Top 5 Unusual Historicals for November 2018

I love the ease of digital reading and online shopping, but when it comes to browsing I still struggle with missing the experience that brick and mortar retailers provide. Case in point, looking for historical romances published in November 2018 on The ‘Zon netted me a bunch of books with half naked women on the covers with “Daddy” in the title. Um, not what I’m looking for - thanks for that Amazon. Anyway, in between the combination of averting and rolling my eyes, I did uncover some intriguing sounding historicals - none of which had “Daddy” in the title.

Unmask Me If You Can by Shana Galen

This masked lord…

Lord Jasper, younger son of a marquess, suffered horrible burns fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He wears a mask to hide his face from the stares and screams and finds comfort in the shadows. Jasper is an exceptional bounty hunter, so when a woman summons him to her deathbed and asks him to find her runaway daughter before she passes away, he doesn't refuse. Jasper is close to his quarry when he's knifed by an assailant. Imagine his surprise when he regains consciousness in the arms of the woman he seeks. Except she's not at all what he expected.

Is not the only one with scars.

On a remote cliff on the sea, Olivia Carlisle calls her five-year-old son in from an approaching storm. But the little boy is more interested in the man he's found on the trail to their hidden cottage. Olivia fears men and wants nothing more than to leave the injured man where she found him. But his knife wound is severe, and with the approaching storm, she knows leaving him will condemn him to death. As Jasper begins to heal, Olivia acknowledges her attraction to him, even though such emotions terrify her almost as much as returning to London. Jasper must convince her that her only chance at safety is to challenge the man who pursues her. They must travel into the lion's den—he to face his vulnerability and she to face her worst fears.

The fourth book in The Survivor’s series, this one has major Wendy Catnip: Beauty and the Beast and a heroine with a Big Secret who nurses the hero back to health. Reviews I’ve seen indicate that while past characters do show up, this book stands alone but noted that the heroine is a rape survivor. No indication on if that is graphically depicted, but a trigger warning all the same.

A Texas Christmas Reunion by Carol Arens

The neighborhood bad boy…

Is he back for good?

Widow Juliette Lindor believes in Christmas miracles. For the sake of her small children, she hopes there’s one that will restore her town to its former glory.

But when Trea Culverson returns, he brings all the passion she thought she’d never have again.

With the town firmly set against him, can she show them and Trea that trust and love are just as powerful as any Christmas gift?

I am a sucker for a Christmas-set redemption themed romances and a prodigal son with a bad boy reputation he has to live down is a personal favorite. This sounds like just the sort of romance I like curl up with on Christmas Eve.

Cadenza by Stella Riley

The performance finished in a flourish of technical brilliance and the young man rose from the harpsichord to a storm of applause.

Julian Langham was poised on the brink of a dazzling career when the lawyers lured him into making a catastrophic mistake. Now, instead of the concert platform, he has a title he doesn’t want, an estate verging on bankruptcy … and bewildering responsibilities for which he is totally unfitted.

And yet the wreckage of Julian’s life is not a completely ill wind. For Tom, Rob and Ellie it brings something that is almost a miracle … if they dare believe in it.

Meanwhile, first-cousins Arabella Brandon and Elizabeth Marsden embark on a daring escapade which will provide each of them with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The adventure will last only a few weeks, after which everything will be the way it was before. Or so they think. What neither of them expects is for it to change a number of lives … most notably, their own.

And there is an additional complication of which they are wholly unaware. The famed omniscience of the Duke of Rockliffe.

The Regency has such a stranglehold on the genre that what inevitably happens to fans of either Georgian-set or Victorian-set romances is that we often get Faux Regency instead. This description for Riley’s sixth book in her Rockliffe series reads like the most Georgian thing ever. I’ve seen positive mentions for the previous books, and I have no idea how well this one may stand alone, but given that well-executed Georgian romances aren’t exactly thick on the ground, I wanted to mention this to Georgian lovers in the event Riley is a complete unknown to them.

A Healer for the Highlander by Terri Brisbin

She can save his son, but can she resist the Highland warrior?

A Highland Feuding story

Famed healer Anna MacKenzie is moved by Davidh of Clan Cameron’s request to help his ailing young son.

She wants to help—and the commander has unknowingly provided the introduction to the clan she’s been looking for. But Anna has a secret, one that could jeopardize the fast-growing, heated passion between them…

Terri Brisbin has written numerous medievals for Harlequin Historical and I’ve enjoyed her work in the past. This is the fifth book in her Highland Feuding series and I’m a sucker for heroines with Big Secrets and healers.

The Wise Virgin by Jo Beverley

It was quite daring of Edmund de Grave to rescue Lady Nicolette de Montelan before her father found out she was pregnant with an enemy family's child. Unfortunately, he kidnapped the wrong woman when Nicolette's cousin, Joan, took Nicolette’s place as the Blessed Virgin in the Christmas re-enactment—a last minute change that seemed fitting given her "condition".

Now, Lady Joan finds herself trapped in a cave on Christmas Eve with the great Edmund de Grave and neither are very happy about it. He's fuming because his plan was spoiled and worrying about his brother, now in enemy hands. She's perturbed that a man she thought a hero is the type to get a lady "with child" outside of marriage.

There's a battle brewing as the fires of ancient hatreds are stoked and the true spirit of Christmas is about to be tested.

Jo Beverley passed away in 2016, leaving behind a well-loved backlist and numerous fans. This is a digital reprint of a novella that first appeared in the 1999 anthology, The Brides of Christmas. From what I can determine, this is the first time the story has been available in digital, a welcome holiday present to her many fans!

What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to this month?

#TBRChallenge 2018: Midlife Crisis

The Book: Midlife Crisis by Audra North

The Particulars: Contemporary gay romance, Riptide Publishing, 2017, In Print, LAMBDA finalist Best Gay Romance

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I liked the cover, I LOVED the fact that both main characters were in their 50s, and I scored a free copy at last year's RWA Librarians Day.

The Review: Buckle up kiddies because I have a lot to say about this book - some of it good and some of it that had me frothing at the mouth angry.

Cam McGhee is a widower in his early 50s with two grown children.  He lives in a small, historically black, rural town.  He played high school football, married the girl next door, opened his own feed store and he's gay.  He's still firmly in the closet, but has decided to take a sabbatical from the business (his son is running it in his absence) and spend some time in The Big City (Austin).  Cam has to find himself, and who he ends up finding is Dave Montoya.

This is a romance, but to be honest it works better as a Coming Of Age or Self-Discovery Narrative.  Cam has been hiding his truth for so long that reading about the romance between him and Dave is actually quite sweet.  Cam married LaVerne right out of high school so not only has he not dated in a dog's age, he also hasn't been involved with someone he feels a deep attraction and passion for.  Naturally it all gets complicated when he realizes he is developing real feelings for Dave.  For one thing, Cam's kids have no clue that Dad Is Gay.

So what's the problem?  LaVerne.  The author chooses to employ flashbacks to Cam's marriage and that makes LaVerne a very big problem.  I learned a long time ago that life isn't fair.  You know what I love most about genre fiction?  It's fair.  True love conquers all, the bad guys lose in the end, genre fiction is art's way of righting the universe.  LaVerne is a sweet, small town girl who is "sickly."  Turns out she has sickle cell that goes undiagnosed for a long time and ultimately it's complications from that disease that kill her.  LaVerne is married to a closeted gay man who does love her (in the way friends love each other) and LaVerne DIES.  And by all accounts, LaVerne has no clue that Cam is gay (the author tap-dances around this a bit, but there's never any big moment where LaVerne indicates she knows the truth so I'm operating under the assumption she doesn't know).

LaVerne gets hosed.

LaVerne spent her whole adult life married to a man who had to fantasize about other men when they did have sex (which wasn't often).  LaVerne NEVER knew what it was like to be desired.  LaVerne never felt true passion.  No man ever looked into LaVerne's eyes and told her how much he desired her, how much he loved her, how he would walk through the fires of Hell for her.  And now, LaVerne is dead.  Her chance at happiness, her chance at true love and passion are forever gone.  And that makes me so angry I want to throat punch somebody.

Look, I get it.  I'm not unsympathetic to Cam's plight.  But the fact that nobody, at all, says word one about how LaVerne got shafted makes me angry.  When the kids find out they both ask Cam if he cheated on their Mom (he didn't).  But then they just drop it.  Nobody thinks for one moment what life must have been like for LaVerne - with a myriad of health related issues and a husband who was using her as a beard.

The worst part about this whole thing is that I don't think the author made these choices for her story with any malicious intent. LaVerne is not a villainous character by any stretch of the imagination.  However, while I'm not widely read in m/m, even I know that the sub genre doesn't have the best track record when it comes to writing female characters.  Which, when you think about the fact that the readership is largely female and the writers are largely female is seriously messed up.

Is this a sweet romance featuring an older couple?  Yes, it is.  But it's also a rage-inducing read about a woman who gets screwed, and not in a good way.  If there is any justice at all in the world, an author is going to read this review, agree with me that LaVerne gets hosed, resurrect her, and give her her own passionate, soul-defining and beautiful happy ever after with someone who treats her like a goddamn goddess.

I recognize that the narrative of Cam finally living his truth is a good one but I can't overlook LaVerne.  So...

Final Grade = C

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is November 21!

Hey, hey, hey!  For those of you participating in the 2018 #TBRChallenge, a reminder that your commentary is "due" on Wednesday, November 21.  The theme this month is Cover Girl (a book with a pretty cover...or a horrible one).

An inaugural theme this month!  I'm a visual person and love cover art.  But what if you're one of those types that, quite frankly, doesn't care or pay attention to covers? Hey, no problem!  Remember that the themes are optional and really, you can read whatever you want.  The whole point of the TBR Challenge is to read something that has been languishing in your TBR.

Reminders:

1) If you're participating via social media, remember to use the #TBRChallenge hashtag

and 

2) You can get further details and links to all the blogs participating on the 2018 TBR Challenge Information Page.

Retro Review: Hearts by Stef Ann Holm

This review of Hearts by Stef Ann Holm was first published at The Romance Reader in 2001.  At that time I rated it 5-Hearts (A Grade) with a sensuality rating of PG-13.

+++++

I was very busy last week - so busy, in fact, that I only managed to get the first 50 pages of Hearts read. I found myself too exhausted to hold the book up, let alone give it the attention it deserved, so I put it on hold until President’s Day, when I had the whole blessed day to myself. Literally finishing it in one sitting, I have decided that I may have grounds to sue my boss for unfair labor practices - you be the judge.

Since 1852, the Valentines had always married on Valentine’s Day, but the tradition will most likely stop at Truvy Valentine. Tall, athletic and a schoolteacher to boot, she might as well have spinster stamped on her forehead. Truvy has resigned herself to her fate, although she can’t deny that she wishes she would marry and have children. The fact is, men like women who are delicate, petite and feminine - qualities that Truvy doesn’t possess.

However, all her musings on her spinsterhood pale in comparison to the pickle she’s landed herself in. The main benefactress for St. Francis Academy for Girls passed out dead away when she overheard Truvy reading to her students from The Science of Life - a sexual education book. Truvy’s supervisor really has no choice but to put her on a leave of absence until after the Christmas holiday.

Truvy had been planning on visiting her old college friend, Edwina Wolcott, in Harmony, Montana anyway, so she decides to extend her visit. Edwina is very pregnant, and Truvy is anxious to make herself useful, and to keep her mind off her current state of unemployment. Instead, she comes face to face with a man who is more than happy to help her out.

Jake “Bruiser” Brewster is a former bodybuilder and boxer, who now runs his own gym in Harmony. A large hunk of a man, he’s used to women fawning all over his muscles, but then he meets Miss Valentine - an intelligent woman who seems to not find him remotely attractive and takes him for blockhead. However, from the moment they both set eyes on each other, it’s too late. They try really hard to convince themselves that it possibly couldn’t work, but can’t help being intrigued all the same.

There is so much to like about Hearts, it’s really hard to know where to begin. First, I should say that for me, a good romance is one that takes some of the old tried and true formulas and tweaks them a bit. Holm does just that, and it makes Hearts not only an original story, but a heartwarming one as well. Sure Truvy is a schoolteacher, but she’s also an athlete, something she doesn’t like to openly discuss. She wants to be feminine, desirable, and women athletes are often seen as mannish freaks of nature.

Likewise Jake is, on the surface, his own cliché - having come from an extremely humble background, leaving home at 14 to escape an abusive father. Having been abandoned by his mother at a young age, he feels that a happy marriage and family couldn’t possibly be in the cards for him - what does he know about raising a family when his is such a mess? Also, there’s the small matter of Jake having a past failed relationship, making him reluctant. What is refreshing here is that Jake does not think that all women must be spawn of Satan because of this failed relationship. I know, it was a shock to me as well.

The main source of conflict is Truvy’s insecurity (what man could possibly be attracted to an over the hill athletic school teacher) and Jake’s belief that he wasn’t meant for love and family. That’s it. No wastrel brother who squandered the family fortune. No will stating that Truvy must marry to claim an inheritance. No witchy other woman trying to keep the couple apart. No nefarious Snidely Whiplash waiting to tie Truvy to the train tracks. It is quite simple, straightforward, and utterly wonderful.

After I finished the last page (well past my bed time), I found myself unable to sleep - my thoughts drifting back to the story and wishing I could start all over again. I can think of no higher compliment than that. Charming, delightful, and sweet, Hearts has won mine. Now I think it’s time my lawyer and I had a little chat with my boss…

+++++

Wendy Looks Back: I came to romance just as the last gasps were going out of the "Americana" sub genre.  Holm went on to write contemporary romance and has self-published a few titles, but unfortunately her entire Americana backlist looks unavailable in digital and is out of print.  This is the fourth book in a series but trust me when I say it stands alone extremely well (when assigned to review this I had never read Holm before...).  I remember loving the world-building, the small town Montana setting, and the romantic couple, who both had their insecurities but were perfect for each other.  It's been a dog's age since I've read this but my memories are extremely fond.