There is nothing like a good historical to point out to me that if I'd lived a few hundred years ago, I'd have probably had my throat cut at a young age. Having no lands to my name, nor any attribute to draw the attention of a suitable husband, I'd have been in a world of hurt. Luckily for Lady Prudence, she is not a poor young lady. With her beauty, her fiery temper and her holdings, she has much to offer a man in My Lady's Will by Marjorie Jones. Too bad she doesn't want to be offered!

Lady Prudence is to be given into the care of a guardian until King Henry can arrange for a suitable husband to take her in hand. Having no such desire in her heart to be given to anyone, Lady Prudence plots her escape. She's spent too many years watching her unfaithful father crush her mother's spirit day by day and wants nothing to do with any man. Then she meets her guardian, Will Barnett

Okay, so you go back in time and, sidestepping the rules, you mess up the future. What do you do now? I suppose it would depend on what it was you messed up. If it were only a small thing, misplaced a watch, broke a wagon wheel, spoke to the wrong person, you could probably fudge it over and get out of "time", back to your own era and hope for the best. But if you stopped someone from being born, that's another story altogether. That's the problem a time tourist faces in On Eagle's Wings by Rebecca Goings.

Shannon Phillips is trying to get to her grandfather's cabin to escape a marriage to a cruel and hateful man. She has gone so far at to hire Otis Pratt, a man reeking of whiskey and sweat, but owning a rickety wagon, to take her there. When he gets her out in the middle of nowhere, thinking there is no one else around, Pratt decides to collect his payment for his services in a manner other than in cash. Lucky for Shannon there is an Indian Brave watching from a low rise nearby, or is it lucky? Shannon wonders if being the captive of the savage would be better or worse than being raped by the disgusting man she hired.

Ever find yourself on the wrong side of the table in a political argument? Probably not uncommon, especially in an election year, but what if your family chose to stand up for their beliefs in a big way—to even go to war to support the next future King? A scary prospect, especially with all the eventualities of possible death, imprisonment and social ostracisms by neighbors who don’t share your beliefs. These are all problems Helena Woulfe encounters in Anita Davidson’s novel, Duking Days Rebellion.

Helena Woulfe is anxious; even though she tries to follow her mother’s lead and not show it. Her father, brother and uncle just left to support the Duke of Monmouth’s challenge to the throne. Never questioning her father’s politics, Helena knows he’ll do the right thing, but it’s strange how everything changes with his absence. People, even her dead fiancé’s parents, keep their distance. Even the minister denounces Monmouth and his supporters as traitors. It seems like all she has is family, plus the trusted family servants, and the mysterious steward who makes her uneasy.

Ever find yourself in a bad spot not of your own making? It’s one thing if you screwed up on your own, but it is another thing when those bricks start falling with a few hitting you on the head. Worse yet, you find yourself in this ticklish spot because you are trying to please someone you love. That’s exactly where Gwendolyn MacAlastair, the heroine of Tracey Goodwin’s regency romance, Dance with Deception finds herself.

Gwendolyn imagined she would marry someday. That is what women of her station did, but definitely not this soon. She is just beginning to enjoy dressing up, going to parties and being pursued by dandified beaus. It is all very amusing, but nothing she would take seriously, and definitely, there’s no one she wants to marry. But that was all before her father, Lachlan MacAlastair declares she must marry before he succumbs to a premature death. The bad news is her father believes their old neighbor, Keir Dunlop, would make a good husband, a man neither Gwendolyn nor her brother can stand.

I have always been a fan of books set in the Scottish Highlands, perhaps because of my own Scottish blood or the fascinating Scots I have known. Regardless of the reason, I'm always ready to try another romance set in my favorite country so Hannah Howell's Highland Wolf was a perfect fit.

James Drummond wasn't going to let another minute pass without trying to regain his rightful home from the evil Donnell MacKay. In hiding for years after wrongly being accused of murdering his wife, James was ready to reclaim Dunncraig and his daughter Margaret from the thief MacKay who now had power over them both.

I have an unreasoned preference for reading in the third person. Maybe it is because when you are reading in third person, you are going to get a rounded perspective of the main character. You're going to recognize a bias, or an angle; and you're going to get a feel for the character based on outside observations by the other characters. The hazard is that first person gives rise to the unreliable narrator; everything you see, hear, taste . . . everything you experience between the book covers, is slanted thru the perception and voice of the speaker; and you as reader are so firmly entrenched within that self that sometimes it is difficult to know just who that "I" is. Reading in first person is just not something I normally choose to do. Fortunately, Jane Toombs has a gift of expression and description so that the first person voice becomes a fluent friend, and the reader easily falls into her shoes, uncomfortable though they may be.

Regency Romance is a genre of the charm, mores, and fallacy that comes from a period of time when England was desperate to hold its own against the ravages that France had with the Revolution going on just over the Channel. For some the period romance can include the entire 1800's. Since Thwarting Magic takes place in an alternate universe, one that has magic, I will say it is the 1800's and a bit closer to the time of Georgian than the true Regents of England.

The basic structure of the western romance: she's down and out, and has to manage the farm on her own. The town boss wants her farm--and maybe her too--and it's all she can do to keep her act together. So along comes the tall stranger in the cowboy hat, and he fixes up her farm, fights off the bad guys and wins the day.

As Sarah's Brass Token begins, Sarah is losing her last living relation.

What can I say? Lately I've just been in the mood for romance. It must be because it is so close to Valentine's Day. I took a quick look at my library shelf and decided to give TJ Bennett's The Legacy a try. I was not disappointed; it was a romantic and engaging read.

When we first meet Sabina von Ziegler, she's being kept in the dark—literally--by her adopted father. Locked in a dank cell with only rats for company, her one chance at escape is agreeing to marry a man she's never met. After thinking it over, she decides anything would be better than starving to death alone in her own home.

Having just finished Hope Tarr's Enslaved, the second in the Men of Roxbury House series, I wanted to finish it up with the third installment – Untamed. Upon meeting Rourke, the last of the Roxbury men to find happiness, I discovered that Ms. Tarr has saved the best for last.

Patrick O'Rourke hasn't had an easy life, but he's certainly made the best of his bad situation. After making a few lucrative business deals, he finds himself among the wealthy bachelors in London searching for the perfect wife. A castle in Scotland, his own railroad and more money that he could imagine make Patrick, or Rourke as his friends call him, a prime catch for a husband.

Ah, February, the month of romance… and this year, I'm drawn in by the historicals. I've been reading them for several months and I'm still looking for more. I pulled Catherine Kean's latest, A Knight's Reward, off my shelf as my next conquest and found it to be an enjoyable read.

We meet Gisela Balewyne on an outing to the local market where she hopes to pick up some bread for her son's dinner. Since fleeing her horrible husband's side she's had to be very careful when out in public. In fact, no one in Clovebury even knew her real name. To them she was Anne, not Gisela.

Ready to take trip into the not so distant past, where the only skin a good woman showed was her face and hands? It was also a woman’s place to be guided by her family, whether she agreed with their choices or not. There were the men, broad shouldered men who were able to wrestle opportunity from the fast-expanding land. Throw the two of them together and you end up with Song of My Heart, Barbara Baldwin’s new novel.

Historical romances hold a special place in my heart since they were the first type of romance my mother let me read as a young girl. I remember fondly the descriptions of the beautiful gowns and the dazzling parties that the young women attended. How amazing it must have been to be one of the ton.

When I began to read Fortune's Kiss by Lisa Manuel, I was taken back to those days when my most favorite of stories were about young women who found themselves impoverished and somehow rose to fortune through their wits and strength.

Every now and again I get a taste for historical romance. When my current notion to take a walk in the past hit, I picked up a copy of Enslaved by Hope Tarr. This is the second in her Men of Roxbury House series and I hoped the fact that I hadn't read the first portion, Vanquished, wouldn't keep me from enjoying Enslaved.

Luckily for the reader Ms. Tarr provides a background at the beginning of this story that introduces the men, and single lady, of Roxbury House quite well. If I hadn't had the chance to meet them in advance, the book would not have been very successful since many references are made to the past.

What child hasn’t bemoaned the fact that they don’t fit in; maybe even wondered if they were in the wrong family or culture? It is one thing to wonder, but another thing to experience the rejection and frustration of being raised in a culture that feels stilted and forced, somehow wrong. Cecile, the heroine of Helen Rosburg’s novel, The Call of the Trumpet knows the feeling.

Cecile Villier knows the unexpected death of her father demands some type of action from her. The problem is, she is unsure of what to do. Left alone without family, friends and a society that rejects her because of her Bedouin heritage, there isn’t much for her in France. Just maybe this is the time to find out more about her mother’s people. Taking her faithful servant, she decides to embark on an adventure, never realizing what an adventure it will be for a single European girl in a male dominated culture.