The Persephone Code (2024) Julia Golding (Regency Secrets #1) Set in England in 1812 I started out enjoying this story: a doctor with an opium addiction from his time at war, and a plucky heroine making her own way in the world. Vane was watching her with a supercilious smile. ‘Well done, Miss Fitz-Pennington. You […]
Fire Spells Between Friends (2024) Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan (Fae & Human Relations #2) Unbeknownst to their friends and family, Emrys Wrenwhistle and Torquil Pimpernel-Smith have been lovers since they day the met. Emrys position is heir and Torqil’s position as disinherited half-fay and half-human gossip columnist meaning they don’t mix in the same […]
A Kiss for Midwinter (2012) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #1.5) Leicester, England 1864 This is one my my favorite historical novellas. He hadn’t chosen to become a doctor so that he could foretell the death of children. He’d been seduced by the stories—the stories of John Snow saving hundreds of lives by careful observation, of […]
The Countess Conspiracy (2013) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #3) Set in Cambridge in 1867 “…the chance that a male cat will show tortoiseshell coloring is so small we cannot calculate it—one in a thousand, perhaps. My theory provides no explanation for such smallness.” The woman’s voice was beginning to rise in pitch, something Violet would […]
The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #2) Set in Cambridgeshire, England, 1867 She asked Whitting about his studies, and when he made a wry comment about preferring to concentrate his efforts on the study of liquids, she stared at him. “How surprising.” Her eyes were very round. “I had not thought you to […]
The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #1) Set in Leicester, England in 1863 “Your Grace,” Stevens finally said, “your concern does you justice.” The man’s toad-eating did him none. Robert met Stevens’s eyes. “No, it doesn’t. It’s called basic human decency, and I deserve no credit for doing what every man should.” “You […]
A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #4) Set in alternate England during the Napoleanic Era he caught sight of Lord Christmas Gale, on his hands and knees, searching under a table in the near-empty Green Room. This was a bit unusual, even for Christmas. Soulden walked […]
A Power Unbound (2023) Freya Marske (The Last Binding Book 3) Set in England in 1909 Spinet House was a young thing, built by a master carpenter-thaumoluthier and his energetically creative wife. It was a fortress. It was a musical, magical puzzle box. It was a fucking headache. When Alan had written up his fawning, […]
Daydream (2022) A.M. Rose (Daydream, Colorado #0.5) There are a few corners of the world where magic lives and thrives. Little nooks straight out of fairytales, full to the brim with wonders and oddities. Daydream, Colorado is one of those places. Never heard of it? It’s not surprising. The residents like to keep their town […]
A Restless Truth (2022) Freya Marske (The Last Binding, #2) Set in England and across the Atlantic Ocean in 1909 There was a parlour game: one stared at a tray of objects before it was taken away, adjusted, and placed back in front of one’s eyes. Some things added. Some things removed. Robin was excellent […]
A Marvellous Light (2021) Freya Marske (The Last Binding, #1) Set in London in 1908 They left Miss Morrissey in a halfway tidied office. At a certain point in the re-filing process, she’d given up all pretence that she wasn’t seizing the opportunity to impose order on what seemed to have previously been a rather […]
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turners #3) Set in London in 1817 Radnor’s secretary sent Courtenay an infuriatingly proper letter suggesting that Courtenay take himself as far away from Simon as humanly possible until the scandal died down. It was heavily implied that the scandal would die down at some point […]
The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turners #2) Set in England in 1817 Georgie had too much practice deceiving others to be able to deceive himself. “I apologize,” he said in a normal tone of voice. “I had a valet, but he left.” “I daresay he did, if you insisted on dressing like […]
Think of England (2014) KJ Charles Set in England, 1904 It had been an extraordinarily modern creation at that time, equipped with the very latest innovations, with running water in all the bathrooms, heated by hot-water radiators and illuminated throughout by electricity from his own hydroelectric generator. This country is heading for a crash, mark […]
Proper English (2019) KJ Charles Shropshire, 1902 The table was inevitably unbalanced, due to the odd number and informal make-up of the party, with two sets of brothers and sisters to be separated plus the married couple. “I’m so sorry. That’s wholly inadequate but I don’t know if there’s anything else one can say.” “Not […]