Jane Litte's Blog, page 137

REVIEW: The Last Snowfall by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Dear Readers,

Kathleen Gilles Seidel was once one of my favorite romance authors. After a long hiatus, she returned to the romance genre last year with Stand Tall, a trilogy about three Olympic snowboarders who are friends. I liked the first book in the series, The Fourth Summer, not so much for the romance (it was understated), but more for the heroine and for the milieu and conflict—the hero and heroine were serving on a sequestered jury and sequestration was getting to everyone on the jury. T...

REVIEW: Chicken in the Kitchen by Nnedi Okorafor

What would you do if you woke up one night to find the shadow of a giant chicken passing your bedroom door Go and investigate of course! A hugely entertaining look at the fascinating masquerade culture of West Africa, from the perspective of a plucky young Nigerian girl who finds the courage to protect the traditions she loves.

Review 

Janine has reviewed some of Ms. Okorafor’s YA novels here but when I saw this book at my local library, I decided to check it out. Giant chickens! Who can resi...

REVIEW: Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog by Lisa Papp

Madeline Finn and Star are back–and now Star is old enough to become a therapy dog. Will our beloved team be able to pass the test?

Madeline Finn and Star are off to Walker Oaks, a retirement community where Star will take his tests to become a therapy dog. Accompanied by Mom, Mrs. Dimple, and Bonnie, she and Star make their way through a variety of challenges and meet several new friends. But Madeline Finn can’t stop thinking about an elderly man in a wheelchair who never smiles. Is there som...

REVIEW: Serenity’s Song by Cathryn Hein

He’s got a history of bad decisions—is he finally about to make the right one?

Jesse Hargraves can’t outrun his notorious bad boy reputation. Betrayed by a woman he trusted, he retreats to his hometown, Wirralong, to serve as his brother’s best man and rebuild his life. But change isn’t easy, and it’s even harder when Jesse has to fight his fierce attraction to the maid of honour—a woman well aware of the darkness in his past.

Beautician Serenity Strachan’s flippant one-liners and vibrant hair...

JOINT REVIEW: Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Sirius and I enjoy discussing the books in the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews, and we did it again with Emerald Blaze, the most recent of the books. -Janine

“As Prime magic users, Catalina Baylor and her sisters have extraordinary powers—powers their ruthless grandmother would love to control. Catalina can earn her family some protection working as deputy to the Warden of Texas, overseeing breaches of magic law in the state, but that has risks as well. When House Baylor is under attack a...

REVIEW: Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Spoiler Alert: Hidden Legacy series spoilers follow. I’m avoiding spoilers for Emerald Blaze but it’s not possible to talk about this book without mentioning spoilers from previous books in the series.

CW: gore, violence, death, reference to sexual assault and human trafficking

Dear Ilona Andrews,

Sapphire Flames made my best books of 2019 list so, like most people I know in Romancelandia, I was extremely happy to get my hands on Emerald Blaze. Unfortunately I made a mistake and read it without...

REVIEW: You Lucky Dog by Julia London

An accidental dog swap unleashes an unexpected love match in this new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Julia London.

Carly Kennedy’s life is in a spiral. She is drowning in work, her divorced parents are going through their midlife crises, and somehow Carly’s sister convinces her to foster Baxter–a basset hound rescue with a bad case of the blues. When Carly comes home late from work one day to discover that the dog walker has accidentally switched out Baxter for another ...

DUELING REVIEW: Someone to Romance by Mary Balogh

Once again, Kaetrin and are reviewing one of Balogh’s Westcott novels together. – Janine

Janine: Someone to Romance begins with Lady Jessica Archer, half-sister to the Duke of Netherby, escorted by a cavalcade of carriages to London. Jessica is twenty-five. She hasn’t met anyone special but she wants children and is finally ready to look for a husband. Jessica and her entourage stop at an inn along the way and another of the inn’s guests is forced to vacate a private room so Jessica can dine the...

REVIEW: Better than People by Roan Parrish

CW: Severe anxiety and panic attacks

Dear Roan Parrish,

Jack Matheson is an illustrator who has been unable to draw for eight months after a trusted friend’s betrayal. He’s in a bit of a funk and my impression was he wasn’t all that happy with himself about it but didn’t really know how to get himself out of it. He has a menagerie of animals, all rescues, including a St. Bernard call Bernard, a labrador called Puddles who is afraid of puddles and sticks shaped like lightning (among other things),...

REVIEW: Fool In Love (An April Fool’s Day Hot Holiday Hookup): Hot Holiday Hookup Novella Series by Danielle Allen

Fool In Love

An April Fool’s Day Hot Holiday Novella

When a shy workaholic wants to date, what is she supposed to do?

According to my cousin, the only solution is to sign up for an exclusive dating event on April 1st.

I was nervous.

I was awkward.

I was unprepared.

I didn’t know what to expect on April Fool’s Day. But the last thing I expected was to become a fool in love.

Dear Ms. Allen,

Round two of unused holidays brings us to April Fool’s Day. Honestly, I’ve never read a romance story set...