Top 5 Unusual Historicals For February 2018

This month marks a new venture, of sorts, for my Unusual Historicals column.  It will now be cross-posted over at Love in the Panels!  Suzanne and I worked together at Heroes & Heartbreakers (RIP), and this seemed like a happy marriage of getting more eyeballs on new historical romance titles (always my nefarious goal!).  So what is catching my eye this month?  So glad you asked!

Westerns Galore!

The Cowboy Who Came Calling by Linda Broday

A Former Texas Ranger on a mission
A determined woman slowly losing her sight
A love neither could have predicted
...and a danger that may steal their happy ending before it can even begin.

Glory Day may be losing her vision, but that doesn't mean she'll ever stop fighting. Determined to provide for her struggling family, she confronts an outlaw with a price on his head. But when a mysterious cowboy gets between her and her target, Glory accidentally shoots him instead. Flustered, she has no option but to take the handsome stranger home to treat his wounds.

Former Texas Ranger Luke McClain didn't plan to fall in love, but there's no denying the strength of Glory's will or the sweetness of her heart. But Glory's been burned before, and Luke will have to reach into the depths of his own battered soul to convince her to take a chance...

This is a reprint, originally published by Dorchester and now reissued by Sourcebooks with a lovely new cover.  I reviewed the Dorchester release an online lifetime ago, and back then I found this an enjoyable story with a mix of folksy charm and grittier elements.

Married to Claim the Rancher’s Heir by Lauri Robinson

To claim his heir…

…he must marry his enemy!

Gabe Callaway is outraged when feisty Janette Parker lands on his doorstep with her orphaned niece—though he soon realizes little Ruby is heir to his ranch! If Janette wants money, he’ll pay her off to keep the little girl in her rightful place. But all Janette wants is Ruby… Will Gabe do whatever it takes to claim his heir—even marry Janette?

It’s a Harlequin Historical western, which means I’m obligated by some unwritten law to add this to my TBR Mountain Range (hey, I don’t make this stuff up!).  Also, color me intrigued.  My first instinct was move this set-up to a contemporary setting and it could be published by Harlequin Desire.  One-click!

A Gambler’s Pleasure by Michelle Beattie

Ten years after strolling out of Marietta without a backward glance, Mitch McCall wins a land deed in a game of poker that has him returning to his hometown, ready to collect his winnings. A few weeks later, he's surprised when he doesn't want to leave. Not only is he working a saloon and unknowingly putting down roots, he's also trying to convince the town's good girl that he's not the rake she believes he is. But love isn't a game and if the successful gambler wants to win, he'll have to bet it all.

Melissa lives her life to please her parents. Suffering from their son's abandonment, Melissa puts her own desires and dreams aside to save them more heartache. But a late night encounter with the completely unsuitable Mitch McCall changes everything. With one night becoming many, Mitch helps her uncover the woman she really is and dares her to chase her dreams. But when shocking news arrives about her brother, will Melissa retreat back into her peacemaker role or will she fight for the man she loves?

It’s like there’s Wendy catnip sprinkled all over this book.  You’ve got a rascally hero who is really a good guy and a heroine weighted down by a sense of obligation.  And it’s a western.  One-click!

Across the Pond!

The Bittersweet Bride by Vanessa Riley

Widow Theodosia Cecil needs a husband to help protect her son. The former flower seller turned estate owner posts an ad in the newspaper, and no one is more surprised than she when her first love, the man she thought dead, reappears.

Ewan Fitzwilliam has been at war for six years. Now, the second son of a powerful earl is back but his beloved Theo needs a husband and will not consider him. She believes Ewan left her—in desperate straits—so she denies the feelings she still harbors for the handsome, scarred soldier. Theo and playwright Ewan must overcome bitter lies and vengeful actions that ruined their youthful affair. Theo must reveal her deepest secret in order to reclaim the love that has long been denied.

“Second son of a powerful earl,” yeah OK. Honestly? I’m reading this book because I’m dying to find out how a former flower seller becomes an estate owner!  And pray tell, when was the last time you saw a flower seller heroine in a historical romance?  The heroine’s backstory has me itching to read this one.

Historical Fiction / Romantic Elements!

Hearts of Resistance by Soraya Lane

At the height of World War II, three women must come together to fight for freedom, for the men they love—and for each other.

When Hazel is given the chance to parachute into Nazi-occupied France, she seizes the opportunity to do more for the British war effort than file paperwork. Alongside her childhood friend, French-born Rose, she quickly rises up the ranks of the freedom fighters. For Rose, the Resistance is a link to her late husband, and a way to move forward without him. What starts out as helping downed airmen becomes a bigger cause when they meet Sophia, a German escapee and fierce critic of Hitler who is wanted by the Gestapo. Together the three women form a bond that will last a lifetime.

But amid the turmoil and tragedy of warfare, all three risk losing everything—and everyone—they hold dear. Will their united front be strong enough to see them through?

Technically this is historical fiction but I’ll be perfectly frank - how can I be expected to resist that cover?!  And three Nazi-fightin’ heroines?  I feel like this is relevant to Romancelandia’s interests.  Lane has written a number of books, including some very good Harlequin Romances.  I’m curious to see what she does with a historical setting.  Oh, and it's free to Kindle Unlimited folks.

What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to this month?

The Returning Hero

I've read most of Soraya Lane's backlist and she's quickly become one of those authors where I never know what I'm going to get.  She's written books I've highly enjoyed, books that have made me angry and now with The Returning Hero, the dreaded "OK" read.  For the record, I hate writing "OK" reviews.  It's like trying to extract a tooth with a pair of pliers.  There's nothing inherently wrong with this story, per se.  There aren't elements in this story that I can point to and say "This is why I wasn't wild about it" - it's just.....OK.  Let's see if I can find my way out of this paper bag.

Jamie Mattheson has been a widow for six months.  Her soldier husband died in an explosion and she's now all alone, with only his now-retired bomb-detecting military dog, Bear, for company.  Knocking on her door is Brett Palmer, her husband's BFF, who was also injured in the same explosion.  He survived, with burns on his back that required skin grafts.  He's been putting off visiting Jamie, mostly because he's always had the hots for her.  But he promised Sam he'd look after her, and believe you me, he knows that Jamie is way off limits.  He may have met her before Sam, but once her and Sam hooked up?  He backed off in a major hurry.  Just because Sam is now dead doesn't change anything.  Or does it?

So that's pretty much the gist of it.  Jamie invites Brett to stay at her place because 1) she needs help with Bear 2) they've always been friends and 3) she's lonely in the now big, empty house.  Naturally Brett cannot say no, and then spends the rest of the book fighting his attraction for Jamie.  What I liked most here was that the author doesn't keep any "big secrets" percolating to the bitter end.  By the halfway point in the story Jamie has a pretty good idea of how Brett feels about her because, get this, he actually talks to her about it.  Jamie, in turn, is attracted to Brett and thinks they should explore these feelings.  Sam is gone.  Sam is dead.  And yes she loved him, but to keep on loving him and denying anything "new" to come into her life isn't going to bring him back.  The fly in the ointment?  Logan.  Another BFF who is fairly outraged by the idea that Brett would be horning in on Sam's girl. 

It's just....OK.  I think my problem is that for a long time I didn't feel a lot of chemistry and attraction between the couple.  The author tells me they have the hots for each other, but there's not a lot on the page to convince me of that fact.  The attraction does get stronger as the story gains some traction, but it's pretty light in the pants in the early going.

Also, and I know this is understandable, the ghost of Sam looms large and there are times it toes the line into "icky" territory for me.  I think if the chemistry between Jamie and Brett had been stronger, it wouldn't have bothered me so much.  But even in the mushy epilogue I kept getting this vibe that Jamie and Brett are a couple to keep Sam's memory alive and his death is something they have "in common" - as opposed to them being a couple on their own, in their own world, without Sam.  Yes, they both loved him - but in the end Sam shouldn't have anything to do with their relationship.  Sam is used too much as common ground for my tastes - and I'll be blunt, six months?  If the relationship between Jamie and Brett had been stronger (in other words, without Sam lurking around) I probably wouldn't have found six months jarring.  But as it was - it seemed way too soon.

So I'm probably nit-picking all of this to death, and I really think it's because this story didn't push me strongly on either end of my spectrum.  Mileage is going to vary here.  I can see some readers loving this story and slapping it with a bunch of A+++ ratings.  I, personally, didn't find it offensive in a way to illicit any strong loathing reactions, but again - what do I know?  In the end, it's a dreaded OK read for me.  The kind of book that immediately flies out of my memory once I've completed the epilogue.  Or makes me crazy wondering about why I didn't like it more.....

Final Grade = C+

Going Off The Rails On The Baby Train

Not that many (OK, any) writers ask for my opinion, but my advice is always write the best book you can at that moment in time and for the love of all that is holy - don't think about readers.  Which seems like odd advice coming from, well, a reader - but let me explain.  Readers are nut jobs.  No, we are.  We can't help it.  We all have our own personal baggage and try as we might that baggage has a tendency to creep into our reading experiences.  It just does.  You know, unless you're a Terminator and can keep your emotions out of the equation.  Which all explains why, as much as I've enjoyed Soraya Lane's books in the past, that The Soldier's Sweetheart didn't work as well for me.  The heroine got on my last hot nerve, and yep - it's pretty much all about Wendy's baggage.

Nate Calhoun has come home.  He joined the Army, was recruited to Special Forces, and is back home, discharged, thanks to an injury that left him with a bum leg and a friend dead.  His time in Afghanistan, the mission that went bad, still haunt him deeply, and now he's home with a bunch of well-meaning family who want to help but are actually just making things worse.  Entering into the fray is former sweetheart Sarah Anderson.  They were a couple all through high school, and she stood by his side when he joined the Army.  However Nate ultimately broke her heart and Sarah went running into the arms of another man.  Uh, another man who is now divorcing her because he knocked up another woman.

This starts out as a solid reunion story with a wounded hero and a heroine who won't back down just because he's 1) wounded 2) surly and 3) claims he wants to be left alone.  There's a nice cast of secondary characters (thanks to the fact that this is part of The Larkville Legacy continuity series) that round out the action, spurring the couple forward, but never intruding on the new romance with any of their We're Now Happy Kissie-Face Couples nonsense.

Where things go south for me is with the heroine and the execution of her baggage.  I admire the fact that Sarah keeps pushing Nate, trying to get him to open up and share his feelings.  However what got really annoying is that while she's pushing him to spill the beans, she's not telling him anything about what's bothering her.  And what is bothering her?  The fact that she's infertile and that it ultimately helped kill her marriage.  Yes folks, Biology Is The Only Way rears it's ugly head.

Look, ladies - I get it.  I really do.  Infertility is a heartbreaking issue that effects millions of women.  It can be devastating.  I get that.  I really, really do.  But repeat after me: Your Ability Or Inability To Be A Baby Making Factory Is Not The End All Be All Of Your Life.  It isn't.  You can be a great person and never be pregnant.  Likewise you can be a raging asshole and give birth to a dozen babies.  I would like to think that, as a woman, I am more than my uterus.  But hey, that's me.

I also really, really began to resent that just because she couldn't get knocked up that Sarah felt her life was somehow over.  That she could never have a family.  There are moments when she does think to herself about adoption or becoming a foster parent but then she says shit like this that just pisses me off:

"Because she might have to come to terms with not being a biological parent one day, but it didn't mean Nate should have to make that compromise."

and....

"But you still want to be a dad, Nate.  You might say no now, but I've seen the way you are with Brady.  I know you, and you're going to make someone a great husband and be a great father one day.  Of your own biological children."

OMG YOU STUPID BITCH!  HE CAN STILL BE A FATHER AND BE WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't be rational about this folks.  I just can't.  Growing up, I had friends who were adopted.  I have friends, as an adult, who have adopted.  My own frackin' niece is adopted.  Those children are not loved any less because they aren't "biological children" of their parents.  When my sister looks at my niece she sees her daughter.  She does NOT see some consolation prize just because my sister didn't have the easiest time getting pregnant.

Breathe Wendy, breathe.  That's a girl....

So where does this leave us?  Well, with Nate carrying the story for me.  This guy, ::dreamy sigh::.  You know what his reaction to Sarah's baggage is?  He basically doesn't give a damn.  He cares insomuch as it upsets him that it upsets her so much.  That her asshole ex made it a deal breaker.  But the fact that she's never going to be pregnant isn't an issue for him.  He loves her (God knows why), and yes - wants a family - but he isn't such an asshole (unlike her) that he doesn't know there are other ways to achieve that particular goal.

So yeah.  I'm not sure how to grade this one.  As much as she pissed me off, a D grade doesn't seem to fit.  I haven't been in a slump but my reading has been slower than usual lately, and I inhaled this story.  Also, if you take out the Biology Crap, the rest of this story works for me.  And, you know, I'm a big enough person to admit that I have "issues" with this sort of thing.  Lane isn't the first author to toss something like this into a book and Wendy Goes All Hulk Smash, nor will she be the last.  Final answer?  Mileage is going to vary because what bugs me, isn't necessarily going to bug every reader on the planet.

Final Grade = C

When Jane Comes Marching Home

A common "criticism" I see thrown at romance, and at category romance specifically, is that it's "not realistic."  Which, honestly, has always irritated the crap out of me.  No one type of fiction is wholly "realistic" and what feels "real" to one person can very well feel like a trip to Fantasy Land for another.  Life is full of gray areas, and what happens to people - the mundane, the fantastical, and everything in between - is never cookie-cutter.  What happens, how we cope with it, is going to vary across the spectrum.  Which is exactly what Soraya Lane tackles in her latest release Back in the Soldier's Arms.  The conflict alone will likely keep some readers away, but I can't help but admire the hell out of the author for "going there."

Daniel and  Penny Cartwright look like the perfect couple.  Both in the military (he's Navy, she's Army) they met, fell in love, got married, and have a 5-year-old daughter, Gabby.  The plan was to finish out their four years and settle into domestic bliss, but it didn't quite work out that way.  Daniel finished his stint as a Navy pilot, and just as she was about to walk away from the Army, they threw the ol' Stop-Loss card at Penny.  She was shipped back overseas, and Daniel was left at home to adjust to civilian life and being a single father.  It's a rocky adjustment which leads to Daniel falling off the fidelity wagon with a one-time encounter.  Now Penny is home on leave for their daughter's birthday, and to deal with the fall-out of Daniel's infidelity.

The story picks up with Penny coming home on leave, so the reader isn't privy to witnessing Daniel be unfaithful.  Still, a hero who lets Mr. Happy out to play with others besides the heroine tends to be a deal breaker for a lot of readers.  For me?  It's all about context.  This is a hero who isn't a jerk.  He's really not.  He feels like a complete and total shit-heel for what he's done.  Plus, he loves his wife.  The thought that she may leave him is enough to turn his stomach and he spends huge chunks of this book practically begging, on his knees over broken glass, for forgiveness.

For her part, Penny thinks she might be able to forgive Daniel, it's the forgetting part she can't deal with.  Just thinking about him with another woman leaves her feeling hurt, angry, and totally unworthy.  On top of this, she's been away from her daughter, and the adjustment home, for only one week before she has to leave again, is extremely bumpy.  Gabby has only had Daniel to rely on in the parent role for some time.  It's Daniel she wants.  It's Daniel she turns to.  And it breaks Penny's heart that, in some instances, her daughter flat-out doesn't want her.

This is a book about a hero who screwed up royally and spends the rest of the novel desperately trying to make things right.  Naturally, it does not go smoothly.  There are bumps in the road, there are angry words.  I spent every single page of this story practically having my heart ripped out on a continual basis.  The military "stuff," how that can effect a marriage, how it effects families, felt very authentic to me.  Granted, I have no first hand knowledge of the life, living with someone in the military, but these characters, their conflict, didn't feel silly or trumped up to me.  It felt painfully real.

If I had any one quibble with this story is that I wished it had had a stronger sense of place.  I'm still not sure where this story was set.  America (given the use of Stop-Loss), somewhere.  Also, while I think the author does a very good job with her conflict, and making her hero sweat blood to get his marriage back on track, I think I wanted him to suffer more.  Like say, the length of a SuperRomance as opposed to a Harlequin Romance.  That being said though, the author still makes him work and it's not like he doesn't work his ass off to get a second chance with Penny.

There is no such thing as a "simple" or "easy" relationship.  It doesn't exist.  Period.  Relationships tend to be one giant ball of gray.  As readers we all have "deal-breakers."  I have mine - certain things I can't forgive - and while generally speaking it's easy for me to say that infidelity is one them?  Ms. Lane gives readers a story where it's not so easy to make that statement.  It was, at many times, a very hard book to read, just because of the suffering these two people go through - both heroine and hero.  It's a book that the author should consider entering in the awards circuit next year, and a book that will move mountains when it finds the right reader, at the right time.  It's also a book that effectively cuts through the cookie-cutter fluffy label that gets slapped on category romance way too often for me to even be remotely tolerant about it anymore.  It's too hard of a book for me to declare undying love for, but it is brave as hell.  I hope the author is rewarded for it - whether it be with royalties, awards, or just really moving, awesome fan mail.

Final Grade = B+

Signed Sealed Delivered

As a reader, there's a certain magic in discovering a new author, especially one who is just starting out.  It always makes me feel smart and a little "hip" to get in on the ground floor, instead of playing catch-up well after the fact (which is what I'm doing most of the time).  In only her second published book, The Army Ranger's Return by Soraya Lane totally nails it for me.  That feeling I get when I read a really well-done, well-executed category romance.  Yes, reading any type of good book is rewarding, but category holds that little bit of added magic for me.  If this story is anything to go by?  That added magic is emotional intensity.

When Jessica Mitchell was undergoing treatment for breast cancer she found out about a pen pal program that pairs up people at home with military personnel serving overseas.  That's how she meets Special Forces Ranger Ryan McAdams.  They quickly become active pen pals, exchanging letters back and forth on a regular basis.  They also discover that they live near each other!  So when Ryan returns state-side thanks to an injury, they agree to meet in person. 

Ryan is very nervous about coming home.  When his wife passed away, he shut down and ran away.  Unfortunately, that means running away from his young son, who is now a surly 12-year-old and not all that happy to see Dear Old Dad.  He needs to repair his relationship with his son, deal with his physical therapy, and somehow thank Jessica, the woman who got him through to the other side.

This is a wonderful emotional story.  In Ryan's case, Jessica's letters got him through the day-to-day monotony of his last tour, and also the struggles.  He was able to tell her things he hasn't been able to talk about with anyone else.  An instance of where it's easier to tell a total stranger about your problems than those who are living those problems with you.  Jessica listens, and gives him good advice.  Without her, and her letters, he doubts he'd have the courage to face the mess he's made with his son.

The fly in the ointment is that Jessica has not told Ryan about her breast cancer, or the fact that it's casting a long shadow.  The disease took her sister, and her own breasts.  She's in remission now, but it's something she's going to have to deal with for the rest of her days.  She doesn't tell Ryan because she just wants to feel normal again.  She's tired of people close to her wanting to protect her.  Baby her.  Looking at her differently.  She just wants to feel like a normal, everyday woman.  The woman she was before The Big C rolled into town.  Then Ryan shows up and she fears that learning the truth might bring an end to their friendship.  Of course this all gets very complicated when she realizes that she just might be falling in love with the man.

The one sticking point here is definitely The Big Secret.  I totally understood, and even sympathized, with Jessica's plight.  This bit of conflict felt very organic to me, and realistic.  Should Jessica have kept this from Ryan?  OK, no.  But then, I understood why she did - because the author made me understand why she did.  As the reader, we know that Jessica is selling Ryan a little short - but he's a man with his own baggage to deal with.  A kid who "hates" him and his feelings over his wife's death.  Would the knowledge of Jessica's cancer be too much for even a strong, tough Army Ranger to bear?

Which means you have to read the book to find out.  The conflict with Ryan's son is fairly well done, although I did want some more of that.  The author makes it work given the page count of the Harlequin Romance line, but oh what she could have done with it in the SuperRomance world!  I also liked that snippets of those letters Jessica and Ryan wrote to each other were included, and I really appreciated the emotionally draining final chapters.  It's the stuff keepers are made of, and I suspect this book will be one for many, many readers.  Soraya Lane has two books out now.  Catch the elevator on the ground floor folks - she's turning in her fifth book at the end of this month.

Final Grade = B+

When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home

Nothing flips my switch harder than a romance novel about grown-ups.  Soldier On Her Doorstep by Soraya Lane isn't a flashy book.  It's not a story that's going to promise you thrills and chills.  It's a nice book, about nice people, who find their way to each other.  Which might sound boring to some, but for those of us who get tired of eye-rolling, trumped up conflict, and characters who morph into silly ninnies?  This is good stuff.

Alex Dane has been discharged from the Army and finds himself standing on Lisa Kennedy's front porch.  He was stationed overseas with Lisa's husband, William.  Alex came home, William did not.  As he lay dying in his arms, he asked Alex to deliver some letters to Lisa and to give her a message.  Which Alex does, but not without feeling incredibly guilty in the process.

It's been 8 months since William's passing.  Lisa still feels his loss, but the grief isn't quite as fresh as it once was.  She's more concerned with her young daughter, Lilly, who hasn't spoken to anyone other than Lisa since William's death.  Now here's Alex standing on her doorstep, a man she takes one look at and knows is hurting.  He's so different from William.  Closed off, guarded, and haunted by a past he doesn't want to talk about it.  Lisa cannot turn him away, especially since it appears the man doesn't have a home of his own to go to.  The added bonus?  He seems to be able to reach through to her daughter.  Lilly takes a real shine to her Daddy's friend.

Now this sounds like it should be a fairly gut-wrenching angsty read.  Well....it's not.  And I suspect that's going to be a problem for some readers.  Lisa's grief for her dead husband is not fresh.  We're not meeting her when the wound is still bloody and raw.  She still mourns his loss, but she's working towards moving on.  Partly thanks to her own job (she writes cookbooks for a living) and the fact that she has a daughter to take care of.  We also find out that she suffered a miscarriage just after William was deployed, but it's been months, and she's....moving forward.  Readers looking for a heroine mired in grief aren't going to find one in Lisa.

Alex is the one carrying all the angst baggage in this story.  He's a man with no roots.  His parents died when he was young, and he has no other family.  After being shuffled around the foster care system, he joined the Army.  He's a soldier who comes home to....no home.  Not to mention that he's lugging around a Big Secret that concerns William.  Every time he looks at Lisa, he's not only smitten, he feels guilty as hell.

What I loved about this story is that Lisa is a mature, competent heroine.  The author doesn't demonize William in order to make it "OK" that Lisa is falling for Alex.  She loved William, she's falling in love with Alex.  The best part of this book for me?  When Lisa muses on how lucky she is, how fortunate she is, to have not only fallen in love once in her life - but twice.  Oh happy day!

This is a very leisurely paced book.  It's gentle, it's soft - but it packs an emotional punch at the end, when the Big Secret comes tumbling out.  How this is dealt with is also stellar.  No silly misunderstandings.  No flying off the emotional handle.  Just one seriously damaged hero working his way through, and a heroine who tries to knock some sense into him.  I also loved how the military angle was handled in this story.  Lisa knows, first and foremost, that her husband was a soldier.  Period.  She also knows that Alex was a soldier.  She knows this, understands it, and is well aware what she signed up for.  This is not a woman prone to fantasies about men in uniform.

No, it's not flashy.  And I suspect more than one reader is going to desperately wish this were a Harlequin SuperRomance.  But it is a lovely debut novel that shows a quiet maturity, and is a good launching pad for a new category author.  Oh happy day!

Final Grade = B