Romance Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Lights of Valencia by Michael Pilcher

Oliver, a twenty-something American ex-pat, escapes into Valencian culture while he prepares for the local celebrations of Fallas with his Spanish girlfriend Maria. But bad memories of his childhood back in the US are harder to escape than he thought.

Lights of Valencia is a treasure on various levels. The fact it is written by a young man who has lived in Valencia and had similar experiences means that the writing comes from first-hand reflections crafted into fiction. This kind of book will always be sturdier and deeper than those pieced together through third-hand research, and it makes all the […]

Review: Autumn for Dragonflies by Theresa Sweet

This first of a three-part romance series about young and innocent Mary Lakas is a smooth and easy read with charming characters and wonderfully detailed settings. Mary is a college freshman studying science with the somewhat vague aim of becoming a physicist. When she is not in school, she is very involved in the choirs at her church. Music and science are the two passions of her life. Each realm provides a potential love interest for Mary, yet it is less her budding love life than the character of Mary herself that captured my interest.

Mary is funny and spontaneous […]

Avery Hurt2014-05-05T20:34:26+02:00February 26th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Romance Book Reviews|

Review: House of Mirrors by S. Israel

House of Mirrors is an erotic novel telling the tale of Linda, a young girl with no sexual knowledge who is abducted when she shares a cab with a stranger – then wakes up completely naked in a room made of mirrors after accepting a coffee laced with drugs.

In the vein of Story of O, Linda’s appetite for erotic adventure opens up as walls become transparent and she becomes the voyeur or the participant in a series of sexual vignettes with both a woman, Gloria, and two men, Dave and Joe, before they are released from the house […]

Cate Baum2019-01-22T05:39:55+02:00January 20th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Erotic Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: A Bus Ride Home by Tidimalo

This debut novel by South African writer Tidimalo is part romance, part chick lit, but takes a unique approach to both genres. The story is framed by a hiking trip, and that trope comes up again and again throughout the novel. The story begins with the protagonist, Tlotlego (we do not learn her surname until late in the book), catching a bus to the starting location of a week-long hike. The story itself is told through a series of flashbacks, including several that feature other hikes involving Tlotlego’s friends, family, and lovers.

The flashbacks can be a bit confusing at […]

Avery Hurt2014-05-05T21:14:58+02:00December 19th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Africa Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews, Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Monster by Ben Burgess Jr.

This first novel by poet and spoken-word artist Ben Burgess, Jr. chronicles the love life of Ken Ferguson, a young man who responds to being dumped by a self-centered, materialistic girlfriend by giving up on love and instead devoting himself to pursing as many meaningless sexual conquests as he can manage—and he manages quite a dance card. Ken starts out as a very nice guy, but as he tries to keep himself from feeling any emotion, seducing and bedding women becomes almost a game to him. He gradually turns into a very different sort of person, the monster in the […]

Avery Hurt2019-01-22T17:49:12+02:00June 16th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Erotic Book Reviews, Men's Fiction Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: Girls Love Travis Walker by Anne Pfeffer

Anne Pfeffer, the author of Girls Love Travis Walker, is working in a relatively new niche in publishing, the New Adult genre. New Adult novels are aimed at readers from ages 18 to early-20s or so, and tend to feature characters of the same age in situations common to college students and/or people who are just beginning to create lives independent of their parents. (I think even younger readers would enjoy this book, too, but be warned that the language and sexual content might be a little more than some parents of younger teens are willing to condone.) Though Pfeffer […]

Avery Hurt2019-03-05T12:51:35+02:00May 24th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: New Adult Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: The Whaler’s Bride by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold

Love isn’t always perfect, but for those who have felt it, knows its power. Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold’s novel, The Whaler’s Bride, is a love story that conquers all, even death. Mary Lee and Lucas had a marriage most people would envy. When they were together all could see how much they loved each other. Once when they stayed at the Billingsgate Motel for their fifth wedding anniversary they forgot to pack up their clothes and left them. All that matter when they were together was being together. Everyday life didn’t matter. Love mattered.

After forty years of marriage, Lucas succumbs […]

T B Markinson2013-01-04T13:47:52+02:00January 4th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Romance Book Reviews|

Review: Cancelled by Elizabeth Ann West

Cancelled by Elizabeth Ann West has some problems, but it is a quick, easy read that often contains enough intrigue to keep a reader skimming through the pages. It’s the story of Johnathon, a twenty-seven-year-old robotics engineer who has finally started a relationship with his best friend and business partner, Alexis. But then Kellie, a one-night stand from his past, shows up and announces that she is pregnant with his baby. Johnathon must figure out what to do about Kellie and Alexis while also dealing with work concerns and family drama.