Darlene's Digest

Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey My rating: 4 of 5 stars A bittersweet novel, beautifully written. You know how it ends, you've seen The Tempest performed or read the play. But Carey gives us the deeper story, the story of life on the island and especially the lives of Miranda and Caliban. Carey is a talented writer whose range continues to impress me. I look forward to seeing what she tackles next. View all my reviews

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am loving this series. The snark between the main characters makes me grin, and the mystery is snappy and intriguing. The author clearly knows her period and setting, and that too adds to the enjoyment. Finally, the idea of a butterfly-hunting heroine and a taxidermist hero just tickles me. They may not be Eve Dallas and Roarke, but they're a wonderfully matched pair. View all my reviews

Six Gainesville, Florida area romance authors are gathering for an afternoon of fun, prizes, light bites, and, of course, books. There will even be a cash bar! Join us at Fresco Pizza and Pasta in the Haile Village Center from 2-4 p.m. and stock up on your summer beach reading. I'll be there with signed, award-winning historical romances, and I'd love to meet more readers. The weather forecast says "awesome", and it's a great opportunity to have some springtime fun. You can even take care of your Mother's Day shopping!

Jewish Stories of Love and Marriage: Folktales, Legends, and Letters by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso My rating: 4 of 5 stars A delightful treat (it would make a perfect Tu B'Av gift [ http://bit.ly/2bCQSNe ]) about love and marriage, highlighted by letters between lovers, and lovely people sharing tales of their courtships. It starts, of course, with the first couple matched by G-d, Adam and Eve, and follows Jewish tales of love and marriage down through the Bible, the Rabbinic Period, folktales and more up to modern times. There are stories from the Shoah and stories from Israel, stories of rabbis who marry one another, and stories of soldiers who don't come home. The book is inclusive, with stories of love that cross gender lines. The People of the Book are also the People of Romance, sometimes with a little nudge from a friend, a mother, or even with heavenly intervention. After all, when Rabbi Yosi was asked what God has been doing since the six days of Creation, the answer wa...

Courting Carrie in Wonderland by Carla Kelly My rating: 4 of 5 stars Authors always hear "Write what you know" (Disclaimer--I have never been a pirate...but the day's not yet over.) and Carla Kelly is an excellent example of this dictum. I enjoy her Regency era stories, but I really like her tales set in the American West. They have a feeling of authenticity that too few authors can bring to their work, and her background with the U.S. Park Service comes through. In Courting Carrie in Wonderland we get a history of the beginnings of Yellowstone Park, the crown jewel of the park service. We also get an absolutely charming love story, about a girl with too few opportunities striving to make something of herself, and an Army Noncom dealing with PTSD and, well, Army life. These two loners find each other at "Wonderland", an early name for the camping areas where city slickers could get a taste of the great outdoors in the summer. Ms. Kelly is an autobuy for me...

Hot Head by Damon Suede My rating: 4 of 5 stars Whew! It suddenly got hotter and steamier on my Kindle! This M/M romance will have you falling for firefighters all over again, as two BFFs navigate their way into a much deeper and burning commitment. Beautiful and touching, and it shows how family is sometimes what you create, not just where you're born. View all my reviews

Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital by David M. Oshinsky My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book was fabulous, and is really a history of three centuries of American medicine. I couldn't put it down, and as a non-New Yorker it was a revelation to learn of all that city has done over time to ensure that it's poorest people had access to quality health care. There's a lesson for all of us regarding the need to have health care available to underserved populations. It was far from perfect, but at times it was glorious. View all my reviews

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas My rating: 4 of 5 stars When you're matching two people as different as Gabriel and Pandora you have to bring your "A" game, and to my great pleasure, Ms. Kleypas does just that. I admit, I was skeptical at first because I was with Pandora--everything she said about why she and Gabriel would be a disastrous marriage had me nodding my head in agreement. It takes a true master of the craft to make it work, to have us believe that the (male) catch of the season would fall for a klutz who makes convincing arguments for spinsterhood. It's also a delight to see the older characters from the earlier books return, though really, no one got out of shape or had a receding hairline over the last 30 years? Ah well, that's why it's fiction, and why we keep closing the books on a happy sigh. View all my reviews

Hold Me by Courtney Milan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I love the sheer, unabashed geekery of this couple and their story. They're not mismatched because one's a nerd and one's "normal", they're inhabiting a world of STEM and academia where they're comfortable dealing with Deep Thoughts on a minute-to-minute basis. I also loved how the gender fluidity of the couple wasn't the main story, but part of the story. Jay being bi and Maria doesn't define every minute of their day--their conflicts were much more connected to Jay's sexist behavior and Maria's professional choices. Ms. Milan is a star in the world of historical romance, but it's clear she's equally adroit when it comes to truly contemporary romance. I highly recommend the Cyclone series and can't wait for the next installment. View all my reviews

I like to put my two hanging ferns outside when it's going to rain. They're normally on my screen porch, and a good bath and soaking perks them up. This fern was only out for about 28 hours, but when I went to bring it back today I found it occupied. Apparently a pair of house wrens saw it as a cozy fixer-upper and built a nest in it. So instead of putting it back on the porch, I put it on a hook outside. Sure enough, I saw some birds checking it out a few minutes later. The fern/nest is hanging on the hook where I keep my basket of mint, now temporarily relocated to the porch. I figure the birds need it right now more than I do. More on this as it develops.

The Star in the Meadow by Carla Kelly My rating: 4 of 5 stars This feels like it could be the finale of the Spanish Brand series, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's been a long journey with Marco and Paloma in Spanish New Mexico, but a satisfying one. Both protagonists have grown into their new lives and the responsibilities they bear, but eventually all stories come to a conclusion. Since Marco and Paloma's love story was handled in the first novel we have a secondary love story in this book, between a woman who's been beaten down by life and a man whom no one expected to become a responsible adult. As always with Kelly's books, her protagonists are ordinary people who show what could be extraordinary courage and grace under pressure. I think that's what I enjoy most about these stories. Some find them too goody-goody, I find them full of characters we'd like to know. If we're fortunate as we go through life, we meet good people, people whose ...

“By my life, Morgan, that is a toothsome woman!” Morgan could only stare. He’d never seen a person who looked so much like dessert. She reminded him of every cream cake he’d ever craved as a ragged urchin on the wrong side of the bakery glass. He leaned close and sniffed. Almonds. She even smelled like cakes. He reached down for the quilt and pulled it up, covering her. When he turned his head, his friend was staring at him, completely serious for a change. “This is trouble, Captain.” He ran his fingers through his beard and looked down at the lady. Idly, he wondered what color her eyes were. He picked up one of the golden curls fallen to the pillow and without thinking about his actions, slipped it into his pocket. “There is trouble, Mr. Lopez, and there is trouble. We shall see how much trouble our guest is when she awakens.” -- Captain Sinister's Lady It's #NationalAlmondDay, and I'm celebrating! I have almond cookies, and a handful of almonds for my dessert, and wh...

Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've never read a Mary Balogh novel I didn't like, but I've found some more satisfying than others. This one falls into the category of "enjoyable, but it didn't rock my world." We knew the story of Camille Westcott from the first novel in the series, how she lost her place in the world when it was discovered she and her siblings were illegitimate. Camille is adrift in Regency society, afraid to leave her grandmother's house in Bath until one day she gathers herself together and applies for a position as a teacher at an orphanage. There was a great deal to like about this book. Camille was a character who had to discover her own inner strength and be willing to get messy and make mistakes. Joel Cunningham, the hero, works hard to make his own place in the world as an artist and the two have a believable relationship. Where the book lost me was when Joel underwent a change in status, resolving much ...

Brutal Game by Cara McKenna My rating: 4 of 5 stars When Willing Victim was published it generated a great deal of controversy and discussion, and I was one of its fans. However, like so many other readers, I felt it ended a bit abruptly and that there was more to Flynn and Laurel's story. We get the answers in Brutal Game . Flynn and Laurel are not only well-drawn characters, but you get the feeling they're real like the person next door. Their BDSM isn't secret red rooms and gold chains and silk masks, it's duct tape and soft old t-shirts for tying knots. In this book we see how their relationship has grown from their beginning playing brutal games together, and when a crisis threatens to upend all they have, they react like normal people would. Clearly these stories are not for all readers, but I enjoyed them and would recommend the books to readers of erotic romance wanting a short novel that's well written, has real drama and has characters you can relate t...

When All The Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz My rating: 4 of 5 stars I continue to find JAK a satisfying author, even though I know exactly what I'm going to get each time: an emotionally closed-off hero with family issues and a plucky heroine who helps him get through that issue. But what makes it satisfying is this is all wrapped up in a mystery with good banter, interesting twists and secondary characters who add to the enjoyment. When All The Girls Have Gone has the bonus of introducing hints of more to come from related characters, and I look forward to Ms. Krentz' next novel. View all my reviews

It's February, the azaleas and magnolias are bursting into bloom outside my window, and the frozen North continues to be hammered by snow and freezing rain. You'd have to be highly motivated to leave sunny Florida for Boston, right?*  It must be time for Boskone !  This will be Boskone 54, New England's longest running science fiction and fantasy convention. It's a weekend for book lovers, gamers, discussion of science fiction film, art, music and more. There's even going to be a special production of The Empire Striketh Back (aka, Shakespeare does SF). You can register at the Boskone website  and get more information by visiting their social media sites. *It makes it easier to go to Boston in February if you have a return ticket that says "Florida". I'm a program participant, so here's my schedule. The (M) next to my name means I'm moderating: My Toughest Book Friday 15:00 - 16:00 What makes a book difficult to write, or difficult ...

Breath of Fire by Amanda Bouchet My rating: 4 of 5 stars I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, because sometimes the second book of a romantic trilogy drags. You've met the characters and seen their relationship established in the first book, their problems will be resolved in third book, so it's important to keep it fresh in book number two. Bouchet succeeds, and this romantic re-telling of Greek based mythology and adventure continues to entertain. I'm looking forward to Book #3 View all my reviews

The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie My rating: 4 of 5 stars Intriguing new thriller, likely to please fans of Lee Child Jack Reacher novels. Peter Ash is a war vet, still dealing with the demons in his head and the "white static" that envelopes him when his claustrophobia takes hold. Yet he perseveres, looking for clues into his war buddy's suicide while helping his widow. What he uncovers is a mystery involving a great deal of money, bricks of explosives, and a large, noxiously fragrant and dangerous dog. I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to more from Mr. Petrie. View all my reviews

“I find that singing makes the time pass, Doctor. Not gloomy songs, but cheerful ones. Don’t you know any songs? Isn’t there some Scotsman named Brown, or Bowen who wrote some songs?” He stopped cleaning the fish and looked at her with an expression of deep pain. “Might you be referring to Rabbie Burns, the bard of Scotland?” Daphne thought about it for a moment. “That sounds right. He wrote a song about a red rose, and one about a hag.” Her brow scrunched. “Though why someone would want to write a song about a hag is beyond me.” He closed his eyes, then opened them and looked at her. “Not a hag, Miss Farnham, a haggis. A haggis is a dish enjoyed by the people of Scotland.” “Really? What is it?” Dr. Murray described, with loving detail, the inner workings of the mysterious haggis. Daphne looked at him, speechless for a long moment. “I would think raw fish a treat after that!” -- Castaway Dreams Today is the birthday of Robert Burns, the bard of Scotland.  I will forgo the haggis ...

My Aspen Gold winning historical romance, Castaway Dreams , is back in print and available from your favorite bookseller. Check out the romp that All About Romance rated a "'Desert Island Keeper'... Castaway Dreams is remarkable." Need more?  "Alexander Murray knows one cannot exist without a brain, yet Daphne Farnham may be the exception. Her head contains nothing but rainbows, shoes, bonnets, pink frills and butterflies. Even her fluffy dog is useless. But the war with Napoleon is finally over and the surgeon is certain he can put up with cloth-headed Miss Farnham until their ship reaches England. Did that naval officer have his sense of humor surgically removed? It is bad enough Murray has no fashion sensibilities at all, never smiles at her like other men do, and doesn’t adore her darling pup Pompom. He had the gall to proclaim her “useless” when everyone knows it’s Daphne Farnham who’s the best at picking out just the right ensemble for any soci...