Jane Litte's Blog, page 91

REVIEW: Once a Cowboy by Justine Davis

He’s a cowboy through and through…

Rylan Rafferty was a cowboy long before interest in his leatherworking artistry and saddle making for the rich and famous catapulted him to national fame. He values his privacy, so when a popular Texas magazine wants to feature him, his first inclination is to run. His military father who died in combat when Rylan was a teen was the artist, not him. But then he meets the photographer, and Rylan suddenly no longer wants to bury himself in his work.

Kaitlyn Mil...

Layla’s Best of 2021

Freya Marske, A Marvellous Light

This was probably my favorite book of the year. I don’t read m/m romance much, but this book had me hooked. Full of angst and tension, containing a swoon worthy romance and with a very compelling magical world, it was hard to put down.

The book opens with a scene of gruesome torture and violence, which was difficult to read, but gets going once the two leads meet. That first meeting of sporty jocular and open Robyn with icy cold reserved and scholarly Edwin was...

CONVERSATION: What’s Important to You in a Review?

Janine: As a reviewer I think a lot about what I want to see in reviews. I try to notice what kind of information I appreciate most or least in other people’s reviews because it helps me craft my own. I think that what we value in reviews is a good topic for a conversation, but since there are almost an infinite number of things that can go into reviews or be left out of them, rather than starting with a few more specific questions, I’d like us to start with just one general one, and then (hopef...

REVIEW: Flight from the Eagle by Dinah Dean

He was sick of the violence, the killing

In the face of the advancing might of Napoleon’s Grande Armeé, Major Lev Orlov longed for a return to normality. And the bewitching young countess, whom a bizarre twist of fate had placed in the hands of his band of battle-scarred infantrymen, seemed to embody all that was sane and beautiful.

Unfortunately, she was now completely at the mercy of these men who hadn’t seen a woman in months. Orlov was determined to protect her…

…but how long could he prot...

Review: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing late 1930s Manhattan to life with splendid atmosphere and a flawless command of style. Readers and critics were enchanted; as NPR commented, “Towles writes with grace and verve about the mores an...

REVIEW: Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is “Yinka, where is your huzband?”

Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that’s a whole other story. But Yinka herself has always believed that ...

Review: Dark Rise #1 by C.S. Pacat

The ancient world of magic is no more. Its heroes are dead, its halls are ruins, and its great battles between Light and Dark are forgotten. Only the Stewards remember, and they keep their centuries-long vigil, sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns.

Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. When an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, Will is ushered into a world of magic, where he must train to play a...

Janine’s Best of 2021

It’s a cliché to comment on how quickly a year has passed and in the Covid era the months sometimes pass slowly. 2021 wasn’t an easy year so I’m glad I found some great books to make it feel a little lighter. There weren’t an entire ten but I’ve had worse reading years.

Listed below in order from the very best on down (although that order could be slightly different depending on what day you catch me) are the eight books published in 2021 that represent my favorite reads from last year.

The Jas...

REVIEW: The Bones of the Old Ones by Howard Andrew Jones

As a snowfall blankets 8th century Mosul, a Persian noblewoman arrives at the home of the scholar Dabir and his friend the swordsman Captain Asim. Najya has escaped from a dangerous cabal that has ensorcelled her to track down ancient magical tools of tremendous power, the bones of the old ones.

To stop the cabal and save Najya, Dabir and Asim venture into the worst winter in human memory, hunted by a shape-changing assassin. The stalwart Asim is drawn irresistibly toward the beautiful Persian...

2021 Covers: The Hot…and the Not

NOTE: Today DA commenter DiscoDollyDeb has a post for us on the sexy (and not-so-sexy) book covers of 2021. Enjoy! –Janine

Dear Readers,

When it comes to romance novel covers, I have opinions—mostly of the type that could be whittled down to “Bring on the shirtless cover models with the amazing abs and hairy chests and send the illustrated covers to the back of the room.” Unfortunately, when Janine asked me to write a post about which 2021 covers worked for me and which covers didn’t, she was an...