The Demoness of Waking Dreams  – the second novel in Stephanie Chong’s Company of Angels trilogy (after 2011’s Where Demons Fear to Tread) – is absolutely and undeniably powered by its sensual and stylish narrative. Paranormal romance is loaded with exceptional series revolving around relationships featuring angels and/or demons (Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter, Sharon Shinn’s Samaria, Meljean Brook’s Guardian saga, et. al.) and while Chong’s storyline didn’t exactly distinguish itself from these comparable sagas, the one element that did stand out was Chong’s ability to pen a...

The Ugly Duckling, written by Hans Christian Andersen, has always inspired mixed feelings in me; the swan not only emerges as beautiful, but as more beautiful than those mundane little ducks. It’s a success that requires the diminishment of sweet, yellow babies. But setting aside my inherent sympathy for those on the losing side of any competition, the message of The Ugly Duckling, that appearances are by nature subject to interpretation, and that it’s your individuality that makes you beautiful - on the inside and out - is what is so compelling in Eloisa James’ retelling, The Ugly Duchess.

Skillful world building can make a good story great and make a great story extraordinary. And that’s exactly what Meljean Brook has done with her Iron Seas saga (The Iron Duke, Heart of Steel, and the soon-to-be released Riveted), a steampunk-powered romance set in Europe that fuses together Victorian atmospherics with swashbuckling action and romantic adventure...

There’s an ominous feeling of foreboding permeating the first pages of Kate Emerson’s engaging historical novel The King's Damsel. Thirteen-year-old Thomasine “Tamsin” Lodge has lost her father and brother in quick succession, leaving her an heiress in 1525 England. Henry VIII is on the throne, married to wife number one, Catherine of Aragon, and his court functions as a playground for intrigue. And so it comes to pass that a complete stranger – Sir Lionel Daggett – can purchase Tamsin’s wardship.

This week at Romantic Reads we tackle Texas-sized romance with three books set in the Lone Star State.

I know Shiloh Walker primarily as a first-rate paranormal romance/paranormal erotica author – her long-running Hunter saga (Hunting the Hunter, et al.) concluded earlier this year with Hunter's Rise – so when I saw her novel Fragile (a romantic suspense that was recently released in mass market paperback) on the bookshelves, I was intrigued and decided to pick it up. And I’m so glad I did...

Millie Aldon is entirely everything a lady of the ton shouldn't be: irrepressible, prone to brisk changes of mood, and a tad too short. Millie’s loyal, but easily bored with idle observations; creative, but penned in by drawing rooms; loquacious, but finds it difficult to keep a conversation centered on merely one topic. And: she’s determined to never marry, and has corralled her two best friends into this pact with her.

This week at Romantic Reads we're keeping our eye on all the suspenseful new releases and scrambling to read the Rita winners.

I just finished Precinct 13 by Tate Hallaway over the weekend – a paranormal romance that is presumably the first installment of a series featuring South Dakota medical examiner (and witch) Alex Connor and her love interest Valentine Zmajov, who also happens to be a Russian ice dragon – and it got me to thinking: of all of the supernatural lovers in the paranormal romance realm, which kind do we as readers enjoy reading about the most: vampires, angels, shapeshifters, dragons, or other?

I picked up Beverly Barton's latest - and final - romantic suspense, Don't Say A Word , and was both eager and hesitant to read it. Then I opened the first page, and was immediately caught up in this brisk, nail-biting thriller.