It’s Yuletide in London in Kiss Me at Christmas by Valerie Bowman. Lady Regina Haversham is looking forward to the holiday season because she’s decided to gift herself a man. A particular man: the dashing and roguish Daffin Oakleaf, a member of the Bow Street Runners, London’s first police force. He and Regina indulged in a flirtation in the not-too-distant past, but Daffin doesn’t accept her indecent proposal. Embarrassed by his rejection, Regina thinks she wouldn’t mind never seeing him again, but after she experiences some frightening attempts on her life, the lawman is forced to stay near the tempting Regina to solve the puzzle of why someone wants to harm her. Scorching romance and enjoyable mystery twine together in this charming story of a hero and heroine battling strict class expectations. Regina is no wilting flower, and her determination to direct her own life makes her an admirable partner for the oh-so-honorable Daffin (who wields his handcuffs in some very decadent ways). Bowman’s latest is a sparkling holiday tale.

This article was originally published in the December 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Another member of the Westcott family finds true love in Mary Balogh’s Someone to Trust. The setting is snow-covered and the company jolly, but two people at the holiday family gathering are feeling gloomy. Widow Elizabeth Overfield, at 35, wonders if now might be the time to find another husband and try for children. Eligible bachelor Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges, is 26 and contemplates doing his duty in the New Year and beginning the business of finding a wife. The pair enjoys each other’s company and feels an undeniable attraction, but the age difference makes them incompatible—or does it? Colin and Elizabeth bring out the best in each other, but on the way to a happy-ever-after they must confront ugly gossip, societal expectations and manipulative relatives. The quiet, authentic intensity of the characters’ emotions is a hallmark of Balogh’s work, and it is a pleasure to experience each heart-wringing moment in this romance made for warming a winter night.

This article was originally published in the December 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Top Pick in Romance, November 2018

Two people in desperate straits save each other in the latest historical by Grace Burrowes, My One and Only Duke. Facing execution for a crime he didn’t commit, wealthy banker Quinn Wentworth proposes marriage to minister’s daughter Jane Winston, saving her from poverty and also providing an escape from her sanctimonious father. Grateful to this man she’s barely met, Jane agrees, and they marry. Then at the last second, Quinn unexpectedly inherits a dukedom and is pardoned. He offers Jane an annulment, but she’s willing to stick by her vows. When they begin to live together as husband and wife, Burrowes delves into the heart of the marriage-of-convenience trope: the physical and romantic tension created by a sudden intimacy between two people who are still essentially strangers. Both Quinn and Jane soon discover they delight each other in the bedroom, but they must learn trust and compromise to build a real life together. This curl-up-and-enjoy read includes a mystery—who set Quinn up for certain death?—as well as intriguing family members who definitely deserve their own stories.

This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

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.