Grade: A

Note: this is out in the UK now; out in the US in January.

Kristina Lloyd is a phenomenal writer. I picked up her first novel, Darker Than Love, in a second-hand bookshop. DTL is a fairly typical piece of historical erotica (ingenue heroine is kidnapped by pervert peer, subjected to unspeakable degradation and eventually rescued by handsome hero) but there was something about her prose that lifted it above the usual. It was enough to prompt me to buy her second novel set in contemporary Brighton, Asking For Trouble. That book blew me away.

Consequently I ordered Split from Amazon as soon as it came out in the UK and I was not disappointed. It’s another contemporary novel with the action taking place in the brooding Yorkshire Moors.

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Grade: D+

My TBR pile is not in fact one single pile but lots of little piles. Amongst others, I have an “immediate TBR” pile of books I’m dying to read, a “worthy TBR” pile of books I feel I should read and “suck-it-and-see TBR” pile of books I’ve picked up without knowing who the author is just to see what they’re like. Manhandling, by Karen Anders was in my suck-it-and-see pile. I obviously bought it (oooh - two years ago!) cos it was a ’special price’ book but have never gotten round to reading it. Till now.

The Cover

….is dark. Not atmospheric-dark. Not deep-and-angsty dark. Just so fucking dark that I can’t actually make anything out except the weird green streak in the female model’s hair.

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Grade: C-

Although historical romance is my thing, this is the first Mills & Boon historical I’ve read. I’ve not consciously avoided them. It’s just that when I’m in a bookshop or on Amazon, there’s always something else I want. Plus my supermarket only stocks contemporary categories so while I’ll pick up the odd Mills & Boon/Harlequin on impulse along with my bread and eggs, it’s always one from the Presents line.

However, having given poor reviews of a recent Presents and a (relatively) recent Blaze [Bam’s Note: This has not yet happened.], I thought I would give Mills & Boon /Harlequin one more go and try one of their historicals. There was lots of choice but in the end I picked this one because there was a Liz Carlyle quote on the back cover, indicating that this book was ‘…spellbinding and seductive - Deb Marlowe will enthrall you…’

So, did Deb Marlowe enthrall me? In a word, No. However, all in all, this book is a reasonably credible effort. It is liberally peppered with anachronistic language and behaviour but (and this may be unfair) I rather expected that of a Mills & Boon historical. The fact that I was prepared for that meant that I found it less irritating than I might otherwise have done.

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Grade: B+

The horror of reading Bedded, or Wedded? last week sent me running back to the safety of my keeper shelf and the first thing I reached for was an old beloved comfort read, Obsession, by my favourite ever Mills and Boon author, Charlotte Lamb. I fucking love this book. *Sighs happily*.

The Cover

The UK cover is one of the classic ‘black rose’ covers of the late 70s/early 80s. Love these black rose covers - so kitsch with their garish colours and the piss-poor paintings on the covers. Every time I look at one, I feel nostalgic fondness.

In 1980, when Obsession was first published, I was seven. My mum was a big Mills & Boon fan and she kept her stash hidden away in my wardrobe. Me and my friends used to get piles of them out and lay them out on my bedroom floor, trying to decide who was the prettiest heroine or the handsomest hero (and because I was seven, I always picked out a Violet Winspear one with a h/h that looked like Ken and Barbie).

The cover of Obsession has a perfect 1980 aesthetic. With that haircut and outfit and the very perky boobies, the heroine is totally channelling Jane Fonda in Nine to Five, which is kind of appropriate seeing as this is one of those boss/secretary romances. And can I just say that I love the title? I hate the long tabloidy headlines Mills & Boon use now. This is just one word, and it’s relevant to the story. Nice.

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Grade: D

Jane at Dear Author did a post recently ‘coming out’ as a lover of category romance. It was one of those posts that hit a nerve, generating a lot of comments. Readers were falling over themselves (myself included) to ‘fess up and wax lyrical over their favourite authors.

I’ve got about 20 Harlequins on my Keeper Shelf. Most of these are great books but a few are the equivalent emotional porn. Cheap thrills with no troublesome character development to hold up the action. Give me immediate angst, an alpha hero acting like a cockhead and a huge grovelling apology at the end and I’m in heaven.

An author who does this well is Julia James. In the past, I’ve liked her books, but her latest offering, Bedded, or Wedded? is disappointing to say the least.

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