Over at Heroes & Heartbreakers, I have recently been talking about historical romance series involving irresistible heroes.

I started out with Jo Beverley’s Mallorens because – you know – Rothgar (I think I mentioned this in an earlier post).

Today I am celebrating Loretta Chase’s Carsingtons.  Loretta is one of my all time favorite Romance novelists.  She has never written a book I didn’t love and the Carsington boys are right up there at the top of my favorite Loretta Chase Heroes.    In fact, Rupert Carsington, hero of Mr. Impossible might be right at the top, possibly knocking Vere Mallory (The Last Hellion) from that exalted position.

And yes, I love Dain (Lord of Scoundrels).  Really, who doesn’t?  But he’s a couple of notches down on my Top Loretta Chase Heroes list.  This should tell you something about the contenders.

Anyway, come on over to H&H and see what I have to say about these guys.  And if you haven’t read them, do.  They’re worth getting to know.

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Over at Heroes & Heartbreakers, I’m talking about Stephanie Laurens’s latest Cynster book, Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue. I fell in love with the orignal Cynsters (mostly Devil, Vane and Gabriel) and then sort of stopped reading them. It was fun to revisit the familiar tropes. This is classic Stephanie Laurens. If you’re pining for a strong but reluctant man and a strong but resistant woman, this one’s for you.

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Well, yes.  It’s been 11 years since Devilish was published, but The Marquess of Rothgar is as fresh in my imagination as the day he stepped into my life in My Lady Notorious, the first of Jo Beverley‘s Malloren books.  Of course, the Malloren world continues and Rothgar pops up occasionally.  But those first five books gave us some stupendous characters.

I have more to say about the Mallorens in my first Groups of Fascinating Men post at Heroes & Heartbreakers.  Come on over.

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My reading extends beyond Historical Romance (although there’s plenty of that) and research.  Yes, add me to the J.D.Robb fans.

Here’s a blog I wrote  for Criminal Element:

Nora Roberts has written 32 books as J.D. Robb (and that’s not counting the novellas), and still I look forward to each new release. Blessedly, this prolific woman is still publishing two a year.

I’m sure it must be true that you cannot write at this pace without turning out a clunker or two. And I know it’s true that not all of the In Death novels have made it to my re-read shelf. But the quality, while not precisely consistent, has not trailed off, which is what you might expect after 20 or 30 novels featuring the same characters.

Read the rest here: http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2011/07/jd-robb-hooked-on-a-series

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I just finished gobbling up the first three books of Miranda Neville’s Burgundy Club series, about rare book collectors (an enticing organizing scheme).  The third book, The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton will be released on July 26.  I reviewed this for Heroes & Heartbreakers and had a great time reading it.

This fun book is a lovely tribute to romance novel tropes, taking several well-recognized romance themes and melding them into a diverting whole.  Read my review  here:  http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2011/07/fresh-meat-amorous-education-of-celia-seaton  and then read the book.

And make sure you don’t miss the ice house scene.

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