Jane Litte's Blog, page 134

REVIEW: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane

A delightful holiday romance about a small-town single dad and an animal rescue owner as they try to find forever homes for a dozen lovable pups before Christmas.

Pine Hollow has everything Ally Gilmore could wish for in a holiday break: gently falling snow in a charming small town and time with her family. Then she learns some Grinch has pulled the funding for her family’s rescue shelter, and now she has only four weeks to find new homes for a dozen dogs! But when she confronts her Scroogey c...

REVIEW: Nowhere Man: Another John Pickett Novella by Sheri Cobb South

Having resigned his position at Bow Street, John Pickett waits in vain for someone—anyone!—to engage his services as a private inquiry agent. As weeks go by with no responses to his newspaper advertisement, he has taken to spending his days wandering idly about London rather than admit his failure to his wife.

One day, while loitering in the Covent Garden market, he wonders morosely if it might have been better had he not been born at all. Then he sees one of his former colleagues and, in an a...

REVIEW: A Mistletoe Vow to Lord Lovell by Joanna Johnson

Will their vows last a lifetime…not just for Christmas?

Abandoned by her husband, and society because her father was a slave, Honora Blake will never rely on anyone again. Until dashing Lord Lovell breaks the news that she is a widow—and penniless—and insists she spend Christmas with him and his pregnant ward. Beneath the mistletoe, passion flares between Honora and Isaac. Then childbirth places his ward’s life in jeopardy, and these strangers suddenly face marriage to protect the baby!

Dear ...

REVIEW: Burning Roses by S. L. Huang

Rosa, also known as Red Riding Hood, is done with wolves and woods.

Hou Yi the Archer is tired, and knows she’s past her prime.

They would both rather just be retired, but that’s not what the world has ready for them.

When deadly sunbirds begin to ravage the countryside, threatening everything they’ve both grown to love, the two must join forces. Now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, they begin a quest that’s a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices ...

REVIEW: Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo

Dear Jane Igharo,

It was the premise (and the pretty cover) caused me to request an ARC of your debut novel, Ties that Tether, a contemporary romance. The story concerns Azere, a Nigerian-Canadian advertising executive whose life is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with Rafael, a white American of Spanish descent, despite her mother’s demand that Azere marry an Edo (Azere’s culture) and Nigerian man. This is a situation I’ve seen play out several times in real life (it’s commo...

REVIEW: Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Prasadam-Halls, illustrated by David Litchfield

In this heartfelt story about courage, change, and moving on, a girl and her companion fox travel together away from a sorrowful past, through challenging and stormy times, toward color and light and life. Along the way they find friends to guide and support them, and when the new day dawns, it is full of promise. With gorgeous, richly realized illustrations and immense hope at its heart, Rain Before Rainbows holds out a ray of sunshine for anyone looking for light.

Candlewick Press is please...

JOINT REVIEW: Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Gray

Content warnings:

Spoiler: Show

sexual harassment, suicide.

Sirius and I reviewed Aster Glenn Gray’s f/f novella, The Wolf and the Girl, early this year. We decided to reunite for her new m/m novel, Honeytrap. Both works feature Russian characters so I’m especially glad to have Sirius, who lived in what was then a part of the Soviet Union, reviewing these with me. – Janine

Janine: Honeytrap begins in 1959, with twenty-something FBI special agent Daniel Hawthorne sitting in his boss’s office...

REVIEW: Magic Flutes by Eva Ibbotson

In the spring of 1922, young Austrian Princess Theresa-Maria – known to her ancient aunts as ‘Putzerl’ – abandons her crumbling castle and her royal duties. Disguising herself simply as Tessa, she enrolls as under wardrobe mistress of the International Opera Company and soon loses herself in the intoxicating world of the Viennese opera.

But when Guy Farne, an Englishman looking to impress his new fiance, arrives in Austria and employs the Company to perform at his newly purchased Austrian estat...

REVIEW: [Un]common Ground by Erica Abbott and Pol Robinson

A single-minded government employee, a former Peace Corps volunteer, far too many goats, and one stray dog…what could possibly go wrong?

Sara’s entire life has been nomadic—developing and growing sustainable sources of food in small rural communities has meant no place to call her own. Now she’s ready to come home, focus her efforts on her own country’s food deserts, and settle into life in the Pacific Northwest. But just as she plants her roots, things begin to unravel.

Margaret is a city pla...

REVIEW: Common Goal by Rachel Reid

Dear Rachel Reid,

I’ve been meaning to try your books for a while now, having heard good things about them and I am a fan of hockey romance (notwithstanding that I’ve never watched a game and know very little about the sport, but you know… details), so I snapped up Common Goal when I saw it at NetGalley a little while back. While it is book four in your Game Changers series, it stands alone well. I didn’t feel lost at all. I suppose it does contain some mild spoilers for book one but that’s not t...