And so we come once more to a new month, and a new sampling of our genre experts’ favorite selections from their romance reading. We hope you enjoy–perhaps in your own summertime garden? Or someone else’s? Or the beach? Or the mountains? There is no where that Library books cannot travel!
Bridget: Lady Clare is All That by Maya Rodale
It’s been a while since I found a romance that really worked for me, so it was a treat to come across Maya Rodale’s newest book and remember all the things I love about her romances.
Lady Claire Cavendish is a mathematician, even if no one finds brains attractive in a woman. She has come to England to find a man–a specific man–another mathematician. But instead, she finds the handsome, beguiling, and infuriating Lord Fox. Fox has been nursing his ego ever since his fiancee jilted him. So when he is offered a bet that he can transform Lady Claire, Society’s roughest diamond, into its most prized jewel, he figures it is the perfect way to divert his attention. He never bargained on his subject being a real, actual–and fascinating–person.
Maya Rodale is one of those writers who really thinks about the romances she is writing, and the journey on which she sends her characters, so this Pygmalion-esque plot had a lot of depth, and a lot of transformations (though not the kind that either character imagined). I loved that Claire never bothered to hide her brains, and that Fox, even though he hadn’t a clue what she was talking about, loved her for it. All in all, this was a really fun, diverting, and heartwarming romance about loving someone both because of, and regardless of their looks.
Kelley: Between the Devil and the Duke by Kelly Bowen
Regency Romance writer Kelly Bowen is back with the third volume in her “A Season for Scandal” series. Angelique Archer is the unfortunate sister of a thoroughly debauched marquess. Since the death of both of their parents, the Archers find themselves on the brink of financial ruin, and Angelique knows for certain that her brother will do nothing to remedy the situation so she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Given her strength in mathematics and skill at cards, Angelique tries her luck at a gaming hell that allows masked women to attend anonymously. The success she has at the vingt-et-un table allows the Archers to keep up appearances, but it also attracts the attention of the gaming hell’s owner Alexander Lavoie. Alexander is initially attracted by Angelique’s mysterious beauty, but that attraction becomes something much more when he witnesses her quick mind, independence and resourceful nature firsthand.
A romance that includes mystery, a taste of London’s underworld, and a surprising plot twist, Between the Devil and the Duke is not your traditional Regency, but I think my favorite aspect of this book is that Alex and Angelique’s “happily ever after” is refreshingly different as well. However, if you want to know what happens, you’ll have to read the book. No spoilers in the Romance Garden! Happy reading!
Until next month, dear readers!