella's ex, her exhausting mother, Hanna's son Jeremy, etc. etc. 

This one didn't really sink it's claws into me until Hanna begins to emerge as the character you want to root for. Her life has not been easy, raising Jeremy on her own, building and running her own business. She's the queen of the side hustle, which is how she comes into the orbit of the Tanner family - she does some work as Patrick's research assistant. Aubrey's reappearance sends her into a spiral and when the past threatens her son she goes into full blown mama bear protector mode. Hanna taking charge is what gets this story to cook.

The story is told in alternating points of view between Hanna, Marni and Stella as the author starts laying out the puzzle pieces and getting everything to fit together. Aubrey is definitely playing the long game here - and as the reader you waffle between wondering if she's the villain or the wronged party.

This story was a slower build than some of Kane's other books, so while I enjoyed it once the plot started to simmer, it's probably not the book I'll recommend to folks who want to start reading her work. Still, it was entertaining and I'm nothing if not a sucker for small town secrets - of which Kane's Sleepy Hollow has plenty.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2026: Her Naughty Holiday

The Book: Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Blaze #916, Book 2 in Men at Work trilogy, out of print, available digitally, repackaged and reprinted as Harlequin Special Release 2024

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I actually downloaded this as an ARC from Netgalley back in 2016 mainly thanks to the fake dating trope. Then, it happened. Romancelandia went wild for this entire trilogy to the point where some reviewers (you know who you are) were practically crowning Reisz as the savior of category romance and that was enough to raise my hackles and here we are. I have an unreasonable amount of baggage when it comes to certain corners of Romancelandia side-eyeing category romance, then suddenly discovering one they like and giving us all "not like other girls" reviews for category romance. Look, I've never claimed to be reasonable - I'm a reader, therefore I am a nutjob. 

The Review: When this review posts I will be going into day six of being very sick. Like the sickest I've been in a long time. So bad that after my long weekend off work (thank you Dr. King), I called out the rest of the week. I popped very negative for Covid on Day 2 of this hellscape, but I had a fever, still a terrible cough, and a headache that was so bad I wanted to cry. RSV? The flu? Punishment from the gods? All of it's possible. Which is to say I'm miserable and cranky but I still think I would have disliked this book anyway. Y'all it's got all the heft of wet tissue paper.

Clover Greene has just received two very divergent and distressing emails. A corporate buyer has just offered her $5 million for her nursery (greenhouse - like plants and stuff) business in Mount Hood, Oregon and her family has dropped the bomb that she's hosting Thanksgiving. She's still wrestling with whether or not to accept the offer on her business - no, it's the family news that's got her all spun up.  To be blunt, her family is a bunch of assholes. Her academic parents constantly reminding her she's their "little drop-out" and when is she going to get married and squirt out more grandbabies for them? SHE'S 30 FOR GOD'S SAKE! And her brother and sister are no help at all. Snide, backhanded "compliments" from them as well - just different ones. It's all bad. She just can't face another holiday dealing with them and that's when her teenage employee gives her the brilliant idea of a fake boyfriend - and oh, her Dad would be perfect for the job.

Original Blaze Cover

Erick Field has his own contracting business (cedar siding, decks, that kind of thing) and is raising his teenage daughter, a would-be eco-warrior named Ruthie, nearly full-time, since his ex lives in Los Angeles. He's been attracted to Clover from the jump, when he practically begged her to give his daughter a job so she could pay back court-ordered damages because eco-warrior. Anyway, he's been strictly hands off with her because Clover has been a positive female influence, Ruthie needs that, and Erick loves his daughter. Then, Ruthie, that sly minx, pushes them together just as she's walking out the door to visit her Mom. 

They have roughly a week before the Greene family descends on Mount Hood, so what do they do for the first 80% of this book? Talk endlessly and have sex. Seriously, these two never shut-up. Not even when they're having sex. Yes, ladies and gents, we're regaled with dirty talk (which I tend to hate with a burning passion in romance novels because it's nigh to impossible IMHO to write it well - go ahead and fight me). I can't even begin to tell you how much of this book I skimmed. Like giant, cavernous chunks of it. In fact the only reason I didn't DNF this is because I was waiting for it - the big confrontation scene with Clover's family that I knew was coming. A big confrontation scene over Thanksgiving dinner.  And y'all - it was GLORIOUS!

Which I guess means I cared a modicum about Clover? Although I think I cared more about those assholes getting the dressing down of a lifetime. Seriously, for my money just skip the first 80% of this book, get to the point where the Greene family shows up and start reading. You're getting the best part. 

Am I not being fair to this book? Maybe. I'm sick, I had a bad attitude going into it because as a general rule I have a bad attitude about most books people seem to gush over (look, I'm contrary OK - but it's my blog I'm allowed). But that Thanksgiving dinner scene? Worth the price of admission. Finally, after years of reading about romance heroines who let their families walk all over them, we get one that erupts like Mount Vesuvius. But of course her Mom calls after and they agree to work on their relationship and of course Clover is a virgin when she starts climbing Erick like a jungle gym in the first 20% of the story. I mean, it doesn't tread that much new ground.

Final Grade = C-

Review: A Box Full of Darkness

Hello Future Wendy, it's Past Wendy. For most of 2025 you suffered through a short-attention span, no-spoons reading slump that was particularly soul sucking. Around early November you decided enough was enough and since you had ARCs for upcoming releases by favorite authors, you were just going to read them instead of waiting.  Hence reading A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James in November when it has a release date of January 20, 2026. Desperate times, desperate measures and all that.

Violet Esmie can see ghosts, and that's not even the most screwed up thing about her. Divorced, estranged from her surly teenage daughter, she's living a solitary life working as a cleaner - someone who goes into the homes of the recently deceased and cleans them out at the family's or estate's behest. It's on her latest job that she gets a call from the landscapers taking care of the grounds of her family home in Fell, New York. Sorry lady, we're quitting. We'll refund the rest of this month's payment but we're not going back.  Why? Because they saw the ghost of a little boy. A little boy who uttered two words "Come home."

The ghost is her baby brother Ben who vanished when he was 6-years-old during a game of hide-and-seek. And when I say vanished - I mean poof! Not a single trace of him anywhere. Violet knows it's time, she needs to go home and settle the matter of Ben's disappearance once and for all. But she's not going alone. She calls her siblings, Vail, a UFO chaser (seriously) and Dodie, a model whose hair is a top commodity for shampoo commercials.

The siblings return to the family home in Fell to find that much hasn't changed. Even though they pretty much abandoned the place as-is, it's shockingly not overly decrepit. However the creepy shenanigans that they experienced as children are still there. Vail sees a bright light and someone/something standing over his bed (aliens?). Dodie dreams of filthy water sweeping over her bed and drowning her. And Violet, as has already been established, sees ghosts, and there's one ghost in particular who is a nasty piece of work.

Fell, New York was the setting of St. James' most excellent The Sun Down Motel, and there's always some hesitancy with me when an author returns to a beloved book. I shouldn't have been worried. What this book firmly cements is that Fell is one of St. James' more inspired creations. The setting is pitch-perfect Gothic creepiness. A small town where inexplicably horrible things keep happening with little to no explanation.  Ben's disappearance is just one in a long chain of events. St. James has fun returning to Fell and slips in a few Easter eggs for fans, but nothing that will confuse new readers who are starting with this entry (there's even a call back to The Broken Girls).

The story is told in alternating points-of-view between all three siblings. The worry with this style is that some voices are frankly just more interesting than others - and that's what happened to me here. I liked Violet. Violet was interesting. Sure they're all emotionally screwed in the head, but Vail isn't great with women (love 'em, then as he's leaving 'em saying hurtful things so they don't come back around again) and also UFOs. Seriously? And yes, I realize I was reading a book about ghosts but apparently UFOs is a bridge too far for me. And Dodie? Dodie is emotionally exhausting and bitchy, although she has some nice moments at the end. I read through their sections just wanting to get back to Violet.

The story is slow burn Gothic, with the tension and darkness seeping in small increments until you're drowning in it at the end. It's good stuff, until the ending. I felt like St. James painted herself into a corner on this one. She couldn't tie it all up in a nice, neat package because there was too much our characters couldn't discover and ultimately know. And this wasn't great for me.  Look, I live in a world that is messy. Where not everything gets resolved and sometimes it's "resolved" in a way where the good people get screwed and the morally bankrupt people win. The older I get, the more I live in this current hellscape timeline, I want closure. And I want the closure that genre fiction promises to readers 99.9% of the time - which is the good guys win and the bad guys get shot into the sun. The bad guys do not win in this story but there's dangling threads - namely the Ben thing is just plain weird and while we find out why the Esmie family home is haunted, there's no big red bow tying up that box. Do we get closure? Yes. Do we get all the answers? Ehh...

Still, it's an engrossing read - and seriously, Fell, New York is just fantastic. I don't know how many more times St. James can dip into this well before she starts repeating herself, but man I love that creepy little town. 

Final Grade = B

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is January 21

I'm starting 2026 a lot like I spent most of 2025 - not reading. This isn't terribly great news considering OMG our first official #TBRChallenge of 2026 is set for January 21. This month's optional theme is Still Here.

This was a suggestion that came out of my annual theme poll and I thought it was perfect for January. Some ways you could potentially spin this theme? A book in a series you've been neglecting, a book by a favorite author you've been saving for a rainy day (yo, rainy days are here y'all) or maybe you want to go more towards a trope like unrequited love, second chance/reunion, or friends to lovers. Getting creative with the themes is encouraged.

However if the idea of sticking to a theme is more than you can deal with right now (and really, can't blame you), remember that these themes are always optional.  The goal of the TBR Challenge has always been read something, anything, that has been languishing in your pile of unread books.

It's never too late to sign up for the Challenge.  You can learn more about it, and see a list of who is participating, over at the #TBRChallenge 2026 information page.

Reading Year In Review 2025

Like a lot of people I had big hopes and dreams for 2025, and it was, in fact, not all gloom and doom. I had life-changing surgery (this is not hyperbole) to fix a hiatal hernia that made eating anything (spicy chili peppers, plain oatmeal, literally did not matter) an exercise in pain and actual restful sleep impossible, I saw Lemon Drop compete in a major equestrian event, I rang in my 50th with a sisters trip to NYC and then in September my big sister and I played hooky for two weeks in Ireland. My reading though? Let's just say my reading mojo had definitely left the building. And not because of the books (see below) but more me not having the spoons and just being mentally exhausted about everything. My hope for 2026 is to carve out more time for reading (even if it's just a couple of chapters a day!), be kinder to myself, and fully embrace my Cranky Old Lady era with more DNF'ing with impunity.

I only got through 56 books this year. My goal every year is 100, and while I fall short more often than not, 56 is (very likely) my worst showing since I started this blog nearly 23 years ago. Here's how the numbers stacked up:

A Grades = 2

B Grades = 28

C Grades (and low B) = 18

D Grades = 3

DNF = 5

While the numbers are down, I can't really complain about the quality. I'm notoriously stingy with A grades, but any time my B grades are significantly higher than the Meh C grades I take a victory lap. Also, no F grades this year because I was smart enough to DNF and not get sucked into Hate Reading.

So what books stood out for me this past year?  Let's take a look...

Note: These are the best books I read in 2025, regardless of publication year.

Title links will take you to full reviews

What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane (2024) - Contemporary suspense - Local celebrity doctor with hero reputation dies under mysterious circumstances and suspicion immediately falls on his younger second wife who he had only been married to for 100 days. His death throws a wrench in the works for her, not because she loved him, oh no. She blackmailed him into marriage and had big revenge plans. Now she has to figure out who killed him while navigating a viper's nest. The opening chapter of this book is a master class and Kane keeps her foot on the accelerator throughout. She also, god bless, reads the room here - with the nasty vile people getting everything that's coming to them. 

When I Think of You by Myah Ariel (2024) - Contemporary romance - My biggest surprise of the year because this book wasn't even on my radar and I ended up reading it for a work-related program. A dynamite, highly emotional second chance romance about a filmmaker hero born into privilege and the girl who got away, an aspiring producer stuck in a dead end receptionist job. This one ripped my heart out but what stands out for me to this day is how thoughtful and amazing the world-building was in this story. This book couldn't take place anywhere else other than Los Angeles and Ariel nailed it.

The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen (2023) - Contemporary suspense - Tiny Purity, Maine has a secret, several of it's residents are retired CIA agents. Maggie Bird is living a quiet life, raising chickens on her small farm, when her past comes back to haunt her in the form of a dead body left in her driveway. Interspersed with flashbacks from Maggie's time in the CIA is the story of the local interim chief of police who immediately suspects something is up with Maggie and her friends.  This follows the recent trend in mystery fiction of Old People Solving Crimes, but Gerritsen avoids the cutesy (praise the Lord). Her characters read like actual former CIA operatives and behave as such. I've been dragging my feet on reading the second book in the series because I'm a nutjob, I need to rectify that in 2026.

Cowboy's Last Stand by Jill Sorenson (2025) - Contemporary romance - Sorenson's first book in several years, and lordy how I missed her. While not romantic suspense (per se), this book features a Sorenson trademark - messy people with messy problems. Hero blows into tiny Last Chance, Texas to take care of some unfinished business he has with the heroine, a widow with a young son. Never mind she doesn't know him from Adam. He's got a Big Secret and almost immediately runs afoul of the local lowlifes, and she's a woman with a lot of responsibilities and vulnerabilities. Honest to goodness passion and tension - oh how I've missed both.

Deception by Gaslight by Kate Belli (2020) - Historical mystery with romantic elements - Wealthy heiress from socially conscious family making her way in Gilded Age New York City as a reporter is looking for her big break running down a story about a Robin Hood-like thief when she meets our hero, Five Points born and bred who inexplicably inherited a fortune from a blue blood. This first book represents the fact that I glommed my way through the entire four book series this past year. It's not without problems, but I got sucked into the world-building and plots to the point where it undeniably cannot be ignored. By all accounts Belli is done with this series, but she's got the chops to go back to historicals if she has the desire to do so.

The Wife Deserved It by Darby Kane (2025) - Contemporary thriller novella - A perfect bon-bon of a thriller. Reid Cavanagh thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, that the divorce his soon-to-be-ex is dragging him through is all her fault, and frankly it's time for her to die. One minor detail? What he thought was the perfect plan runs aground in a hurry and this vile sack of crap soon gets what's coming to him. Again, Kane reading the room in 2025. 

A Deal with the Devil by Alyxandra Harvey (2025) - Historical romance - A morally gray hero soon meets his match in a naughty bookseller heroine determined to save her younger sister from marriage to a vile Lord who has already buried three wives. It's making my honorable mentions for a few reasons, but mostly for the tension and sizzle. I mean, this exchange y'all:

"...I just want you to have everything you need. Let me take care of you.” 

“Why?” 

“Because no one else does,” he said severely. “And because it would be my fucking privilege.”

Rain Shadow by Cheryl St. John (1994) - Historical romance - St. John's debut back in the day that sounds like it should be Problematic AF, but skirts the red flags. White heroine rescued by her adopted Lakota Sioux father when she was a toddler wants to provide a better life for her son and learn more about her past. When a train derailment causes her son to become injured, they're temporarily sidelined and relying on the hospitality of the hero - a widower working the family farm whose never met anyone like the heroine before. 

The Davis Deal by Jennifer Hayward (2025) - Contemporary romance - A single title debut and the second book in a series that started in Harlequin Presents, Hayward gives readers all the glitz, glamor and sizzle of a Presents with a kinder, gentler (yet still Alpha) hero and a dynamite friends-to-lovers trope. Football (soccer), reality TV and plenty of family drama baggage. I lapped this one up.

The Bikini Car Wash by Pamela Morsi (2010) - Contemporary romance - All the small town charm one expects from a Morsi romance while not ignoring the harsh realities of small town economics and busy bodies all up in your damn business. Heroine returns to hometown after her mother dies to help out her father with her developmentally disabled twin sister, but work is hard to find. When she reopens her father's car wash, with a twist, she runs afoul of some of the good townsfolk, but not the hero, who is struggling to keep the family grocery store afloat.

A Murderous Business by Cathy Pegau (2025) - Historical mystery with romantic elements - Lady private investigator but make it early 20th century NYC and Sapphic. Heroine who inherits her family's food packaging business comes into work early one day to discover a cryptic note next to the dead body of her dead father's retired assistant. She needs to tread lightly for a scandal could upend everything, so she hires a female PI keeping her father's investigation business afloat as he slowly descends further into dementia/Alzheimer's. Great characters, great setting, and a mystery that read like a breath of fresh air.

While it was a disappointing year for me in terms of quantity, I really cannot complain about the quality. I discovered some good reads this year and one wonders how many more I would have found if I had managed to find some spoons. Here's hoping my spoons turn up in 2026 because I know there's an embarrassment of riches waiting for me in my TBR.