Fresh Insights are Found in Racy Liaisons, Old School Romance, Far Flung Fantasies
Love shows up in many forms in this season’s crop of romance novels. From Canada and the Wild West to Buffalo and supernatural Britain, these stories are studded with strong heroines, laugh-out-loud pratfalls, and passions that linger. Pushing the boundaries of the same old boy-meets-girl story, these eclectic, creative novels offer something for everyone. Instead of cleaving to familiar tropes, readers will find fresh insights into cultures and courtships.
The Sheriffs of Savage Wells
Sarah M. Eden
Shadow Mountain
Softcover $15.99 (336pp)
978-1-62972-219-1
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
Savage Wells, Wyoming, isn’t the easiest place to call home. Frontier beauty Paisley Bell would know. She’s the town’s acting sheriff, dispensing justice with one hand while she cares for her aging father with the other. She’s so busy saving the day that she forgets she’s a woman; who has time to think about romance when she’s keeping the world together?
Paisley is suitably sassy, and Sarah M. Eden gives her heroine some excellent cowgirl skills, along with a few soft edges, too. “She popped off one shot after another, not bothering to double-check her aim, dropping all five bottles in the length of a breath.” Her femininity goes by the wayside until Cade O’Brien rides in to take her sheriff’s badge. Sparks fly, and beneath Cade and Paisley’s rivalry, attraction is ignited.
Savage Wells is a perfect Western backdrop for a battle of the sexes as Cade and Paisley compete for the job with feats of strength, tracking, and tailoring. Peppered with bootleggers, bank robbers, Canadians, and gamblers, The Sheriffs of Savage Wells is a sweet summer read, a well crafted Western that keeps the pages turning.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
For the Love of Mary
Christopher Meades
ECW Press
Softcover $16.95 (352pp)
978-1-55022-974-5
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
The teenage years are fraught with perils—usually the small, humiliating kind. Fifteen-year-old Jacob wears his adolescence like a hair shirt, in the hilarious YA romance For The Love Of Mary. Jacob is alternately confident and cowardly. He reassures himself that at least he’s doing better than his best friend, Moss Murphy, “whose Mexican-food-induced flatulence was, at times, almost canine.” But then a mega church goes up across the street, bringing with it Jesus-inflected AC/DC lyrics, an ambitious ministry, and Mary, the pastor’s beautiful daughter.
The novel’s mix of lowbrow humor and a refreshing self-awareness make it a terrific pick for YA lovers of all ages. Jacob wrestles mightily with questions of theology and love—and the virtues of Tetris, which gives Jacob “night terrors about left-facing L-blocks that refused to fit into the right side of a puzzle.”
What’s most satisfying about For The Love Of Mary isn’t it’s hilarious characterizations or generous details, but the way that the author has perfectly captured the anxiety of the teenage years. Jacob sweats, squeezes zits, celebrates the failures of his rival, overestimates himself, and, finally, comes into his own. Mary may be the vehicle for his coming-of-age, but the show belongs to Jacob.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
Far from Home
Lorelie Brown
Riptide Publishing
Softcover $16.99 (182pp)
978-1-62649-452-7
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop)
Marriage of convenience? What could go wrong? Well, everything, in Lorelie Brown’s sassy new LGBTQ romance, Far From Home. In an attempt to solve their mutual problems—crushing student debt and American citizenship, respectively—Rachel and Pari decide to tie the knot. Rachel is straight, American, neurotic, and artistic; Pari is gay, Indian, confident, and traditional. They’re a perfectly odd couple, a wonderful setup for a satisfying romance.
Yes, Rachel is adamantly heterosexual, but being in close proximity to Pari has her questioning her orientation. Soon, each touch starts to take on new meaning for the women. “I have no mercy,” Rachel says, tickling Pari. “She’s writhing under me and her hips jump as if she’s trying to buck me off. But she’s also laughing like mad, which makes it completely worth it.” The will-they-or won’t-they tension makes Far From Home very engaging, and as Rachel and Pari slowly build intimacy, they begin to share their secrets. Rachel’s eating disorder and Pari’s difficult family life add dimension and give the characters something to dig into—as well as making their love story more believable.
“Her mouth feels so much different from a man’s,” Rachel muses. “It’s a softer approach, one that’s barely a breath across my lips and then she’s drinking in my laughter.” This sweet comedy of manners explores classic tropes in fresh, compelling ways.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
Perfect Pairing
Rachel Spangler
Bywater Books
Unknown $15.95 (240pp)
978-1-61294-069-4
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
Sexy meets satisfying in Perfect Pairing, Rachel Spangler’s latest novel. Hal Orion, a “blue collar meets bleu cheese” food truck chef hits the big time unexpectedly. Mixed in with the other fruits of her success is Quinn Banning, a straitlaced investment banker whose interest in Hal isn’t exactly professional.
Although Quinn initially hoped to interest Hal in a new restaurant, part of a larger business venture, it’s quickly apparent that not only is Hal impossible to boss around, but that the two women are intensely attracted to one another. They test and tease one another, trading jabs as they grow closer. Sexy banter aside, Spangler’s most moving scenes are often in the small gestures. The first meal shared, finally holding hands in public—it’s authentic. Like Hal says, it’s what real tastes like. “Pure, without anything fake … No games, no tricks, just raw ingredients stripped of all the restraints.” Quinn and Hal’s romance is compelling in its realness.
Their dialogue is snappy, funny, and irreverent, making Perfect Pairing a palate cleanser in a genre that can lean heavily on significant looks and heavy breathing. The tension is delicious, but even better are Spangler’s droolworthy descriptions of Hal’s culinary creations: “The texture was perfect, so crisp and simultaneously soft. Her teeth sank in satisfyingly, and the muted bacon echo cracked through her own ears.” Yum! Spangler’s prose works in more ways than one. It’s a delight when Hal and Quinn cross swords—and tongues—in this tasty, contemporary romance.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
Hershele
A Jewish Love Story
Jacob Dinezon
Jane Peppler, translator
Jewish Storyteller Press
Softcover (182pp)
978-0-9798156-7-6
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
A romance that has stood the test of time, Jacob Dinezon’s touching, traditional novel was originally published in 1891. Recently translated from the Yiddish into contemporary English by Jane Peppler, Hershele: A Jewish Love Story remains a moving story of a poor student’s courtship of Mirele, a wealthy widow’s daughter. Described as “the Romeo and Juliet story of the shtetl,” Hershele is both a historical novel and a sweet, ageless romance.
“Hershele didn’t follow the path of the wicked and didn’t place himself in the way of sin,” but his righteousness confounds his pursuit of Mirele. What is proper? How can he woo her, when he has nothing to offer but himself? Hershele dwells on traditional themes and is deeply romantic. Observation of the Torah, refraining from physical contact with the opposite sex, and matchmaker-arranged marriages add to Hershele’s struggle—and his satisfaction when he celebrates small successes: “She came closer to see the words and pressed her burning cheek against his. He felt her body, her warmth, her heartbeats, and his heart pounded, too.” There’s more heat in Mirele’s proximity than a hundred ripped bodices. Hershele’s love is completely proper and yet, at the same time, intensified by its modesty.
Peppler’s translation is lively, capturing the spirit of Dinezon’s fable. Beautiful, lyrical sentences tease the imagination, painting a vivid picture of the two lovers: “When he looked in the mirror, he only saw Mirele: her cheeks shone like a pair of lovely roses, and in her eyes a radiant fire burned.”
Bit by bit, without compromising his faith, Hershele wins over his besherte, his soul mate. Their attraction, and the conflicts raised by their social disparity, is timeless.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
The Dream Dancer
Leslie Hachtel
Blue Tulip Publishing
Softcover $8.99 (222pp)
978-1-5306-7364-3
Buy: Amazon
In Leslie Hachtel’s paranormal historical romance, dreams are permeable. On awakening, the dreamer carries the influence of the night before with him. Dream dancers can enter a dreamer’s mind and leave secret messages behind, influencing the sleeper during his waking hours. The Dream Dancer follows seventeenth-century beauty Lady Bryce as she dreams and schemes her way into the heart of Lord Rowland.
Bryce is a dream dancer. At first, she’s content with a few peeks into the dreams of others, satisfying her curiosity. But then, inspired by an erotic ladies’ manual on marital arts, she pushes the limits of her magical abilities and appears nightly in the dreams of Lord Rowland: “He saw her float above him, and her scent, that magical combination of spring garden and woman, teased his senses.” Their attraction is more than just ephemeral. When Bryce enchants Lord Rowland into marriage, her fantasies are fulfilled—and the action only gets hotter. But is their attraction real, or just an errant fancy?
Sumptuously and sensuously described, the period comes to life in Hachtel’s tale. Queens and wenches mingle with strapping men of all descriptions. Underneath it all, the magical thread adds intrigue while the novel explores themes of trust, manipulation, and true love. Artfully weaving sorcery into period details, The Dream Dancer is a saucy romp.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
The Order of the Eternal Sun
Jessica Leake
Talos
Hardcover $24.99 (308pp)
978-1-940456-42-3
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon
Lucy Sinclair is learning more than dance steps for her debut into Edwardian society. She’s also gifted with arcana, a special magic that allows her to bring her drawings to life. It’s a family gift, passed from mother to daughter, and carefully guarded against the Order of the Eternal Sun, which serves the powers of darkness. Lucy is transported to the world of Sylvania, where she practices arcana “to the soothing sounds of the brush on canvas, the sweet smell of the paint, and the beauty of the creamy white turning blue.”
Although Jessica Leake’s prose is heady and dense, The Order of the Eternal Sun tends towards dreaminess. There is little romance for Lucy, as she struggles to master arcana while resisting the dark plot of an evil brotherhood. An abundance of story lines adds plot, but Leake keeps the action in the background, focusing on Lucy’s burgeoning artistry.
This carefully crafted novel buzzes with magical and historical details.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
Masquerade
Hannah Fielding
London Wall Publishing
Hardcover $26.95 (416pp)
978-0-9932917-4-6
Buy: Amazon
Nothing makes love more appealing than a dash of forbidden romance, plus a generations-old rivalry. Add Spanish sunshine and stir gently.
Luz de Rueda is a gorgeous young biographer, freshly returned to her aristocratic family’s villa in Cadiz. For all her progressive thinking, Luz is essentially untouched. “She considered the act of love to be just that, provoked by deeply felt emotion, and for love itself to be a passionate adventure,” Hannah writes. That adventure shows up in the form of Leandro, a sea gypsy who captures Luz’s eye. Their mutual attraction is taboo—gypsies and gadjos don’t mix, and Luz is caught between propriety and passion.
In addition to the boy-meets-girl story line, there’s also a nice, tightly written subplot that stretches back to the previous generation. Throw in a gypsy curse, and things get really interesting. Soon, Luz is entangled in a forbidden romance, plus a long-awaited reckoning between the lovers’ families.
With high passion set in heart-meltingly beautiful landscapes, Masquerade is a vivid delight.
CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER (August 26, 2016)
Claire Rudy Foster
