Books I've been reading . . .

Just recently I have been raiding my daughter's book shelves and since she was the one in my family that caught the "reading" bug better than anyone else, she has quite a collection. The list of books I have read since the New Year are:

Winterbourne by Susan Carroll
The Reluctant Reformer by Lynsay Sands
Love is Blind by Lynsay Sands

Three books by Suzanne Enoch (in order)
After the Scandal
Before the Kiss
Always a Scoundrel

Silver Nights by Jane Feather
The Angel and the Highlander by Donna Fletcher
Lord of the Highlands by Veronica Wolff
Highland Jewel by Lois Greiman

and finally, An Affair Before Christmas by Eloisa James

I enjoyed all of these books with my favorites being Silver Nights (set in Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great), the three books by Suzanne Enoch, and the Scottish Highlander books. All the titles above, with the exception of the last one, are in the 3.75-5 rating range.

I liked An Affair Before Christmas the least. In fact, I really didn't like it very much at all. There are two, possibly three stories competing for the reader's attention. Way too much going on to keep it all straight. The main story is quite appealing and James would have been wise to bring in the other characters as supporting characters and not main characters in their own story, unless, of course, she would have written this as an anthology and not as a single novel. That's a choice authors must make, but I think her effort to put all three stories into a single novel detracted from all three. I would have to rate this book 2.

It is obvious I like historical romance and find they are a delightful way to spend time. Since I speed-read, it is not difficult to plow through a substantial stack. But for that same reason it is not always easy to keep my attention. So I recommend these titles as being worth the time and trouble.

Book I will re-read in 2010: Katherine by Anya Seton. Absolutely a great historical and very romantic novel!!