Lynne Connolly’s review of His Little Black Book by Heather MacAllister
Contemporary romance, single author anthology released by Harlequin Blaze 1 Mar 10
This is a collection of three stories all circulating around a Houston advertising agency. The stories varied, but the storytelling was solid and they were a nice way to spend a little time. [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of Bought: Damsel In Distress by Lucy King
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Presents 1 Jan 10
A goodie. Even the title, if taken ironically, isn’t too bad. The blurb, however, is pretty dire. 

Lynne Connolly’s review of His Bought Mistress by Emma Darcy
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Presents 1 Jan 05
Mistress – faugh. Doesn’t suit this book, unless it’s meant ironically.  Meant ironically, it works better, because Angie so doesn’t want to be a bought mistress. 

I’ve been thinking about the sudden surge to self-publishing and vanity publishing and the interest I’ve recently seen in various blogs and other places.
Being a suspicious soul, I started to think about why this should be. Not all improvements come because the time has come and it’s right for them. Sometimes the situation is carefully [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of The Italian’s One-Night Love-Child by Cathy Williams
Contemporary romance UK release by Mills & Boon 5 Feb 10
DNF’s are unusual for me. I usually plod on until the bitter end, and frequently the book redeems itself. You see, I have a penchant for heroes and heroines who aren’t perfect, who may [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of Desert Prince, Blackmailed Bride by Kim Lawrence
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Presents 1 Nov 09

Another daft title, but a bit more accurate than some I’ve read recently, where the title seems to have been drawn out of a hat.
I enjoyed this one. Like most HMB’s it suffers from the shoehorn aspect, [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of The Multi-Millionaire’s Virgin Mistress by Cathy Williams
Contemporary Romance released by Harlequin Presents 9 Feb 10

First the title. The heroine isn’t a virgin at the start of the story, although well before the story has started, she has given him her virginity. And she’s nineteen. In the Prologue, they are both students [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of The Greek Tycoon’s Disobedient Bride by Lynne Graham
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Presents 1 Dec 08

The title is even worse than usual, because of the adjective. It put up my hackles from the start, but then, the stupid HMB titles usually do.
Lynne Graham is very hit or miss for me. [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of The Nanny Solution by Teresa Hill
Contemporary romance released by Silhouette Special Edition 1 Feb 09

Another misleading title – there isn’t a nanny in this book, neither is the heroine ever employed on nanny duties. There isn’t even a baby, although there is a five year old (the heroine isn’t her [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of The Spanish Duke’s Virgin Bride by Chantelle Shaw
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Presents 01 Nov 07
I think there’s a conspiracy afoot. This is the second Beauty and the Beast story I’ve read recently that fails spectacularly, the other being Jennie Lucas’ The Innocent’s Dark Seduction.

Just so you know, I’m writing this as a reader and a writer. Both halves, stuck together to make a whole. Not that that happens very often. It’s hard to keep the two parts separate when you read so much, hard to not let what you read bleed into what you write. I try to [...]

LynneC’s review of Marriage at the Millionaire’s Command by Anne Oliver
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Presents 1 Jun 08
Yes, another stupid title.
This is Anne Oliver’s debut book for HMB, and in some ways it shows. The hero is a musician, but in order to bring him into the Presents line, he’s also a tycoon. The [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of Count Toussaint’s Pregnant Mistress by Kate Hewitt
Contemporary Romance released by Mills & Boon 18 Dec 09
Another appalling title and a daft blurb as well, because it doesn’t address the real story. The blurb doesn’t discuss a book that I ever read. So here’s my take on it.
Luc is mired in depression, [...]

Lynne Connolly’s review of The Billionaire’s Marriage Mission by Helen Brooks
Contemporary romance released by Harlequin Presents 1 Feb 08
The heroine, Beth, has been deceived by her ex husband in a big way, so she’s sensibly taken time off work and rented a cottage in the country so she can take it easy and recover. [...]

This year I changed my mind about one thing. I’d always thought it was necessary for a beginning writer to be conventional, to go with what works, and leave the book of their heart for another time. Now I’m not so sure.
And it’s a couple of my books that have given me this change of [...]