Carole V. Bell's Blog, page 6

Review: It Had to Be You

It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Love in the Time of Slick Willy, the Juice and the Donald. This one was quite a throwback. Since this summer I've been making a conscious effort to better understand the genre I've been so engrossed by recently by reading some of the best known books in the romance canon, and It Had to Be You

Review: Beard with Me

Beard with Me by Penny Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author Penny Reid issued a lot of caveats when she published this novel. It's heavier than the other stories in the Winston Brothers series. As she's written, it's a tragic love story rather than a romance that ends with a happy ever after-- at least temporarily (the story continues in the next book). I'm a fan

Review: Unfit to Print

Unfit to Print by K.J. Charles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I swooned. Wonderful combination of period detail, mystery and romance. I found myself highlighting something on every other page like a maniac. The writing is crisp and original and the relationship just made me swoon-- it's got depth and chemistry and heat.

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Review: Rebel Hard

Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mildly salacious cover, sweet book. Love him. Love her. Love the way he loves her.* There are so many good things here. Absolutely lovely hero. I love him. Love her. Love the way he loves her. Lots of Pride and Prejudice references but they’re smart and organic to the story rather than gratuitous. I also love the

Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was clear the minute I started to read. Get a Life Chloe Brown is a different romance novel. And I was thirsty for it—I’ve read a lot of disappointing books of late. The premise is original; the main character, a wealthy and sheltered young Black British woman who is intelligent, genuinely witty

Review: Well Met

Well Met by Jen DeLuca
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At the risk of sounding like the grinch who killed Romancelandia, I have to admit that I don’t get this one, and that surprised me given what I’d heard. Well Met is sweet and the setting, a Renaissance Faire, and setup are original. And that is admirable and worthy of note. Yet the book as a whole still felt a bit

Review: The Kingmaker

The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lennix Moon Hunter is a passionate advocate for Native American people, women and other oppressed groups. Maxim Cade is an environmental scientist who describes himself as a capitalist crusader. Their values are actually a lot more in sync than that description implies. I won’t spoil it but they meet cute in

New Book: The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

One of the most attractive qualities of Jasmine Guillory's first two novels was that  they take place in world that is diverse yet relatable to a wide variety of readers. The author has a light hand in dealing with race and the challenges of living in a multicultural yet far from post-racial world. The Wedding Party continues in that vein yet tries to integrate a bit more realism and cultural

When Malcom Went to Oxford

Why "by any means necessary"? When Malcolm went to Oxford to debate the notion that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, he lit the place on fire. And he did so at the invitation of The Oxford Union's first black president, Jamaican Rhodes Scholar Anthony Abrahams. I had the pleasure of working for Tony decades later when he hosted a public affairs program in Jamaica after having

Is Hollywood Finally Getting More Diverse?

It depends on how you define diversity. If we're aiming for some level of inclusivity in film and television rather than mere visibility, I'd suggest this four-part test: 

Is there more than one person of color with a recurring speaking role? 
Do those characters ever talk to each other? 
About something other than race, or the needs of the White protagonist? 
And do they have an independent,