Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city’s biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can’t let anyone into his life. He just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to as Andy.Andy Fleming’s newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He’s barely able to run his life—he’s never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he’ll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can’t deny. But what feels possible in secret—this fragile, tender thing between them—seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they’re willing to fight.
1950s! New York City! Now there will be some out there who will say this isn't a historical, but my feeling is if you can't remember or weren't alive during the era - HEY IT'S HISTORICAL TO YOU! This has received a number of positive reviews in the trade journals, which also indicate that the story as a "found family" aspect to it.
She can be his lover……but never his wife!Forced into servitude, Wren is quietly miserable…until Jarl Knud arrives at her settlement, seeking an alliance through marriage. Despite their initial sizzling attraction, Wren despises everything the jarl represents—and he needs a high-status bride to save his people, not a servant like her. As Wren uncovers the man beneath the fierce Viking chief, she’s tempted to claim one forbidden night of passion…but will it ever be enough?
Rodi's fourth Viking historical features a cross-class romance between a heroine forced into servitude and a jarl hero (essentially a chieftain) who wants to marry for that noblest of reasons - an alliance. When will these romance heroes learn? If you need to marry for political gain you will inevitably fall for the one woman totally inappropriate for that mission 😂
She never forgot him…Can she ever forgive him?Marguerite never expected to see Savaric again—let alone to have to help him when she finds him outnumbered in a fight. He’s the brooding knight she fell for two years ago…until he left her unexpectedly. Now Marguerite is a hardened spy and wary of trusting him again. But how long can she resist their connection when they must work together to protect the Crown?
This is the third and final book in the author's Protectors of the Crown series about three knights who work together to protect the Crown from a secret group working to usurp Henry III during the early days of his reign. This time out we get a reunion romance - there's just one small problem. Our spy heroine isn't so easy to trust having been thrown over by the hero two years earlier.
A glimpse of the ducal heirBehind closed doors…Commissioned to paint the new heir to the Creighton dukedom, Guinevere is struck by Dev Bythesea’s presence. Raised in the halls of the maharaja’s palace, he’s unlike anyone she’s ever known, but she’s not the impeccable duchess Dev requires. Yet when he asks for one of her scandalously private paintings, it takes them away from the prying eyes of the ton—and into a world of passion that is theirs alone…
The heroine in Scott's latest stand-alone is an artist, which is why a Duke book caught my eye. The hero finds himself unexpectedly heir to the title, the product of a marriage between the Duke's (now dead) younger brother and a high born Indian mother. The fly in the ointment? He has to marry well and besides being only half-English, he committed that most cardinal of sins - he actually worked for a living. Obviously the heroine is totally unsuitable, but this poor man - I can just tell from the sample I read that he doesn't stand a chance.
What Unusual Historicals are in your TBR for this month?
7 comments:
This month's loot may not be large but by golly, it be mighty!
I want them all, but especially the Sebastian (oh man, that price tho), and the Scott.
And also: look, I was born in the 1960s, and that book is definitely a historical romance.
My lifetime is now considered "retro" now and I'm only in my fourth decade, so yes, 1950s definitely counts as a historical genre. Good to see some movement away from WW2 - talk about a glut of novels being set in the same time period!
I bought to Scott book in this month's HQN binge. I also attempted to get the Joanna Johnson book but they sent me an Intrigue title instead(?!). LOL okay, whatever.
AL: The Sebastian is published by Avon - I wouldn't be half surprised if we see it on sale in a few months. The Scott, look I get nervous anytime India is mentioned in historical romance because oh how many times have we all been burned with distasteful "exotic" microaggressions etc. But the sample I read gives me hope - and Scott has been reliable for me in the past.
Eurohackie: Back in the Long Ago Time, the definition of historical romance was a lot stricter. People were debating early 20th century for cripes sake and I'm over here like, "Were any of us ALIVE?! Not likely - it's historical 😂" And yes, I read and loved a WWII book a couple months ago but there's just SO MUCH of that setting in historical fiction right now. I get it, lots of conflict, lots of drama - but a little variety would be appreciated.
I need to read more of Cat Sebastian. A while back I read "Tommy Cabot Was Here" in an anthology and loved it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Now there will be some out there who will say this isn't a historical, but my feeling is if you can't remember or weren't alive during the era - HEY IT'S HISTORICAL TO YOU!
I think I started off marking books as historical if they were WWII and older, then kind of moved to Vietnam War as marker (I'm nothing if not American marking time by wars :/ ). I've seen people mark historical only if author wasn't alive in time they are writing about, ex. Jane Austen as contemporary works. I get it all except marking 1990s as historical, can't compute.
Jen: Sebastian is an author I keep collecting and then she gets sucked into my digital TBR black hole. I really need to move her up the queue.
Whiskey: I tend to fall in the "was it contemporary at the time it was published" camp. But yeah, now I'm thinking about my niece marking books set in the 1990s as "historical" and I want to go scream into my pillow....
Look, both my kids were born before the 1990s were over, so OUCH is all I'm going to say about that.
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