Loretta Chase
Scandal Wears Satin
Avon / June 29, 2012 / $7.99

From the Journals of Sophia Noirot: A dress is a weapon. It must dazzle his eye, raise his temperature . . . and empty his purse.

A blue-eyed innocent on the outside and a shark on the inside, dressmaker Sophy Noirot could sell sand to Bedouins. Selling Maison Noirot’s beautiful designs to aristocratic ladies is a little harder, especially since a recent family scandal has made an enemy of one of society’s fashion leaders. Turning scandal to the shop’s advantage requires every iota of Sophy’s skills, leaving her little patience for a big, reckless rake like the Earl of Longmore. The gorgeous lummox can’t keep more than one idea in his head at a time, and his idea is taking off all of Sophy’s clothes.

But when Longmore’s sister, Noirot’s wealthiest, favorite customer, runs away, Sophy can’t let him bumble after her on his own. In hot pursuit with the one man who tempts her beyond reason, she finds desire has never slipped on so smoothly . . .

Ah, Loretta Chase! I eagerly look forward to every new book and in between reread the old ones. She is, arguably, one of the best romance writers going. I feel as if her manifold writing charms have been well-documented and extolled. What can I write about a Loretta Chase book that hasn’t already been said?  Intriguing characters?  Yeah, yeah. Compelling storyline? Yawn. Sexy hero? Whatever. Humorous prose and dialog? Laugh it up, Fuzzball.

[Still she manages to surprise...]

Cecilia Grant
A Gentleman Undone
Bantam / May 29, 2012 / $7.99

Lydia Slaughter understands the games men play—both in and out of the bedroom. Not afraid to bend the rules to suit her needs, she fleeces Will Blackshear outright. The Waterloo hero had his own daring agenda for the gaming tables of London’s gentlemen’s clubs. But now he antes up for a wager of wits and desire with Lydia, the streetwise temptress who keeps him at arm’s length.

A kept woman in desperate straits, Lydia has a sharp mind and a head for numbers. She gambles on the sly, hoping to win enough to claim her independence. An alliance with Will at the tables may be a winning proposition for them both. But the arrangement involves dicey odds with rising stakes, sweetened with unspoken promise of fleshly delights. And any sleight of hand could find their hearts betting on something neither can afford to risk: love.

Our heroine, Lydia Slaughter, is a courtesan. Now, it’s not unusual for an historical romance novel to feature a courtesan, but Lydia is different. She’s a currently employed courtesan and we see her plying her trade with her protector, Roanoke, a man who remains her protector through more than half of the book. Moreover, she is a courtesan who enjoys sex, and her relations with Roanoke are satisfying, though it is strictly business. About the only thing that makes her your typical romance novel heroine courtesan is her sad story that led her into the business and the fact that she would like to get out of it.

[Her story is far from typical, we’re guessing]

Julia Quinn
A Night Like This
Avon / May 29, 2012 / $7.99

Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is . . . But she’s managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge—in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he’s the first man who has truly tempted her, and it’s getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.

Daniel Smythe-Smith might be in mortal danger . . . But that’s not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family’s annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten-year-old who thinks she’s a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending . . .

It’s time for another installment in the Smythe-Smith family series, the family who has been assaulting the ears of the ton for years with their annual family musicale. Our heroine this time around is not a Smythe-Smith, but a governess in a Smythe-Smith household who was dragooned into playing the piano at the last minute when an enterprising Smythe-Smith debutante feigned illness to get out of performing in the musicale which took place at the end of the previous book. Fortunately—or unfortunately—Anne Wynter’s musical abilities fit right in with the rest of the performers and nobody much noticed the substitution. Except for Daniel Smythe-Smith, who was exiled to Europe for several years because of a duel and who arrived home just in time to catch the musicale. And be instantly smitten with Anne.

[Instant smittance! Sounds delightful!...]

Mary Jo Putney
No Longer a Gentleman
Zebra, April 24, 2012, $7.99

Grey Sommers, Lord Wyndham, never met a predicament he couldn’t charm his way out of. Then a tryst with a government official’s wife during a bit of casual espionage in France condemns him to a decade in a dungeon, leaving him a shadow of his former self. Yet his greatest challenge may be the enigmatic spy sent to free his body—the only woman who might heal his soul.

Cassie Fox lost everything in the chaos of revolution, leaving only a determination to help destroy Napoleon’s empire through her perilous calling. Rescuing Grey is merely one more mission. She hadn’t counted on a man with the stark beauty of a ravaged angel, whose desperate courage and vulnerability thaw her frozen heart. But a spy and a lord are divided by an impassable gulf even if they manage to survive one last, terrifying mission….

When Grey was imprisoned in a French dungeon, he was a carefree, golden boy of 20. Ten years in solitary confinement has, of course, changed him, and No Longer a Gentleman chronicles his return and adjustment to being in the world again. It is a thrilling and harrowing journey and Mary Jo Putney shows us that journey in vivid and empathetic detail.

[Who doesn’t love a rewarding journey?...]

Meredith Duran
At Your Pleasure
Pocket, $7.99, March 27, 2012,

Glittering court socialites and underworld cutpurses alike know that Adrian Ferrers, Earl of Rivenham, is the most dangerous man in London. Rivenham will let nothing - not the deepening shadow of war, nor the growing darkness within him - interfere with his ambition to restore his family to its former glory. But when tasked by the king to uncover a traitor, he discovers instead a conspiracy - and a woman whose courage awakens terrible temptations. To save her is to risk everything. To love her might cost his life.

Lady Leonora knows that Rivenham is the devil in beautiful disguise - and that the irresistible tension between them is as unpredictable as the dilemma in which Nora finds herself: held hostage on her own estate by Rivenham and the king’s men. But when war breaks out, Nora has no choice but to place her trust in her dearest enemy - and pray that love does not become the weapon that destroys them both. . .

At Your Pleasure has an early Georgian setting. Very early Georgian. Like, 1715, the year after George I of Hanover succeeded to the English throne when his cousin, Queen Anne, died and her half-brother, James Stuart, was barred from the succession because he was Catholic. It was a time of great political unrest. When the Whigs gained power, many Tories, already sympathetic to James, openly rebelled and joined forces with the Jacobite movement. It is this upheaval that informs the romance of Leonora, whose Tory father and brother are causing trouble in exile, and Adrian, who renounces his Catholic faith in order to save his family and their lands.

[Now THIS is conflict!...]

Laura Lee Guhrke
Trouble at the Wedding
Avon, December 27, 2011, $ 7.99/$4.99 digital

Annabel is about to marry the perfect man . . .

The last thing Miss Annabel Wheaton desires is true love. She learned the hard way that love makes a woman foolish and leads only to heartache. That’s why she agreed to marry an earl who needs her money. He’s got a pedigree and a country estate, and he won’t ever break her heart. There’s only one problem . . .

Christian isn’t about to let her marry that pompous prig . . .

Christian Du Quesne, Duke of Scarborough, thinks the stubborn heiress is about to make the biggest mistake of her life, and he’s determined to stop her. Tempting beautiful women is Christian’s forte, after all. When her family offers him a nice sum of money to stop the wedding, he’s happy to accept.
Falling in love with Annabel was never supposed to be part of the bargain . . .

[Nice to find a bargain, no matter what it is!...]

Elizabeth Hoyt
Scandalous Desires
Grand Central Publishing, October 24, 2011, $7.99

Widowed Silence Hollingbrook is impoverished, lovely, and kind—and nine months ago she made a horrible mistake. She went to a river pirate for help in saving her husband and in the process made a bargain that cost her her marriage. That night wounded her so terribly that she hides in the foundling home she helps run with her brother. Except now that same river pirate is back...and he’s asking for her help.

“Charming” Mickey O’Connor is the most ruthless river pirate in London. Devastatingly handsome and fearsomely intelligent, he clawed his way up through London’s criminal underworld. Mickey has no use for tender emotions like compassion and love, and he sees people as pawns to be manipulated. And yet he’s never been able to forget the naive captain’s wife who came to him for help and spent one memorable night in his bed...talking.

When his bastard baby girl was dumped in his lap—her mother having died—Mickey couldn’t resist the Machiavellian urge to leave the baby on Silence’s doorstep. The baby would be hidden from his enemies and he’d also bind Silence to him by her love for his daughter.

[Talk about complicated...]

Various Authors
Jane Austen Made Me Do It
Ballantine, October 11, 2011, $15.00

“My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” If you just heaved a contented sigh at Mr. Darcy’s heartfelt words, then you, dear reader, are in good company. Here is a delightful collection of never-before-published stories inspired by Jane Austen—her novels, her life, her wit, her world.

In Lauren Willig’s “A Night at Northanger,” a young woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe’s “Waiting” captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion’s Wentworth and Anne as they await her family’s approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani’s “Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane” imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall’s “Jane Austen’s Cat,” our beloved Jane tells her nieces “cat tales” based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler’s “Intolerable Stupidity” finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany’s “Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; and in Jo Beverley’s “Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss,” a widow doesn’t believe she’ll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise.

Regency or contemporary, romantic or fantastical, each of these marvelous stories reaffirms the incomparable influence of one of history’s most cherished authors.

[Jo Beverley? Lauren Willig? Adriana Trigiani? And more? How cool!...]

Caroline Linden
One Night in London
Avon, August 30, 2011, $7.99

A bargain that was all business . . . and pure passion.

Neither wealth nor beauty will help Lady Francesca Gordon win custody of her young niece Georgina, saving the girl from a cruel stepmother; she needs London’s top solicitor for that. But when Edward de Lacey, son of the powerful Duke of Durham, hires away the one man who can do the job, Francesca decides Edward himself must champion her case . . . if only she can melt the dashing lord’s stony heart.

Edward has reason to be guarded, though. London’s tabloids have just exposed a secret that could ruin his entire family. When Francesca offers a unique chance to undo the damage, Edward is forced to agree to a partnership . . . and now, each moment together feeds the flames of his scandalous longing for the passionate widow. But when Georgina disappears, fate will test them both . . . and leave their love hanging in the balance.

[Which way will they fall?...]

Liz Carlyle
The Bride Wore Scarlet
Avon, July 26, 2011, $7.99

Passion and secrets simmer behind the elegant façade of Victorian London in another deliciously intriguing novel featuring the mysterious men of the St. James Society.

Anaïs de Rohan has faced danger in her past, but never anything so great as posing as the new bride to one of the St. James Society’s most magnetic - and ruthless - leaders. But Lord Bessett’s bold challenge to prove herself worthy of joining his secret all-male society is impossible to resist. So she daringly agrees to travel with the enigmatic nobleman on a dangerous mission to save one of their own - a little girl with a frightening gift.

Soon intrigue swirls about them, drawing them ever closer. And Anaïs quickly realizes that the intimacy of sharing Lord Bessett’s bedroom is proving a temptation impossible to resist. As for Bessett himself - well, he might be a soldier sworn to the Society, but he certainly isn’t anyone’s saint. . . .

[Saints are boring anyway...]

Mary Balogh
The Secret Mistress
Delacourte Press, July 12, 2011, $24.00

While Lady Angeline Dudley’s pedigree dictates that she must land a titled gentleman, the irrepressible beauty secretly longs for a simple, ordinary suitor. No wild rakes like the men of her family, just a kind heart and good nature. So when Edward Ailsbury, the new Earl of Heyward, rescues her with unmatched civility from the advances of a scoundrel, Angeline thinks that she has found her true love. Persuading the earl is another matter entirely.

Edward has his future neatly mapped out. He hopes to wed his steadfast companion, a woman who shares his values of loyalty, respect, and decorum. But arriving in London to take his seat in the House of Lords, he is derailed by Angeline, an exquisite bird of paradise seemingly devoted to sending his predictable life into chaos.

From the brilliant hues of her fashion to her hoydenish antics, Angeline is the last woman on earth for Edward. And yet a stolen kiss in the moonlight awakens something deep and primal within him. Naturally, being a gentleman, he does the right thing after compromising a lady: He offers marriage.

Angeline knows that Edward’s proposal is born of duty, not love. But denying something so provocative and passionate is easier said than done. Deep down, Angeline believes that Edward’s dedication to convention will melt behind closed doors, where sensuality and seduction play wicked games. For a proper wife by day can become a husband’s secret mistress by night, when delicious desire rules.

[Sounds tempting indeed...]

Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels is on everybody’s list of favorite Historical Romances. In an All About Romance interview, Ms. Chase professed surprise at its long-term popularity. “I asked my husband why it’s so popular, and he said, ’The glove scene.’ ”

[Mr. Chase is a smart man . . . ]

Loretta Chase
Silk is for Seduction
Avon, June 28, 2011, $7.99

From the Design Book of Marcelline Noirot:
The allure of the perfect gown should be twofold:
ladies would die to wear it . . .
and gentlemen would kill to remove it!
Brilliant and ambitious dressmaker Marcelline Noirot is London’s rising star. And who better to benefit from her talent than the worst-dressed lady in the ton, the Duke of Clevedon’s intended bride? Winning the future duchess’s patronage means prestige and fortune for Marcelline and her sisters. To get to the lady, though, Marcelline must win over Clevedon, whose standards are as high as his morals are . . . not.
The prize seems well worth the risk—but this time Marcelline’s met her match. Clevedon can design a seduction as irresistible as her dresses; and what begins as a flicker of desire between two of the most passionately stubborn charmers in London soon ignites into a delicious inferno . . . and a blazing scandal.
And now both their futures hang by an exquisite thread of silk . . .

[Unravel the rest...]

Basilio, Count Montevarchi, scholar and poet, is the most Romantic hero I’ve ever read. I’m talking Romantic with a capital “R:” extravagant emotion, an emphasis on honor and truth, idealism, seeing beauty in the ordinary, loving with one’s whole heart and being. These kinds of Romances are rare and I know some people can’t get into the over-the-topness of it, but Barbara Samuel served up a doozy of one for her last historical romance, Night of Fire, written in 2000.

Basilio has kept up a two year correspondence with the widowed Cassandra St. Ives, who lives in England, herself a scholar of some note. The letters began as scholarly debate, and that continues to be a part of their relationship, but they have found in each other kindred spirits and already love each other dearly. When Basilio senses Cassandra’s restlessness, that she is ready for a new adventure, he writes: “Come to Tuscany, my lady. Breathe new winds.”

[Since you asked so nicely...]

Julia Quinn
Just Like Heaven
Avon, May 31, 2011, $7.99

Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) not in love with her older brother's best friend
D) all of the above
Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) not in love with his best friend's younger sister
D) all of the above
Together they:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever and the world's worst musical performance
C) fall quite desperately in love
It's Julia Quinn at her best, so you know the answer is . . .
D) all of the above

[Delicious!...]

Interstitial material is a fancy term for that stuff between chapters—diary excerpts, newspaper columns, fairy tales, quotes, etc. How do you feel about it? Is there too much of it? Not enough? Which authors do a good job with it and who should refrain?

I come down on the “generally too much” side of things and believe I can date the current overuse of this conceit to Julia Quinn and her Lady Whistledown character. She first appeared in The Duke and I and was a Regency newspaper columnist who dished on the ton, using her acerbic wit.

London is awash these days with Ambitious Mamas. At Lady Worth's ball last week, This Author saw no fewer than eleven Determined Bachelors, cowering in corners and eventually fleeing the premises with those Ambitious Mamas hot on their heels.

The anonymous Lady Whistledown cuts everyone down to size while commenting upon the action of the previous chapter, or setting the stage for the following one. She was a great character, and though she is now retired, I still miss her biting commentary.

[Who doesn't love 'em some good snark?...]

Let's talk about the Dark Side of Romance. Those moments of hopelessness, when our hero and heroine are at their lowest point; they feel they've lost the love of their lives, or death is approaching with so much left unsaid, and loneliness is a vast, open chasm of pain. Ah! the angst, the pain, the despair!

I love it.

It's a cliché, but suffering—in romance, at least—makes one a better person. I make a distinction between your run-of-the-mill romance novel torment: an abusive childhood, being tortured by the French during the war, that kind of thing. I maintain that pain is good for a man. Any man. (Reminds me of an old Rita Rudner joke: “I like men who wear earrings. They've bought jewelry and they've experienced pain.”)

What I'm talking about here is emotional anguish. The woman you've fallen in love with has finally seen through you. She's discovered you've lied to her. She knows you are still seeing your mistress. She knows you're only after her for her money. She found out that you are the one who ruined her brother. The scales have fallen from her eyes. She knows exactly what a despicable cad you are and has tossed you out of her life.

[The ultimate trip to the dog house?...]

Road Romances are one of my favorite romance tropes. There are a lot of them out there, but to my mind, a great road romance must include three elements.

There must be a compelling reason for our couple to be on the road. A reason to place these two people in a position they would never otherwise be. A great example of this is Loretta Chase's Lord Perfect. Bathsheba's daughter and Benedict's nephew have run away to look for a family treasure and must be tracked down. Bathsheba and Benedict's fear for the children and their adventures on the road bring them closer and seal their fate.

[Road trip!...]

I do an annual reread of Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. Derek Craven, for the uninitiated, was literally born in the gutter and raised in a brothel. His sordid climb to the top has seen him working as a climbing boy, a dockworker, a resurrection man (digging up fresh corpses for medical students), a prostitute, and eventually the owner of an exclusive gambling hall and one of the richest men in England. He is a legendary figure, equally admired, envied and feared. Now that he has gained everything in life he’d ever wanted, he finds that he has nothing left for which to strive. His cynicism has reached new levels and he is just going through the motions, dead inside. Until he meets Sara.

[Sara...Saaaraaa...!]