Elizabeth Mazer

RomanceHistorical Romance

The Lady is Daring

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

While it’s fascinating to explore the exquisite manners and rigid expectations of high society in any era, it’s always deliciously exciting to see someone escape the lock-stepping pack and choose a different path. That’s why it’s so engaging to see the hero and heroine of this story—aristocrats in the stiflingly proper Victorian era—cut loose and go on a scandalous adventure. (Each chapter is headed with a tongue-in-cheek piece of advice directed to the heroine, from the heroine, presented guidebook-style as excerpts from Lady Ida’s Tips for the Adventurous Lady Traveler.)

Lady Ida herself is beautiful, rich and wellborn—but she’s considered unmarriageable because she’s also opinionated, outspoken and bookish. London’s society is a prison for her where she’s expected to simper and smile at men who earnestly mansplain to her that “breaking the fast” with breakfast doesn’t require her to break anything. She’s desperate for a way out and eagerly seizes an opportunity to “borrow” a carriage and just go. Her destination is an obscure little town where her disgraced sister, Della, has taken refuge. Ida wants to bring Della back into the family fold, but most of all, Ida just wants to get away. If it ruins her reputation, all the better.

Little does she know that Bennett, Lord Carson, is stowed away in the carriage she’s appropriated. As he is known for his intelligence, courteousness and ironclad sense of responsibility, it’s not surprising that he insists on accompanying her—it would be ungentlemanly to let her travel alone. The surprise comes when what starts as a duty quickly becomes a pleasure as he enjoys talking to a woman who has no interest in discussing the weather or anyone’s health. They banter, they argue, they discuss which animals they most resemble. (“Hedgehog” becomes his favorite term of endearment for her.) They fall into bed together—and of course, they fall in love.

Instead of the airless feel that sometimes defines Victorian-era stories, this book feels more like a freewheeling road trip rom-com in which two opposites learn just how deeply they attract. (I caught the occasional homage to some classics in this genre, including the originator—It Happened One Night.) The story and the writing are as fun and vibrant as the book’s protagonists, and while the happily ever after is a given, it really is all about the madcap journey they take to get there.

While it’s fascinating to explore the exquisite manners and rigid expectations of high society in any era, it’s always deliciously exciting to see someone escape the lock-stepping pack and choose a different path. That’s why it’s so engaging to see the hero and heroine of this story—aristocrats in the stiflingly proper Victorian era—cut loose and go on a scandalous adventure. (Each chapter is headed with a tongue-in-cheek piece of advice directed to the heroine, from the heroine, presented guidebook-style as excerpts from Lady Ida’s Tips for the Adventurous Lady Traveler.)

RomanceContemporary Romance

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

In this exuberantly charming romance from Christina Lauren, the talented writing duo does the seemingly impossible. They take the classic, much-maligned stereotype of the “cool” girl—the gorgeous, wild, sexually-liberated, adventurous madcap that men go crazy for—and they make her feel real and engaging. Hazel Bradford knows perfectly well that she’s the type of woman that men adore at first sight. She also knows that it only takes a few weeks for the bloom to come off the rose as her exploits start to seem embarrassing instead of entertaining. She’s pretty much resigned herself to being wanted very badly but never for very long. Her best shot at companionship, aside from her menagerie of pets, is friendship. Enter Josh Im.

Though they first met—in an epic series of disastrous encounters, of course—when they were in college, it’s only when they reconnect ten years later that they truly bond. Naturally, the bonding includes its own series of grand catastrophes, such as when Hazel moves into Josh’s guest room after her apartment floods, and then accidentally knocks Josh unconscious when she thinks he’s a burglar. But as Josh learns to see past the chaos to the warmth and kindness at the core of Hazel’s personality, he sees a woman who deserves to be loved. By someone else, of course—not by him. And thus begins a series of hilariously awful double dates that they set each other up on, and because they both crave the excuse to spend time together, continue to do so despite the terrible results.

In so many stories of this type, the journey is about the free spirit woman helping the more buttoned-up man let loose and learn to enjoy himself. And yes, there’s a little of that here, as Josh learns that pretty much everything is more fun with Hazel along for the ride. But Lauren deepens his character beyond the handsome straight man by exploring his experiences as the son of South Korean immigrants, and makes the canny choice of having his reactions to Hazel fall much more on the side of bemused affection, rather than an annoyingly superior disapproval.

The real growth is on the other side of the coin, as Hazel slowly relaxes into the idea that Josh genuinely doesn’t expect her to apologize for being herself. He’s not infatuated with some idealized image of her—instead, he loves her for everything she is. The fact that that’s such a surprise to her is a little heartbreaking, but the impossibly sweet conclusion washes all the pain away.

In this exuberantly charming romance from Christina Lauren, the talented writing duo does the seemingly impossible. They take the classic, much-maligned stereotype of the “cool” girl—the gorgeous, wild, sexually-liberated, adventurous madcap that men go crazy for—and they make her feel real and engaging.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Out of the shadows and into the light

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

This romance may be set in 1860s England, a time of Victorian propriety, but scandal sits just below its surface—and military-hero-turned-spy Adam Drummond is determined to uncover it. Positioned undercover by the War Office in the home of the late Duke of Marsley, Adam uses his role as majordomo to search the house for proof that the duke betrayed the British troops under his command during a campaign in India. But Adam’s single-minded focus on his mission starts to shift as he finds himself captivated by Suzanne Whitcomb, the duke’s beautiful, broken-hearted widow. She lives in a state of deep, relentless mourning, not for the duke, but for their young son who died at the same time. Nothing has moved her in the time since her loss, until Adam is thrown very dramatically in her path.

A love between them is impossible, of course. It’s not just the chasm between their stations, though that would be reason enough. There’s also the deception he used to enter her life in the first place, and the fact that succeeding in his mission would mean dragging her deceased husband’s name through the mud. There’s some strong, deep-seated anger in the mix, too. Adam served in India under the duke’s command and he was one of only a handful to survive. His wife, who was stationed there with him, perished. The host of obstacles Ranney places in Adam and Suzanne’s path results in a rich emotional struggle as they find themselves drawn together in spite of it all.

To Love a Duchess is Ranney’s first book in a new trilogy entitled All for Love, and her writing beautifully shows how love can triumph over pain, fear, anger and blame. The physical attraction between the characters is strong, but the emotional connection is just as powerful as they both work through their grief and help each other heal. It’s empowering as a reader to see Suzanne come out of her shell and start living again, instead of just existing.

The author takes time for social commentary as well, highlighting the terrible treatment of girls in the working class when they, willingly or not, became pregnant outside of marriage. Ranney paints a heartbreaking image of the struggles they faced, but it feels a touch removed as none of the women in that situation have dialogue in To Love a Duchess. Their stories are told for them, while they don’t speak at all. Perhaps that will change in the next book in the series, and Ranney will highlight the ways that love and understanding can heal those wounds too.

This romance may be set in 1860s England, a time of Victorian propriety, but scandal sits just below its surface—and military-hero-turned-spy Adam Drummond is determined to uncover it. Positioned undercover by the War Office in the home of the late Duke of Marsley, Adam uses his role as majordomo to search the house for proof that the duke betrayed the British troops under his command during a campaign in India. But Adam’s single-minded focus on his mission starts to shift as he finds himself captivated by Suzanne Whitcomb, the duke’s beautiful, broken-hearted widow.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Rejects in love

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

Dangerous is the first in Minerva Spencer’s new Outcasts series of Regency romances, and it has such deliciously juicy backstories for its charming protagonists that it’s impossible to imagine anything topping it. The devilishly delectable hero—Adam de Courtney, Lord Exley—is known as the Murderous Marquess due to the mysterious deaths of both of his former wives, and the heroine has spent nearly two decades in a sultan’s harem! Though English born and bred, Lady Euphemia “Mia” Marlington was abducted by corsairs while sailing through the Mediterranean when she was just 14. She survived 17 years of cutthroat palace intrigue before she was rescued and returned to England, to the shock and embarrassment of her extremely stuffy father, the Duke of Carlisle. The duke is, in fact, so very eager to marry her off and get his scandalous daughter out of his house that he’ll even push her towards the widely-shunned Lord Exley, who has three daughters from his previous marriages but lacks a son and heir.

It’s a match made somewhere very far from heaven, and yet, despite a bumpy beginning, a strong relationship quickly falls into place. Mia’s spent too much time being judged by society to give credence to the rumors about Adam, who is so frustrated by society’s fakery that he relishes his wife’s uninhibited boldness. Not only is Mia stubborn and outspoken, she’s also sensual and passionate, with none of the bashfulness or uncertainty about her body sometimes seen in Regency heroines. While the intimacy between the characters quickly steams up the pages, it is actually remarkably sweet to see how his wife’s open, easy affection softens Adam’s long-frozen heart. The tenderness that develops between them makes it all the more dramatic when the secret Mia has kept—the one that has driven all her decisions, down to her choice to marry Adam—rises up and threatens to tear their marriage apart.

With so much going on, and such high stakes, it’s perhaps inevitable that some elements feel rather unfinished. Characters who seem important in early scenes disappear entirely in the book’s second half. Some plot elements are mentioned once and then never brought up again. But with a story this giddy and exciting, it’s hard to blame the author for getting a little carried away. Spencer certainly succeeds in sweeping the reader up in the same dizzying whirl! Sexy and wildly entertaining, Dangerous is a promising romance debut.

Dangerous is the first in Minerva Spencer’s new Outcasts series of Regency romances, and it has such deliciously juicy backstories for its charming protagonists that it’s impossible to imagine anything topping it. The devilishly delectable hero—Adam de Courtney, Lord Exley—is known as the Murderous Marquess due to the mysterious deaths of both of his former wives, and the heroine has spent nearly two decades in a sultan’s harem! Though English born and bred, Lady Euphemia “Mia” Marlington was abducted by corsairs while sailing through the Mediterranean when she was just 14. She survived 17 years of cutthroat palace intrigue before she was rescued and returned to England, to the shock and embarrassment of her extremely stuffy father, the Duke of Carlisle. The duke is, in fact, so very eager to marry her off and get his scandalous daughter out of his house that he’ll even push her towards the widely-shunned Lord Exley, who has three daughters from his previous marriages but lacks a son and heir.

RomanceRomantic SuspenseContemporary Romance

A globe-trotting, action-packed reunion

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

Brynn Kelly delivers the danger in A Risk Worth Taking, the latest installment of her Legionnaires series.

Samira Desta might have the skills to upend the world order with her laptop, but she was happy with her quiet life as a computer systems security engineer—until her whistle-blowing fiancé was murdered. After that, she stepped up to find and expose the truth. She’s been on the run ever since. There’s been no safety and no solace on her journey except for a stolen moment she shared with French Foreign Legion medic Jamie Armstrong. It’s been a year since they last met, but when Samira needs him again, he rushes to her side. While scrambling through Europe, barely one step ahead of the mercenaries on their trail, the passion between them reignites.

Kelly’s characters show all the smarts and abilities necessary to face down overwhelming odds, but they also demonstrate surprising vulnerability. Samira’s fierce drive for justice is contrasted by overpowering fear that sometimes sends her into full-fledged panic attacks. She struggles with feelings of helpless, vulnerability, paranoia and a heavy load of guilt over her fiancé’s death, for which she blames herself.

And while Jamie might wisecrack like an action movie star while bullets are flying, his charming façade masks deep problems that are slowly revealed over the course of the story. It’s heartbreaking watching him brace himself for the moment when Samira realizes he’s not a perfect hero after all. He believes he’ll let her down, like he’s let down so many people in his life before.

Hunting the pair down is a somewhat Trumpian villain, a politician with a lot of popular appeal—and a beautiful, well-spoken daughter who is his biggest advocate—which lets him brush aside the accusations against him as a politically-motivated witch hunt. But deep down, he’s as calculating as he is brutal, and every time Samira or Jamie falters, his henchmen edge in a little closer. The tension stays as tight and tense as a high wire. It can be a little exhausting, watching every safe haven become a danger zone just a short while later, but it’s certainly exciting to experience unrelenting suspense all the way to the end.

This story offers extra rewards for fans of the earlier books in the series, especially in a crucial role played by in the final act by Rafe and Holly from Deception Island. New readers may be so intrigued by the references to past adventures that they’ll hunt down the previous Legionnaires books!

Brynn Kelly delivers the danger in A Risk Worth Taking, the latest installment of her Legionnaires series.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Nice guys finish best

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

In her latest installment in the Penhallow Dynasty series, The Bride Takes a Groom, Lisa Berne takes all the classic elements of a Regency romance and turns them upside down. The most charming surprise is the hero himself, Hugo Penhallow, who stands out from the legion of Regency leading men before him by being kind, pleasant and affable. Hugo is not a cad or a rake, nor is he the relentlessly proper image of decorum. He’s not cold and bitter from a broken heart, nor sarcastic and snide from a chilly upbringing. Instead, Hugo is a genuinely sunny soul, reared by a delightfully quirky family he adores. While he is marvelously well connected through his influential family name and strikingly handsome (in a gentle jab at the usual tropes, nearly everyone he meets compares him to a Greek god while he politely refrains from rolling his eyes), Hugo is so impoverished after his military service that he must marry well or see his family become destitute. Despite this, Hugo never seems gloomy or desperate. He genuinely believes he can live happily ever after, and hopes to build that happiness with heiress Katherine Brooke.

As the daughter of absurdly wealthy and deeply shallow parents (a clever bit of set dressing has their library filled with handsome leather volumes, with weighty and important titles stamped on the spine, and pages that are entirely blank), Katherine’s sole responsibility is to be a dazzling social success. So of course, her greatest wish is simply to be left alone. When she’s forced to socialize, she plays at taking on the personas of the heroines she admires from the novels she sneaks in under her mother’s nose. After all, being herself has never worked out well.

Katherine and Hugo marry quickly, but a true union takes longer to form. The forthright Hugo struggles to connect with a Katherine, who has always known who she was supposed to be but hasn’t the faintest idea who she truly is. It’s her journey to selfhood that makes Katherine so frustrating and fascinating—especially when she starts to move from being the leading lady of a melodrama to being a heroine in her own life. Does she really want to be a belle dame sans merci, or can she let herself choose to be kind? The answer, once she discovers it, is as sweet as the chocolates she also used to sneak behind her mother’s back and that she comes to share with the husband she eventually allows herself to adore.

In her latest installment in the Penhallow Dynasty series, The Bride Takes a Groom, Lisa Berne takes all the classic elements of a Regency romance and turns them upside down. The most charming surprise is the hero himself, who stands out from the legion of Regency leading men before him by being kind, pleasant and affable.

RomanceContemporary Romance

An addicting family saga comes to an end

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

Jennifer Gracen concludes her sizzling Harrisons series with a bombshell of a surprise—a secret Harrison! Miami cop Nick Martell thought it was sheer chance when he matched as a bone marrow donor for Myles Harrison, the 12-year-old grandson of the fabulously wealthy Charles Harrison II. But when Nick tells his family, he learns the dark truth. Years ago, his mother was the Harrisons’ housekeeper. An affair with Charles led to pregnancy, but her fear of the harsh, controlling family patriarch made her run. She begs Nick to protect himself by avoiding the Long Island clan, but he can’t live with himself if he lets down a child in need.

As Myles’ private nurse, Amanda Kozlov is grateful to Nick, whose donation offers the child a chance of recovery, and the chemistry between them is immediate, electric and dangerous. Nick has an entire life back in Miami, and his connections in Long Island are strained as the family adjusts to his revelation. The smart choice for Amanda would be to keep her distance, but surely a steamy fling won’t be too much of a risk.

Nick is worlds away from the other Harrison men, having grown up with none of their wealth or privilege. But that doesn’t make him any less of a force to be reckoned with. Strong, capable and bulldog-determined, he refuses to back down or lose sight of his reason for entering the Harrisons’ lives. That inner steel is what makes down-to-earth, straight-talking Amanda such a perfect match for him. She’s there to support and encourage him when the cyclone of problems around him gets overwhelming, but she’ll also go toe-to-toe with him and force him to acknowledge when he crosses a line. When she deserves an apology, she demands one—and he gives it. They’re both too smart and too self-assured to treat each other as anything other than equals, in bed and out of it.

While the heat between the characters is enticing, It Might Be You’s emotional depth really captures the reader. Amanda and Nick feel so grounded and realistic that it’s impossible not to root for them to find a way to make things work. And the supporting cast of characters surrounding them is terrific, engaging and fun. Genuinely sweet relationships develop over the course of the story, with the connection between Myles and Nick being especially heartwarming. It Might Be You’s happy ending—for Amanda and Nick, and for the whole Harrison clan—is well earned and wonderfully satisfying.

Jennifer Gracen concludes her sizzling Harrisons series with a bombshell of a surprise—a secret Harrison! Miami cop Nick Martell thought it was sheer chance when he matched as a bone marrow donor for Myles Harrison, grandson of the fabulously wealthy Charles Harrison II. But when Nick tells his family, he learns the dark truth. Years ago, his mother was the Harrisons’ housekeeper. An affair with Charles led to pregnancy, but her fear of the harsh, controlling family patriarch made her run. She begs Nick to protect himself by avoiding the Long Island clan, but he can’t live with himself if he lets down a child in need.

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