Here’s a few quick reviews of what I read in the last couple of days:

Elizabeth Boyle, “Confessions of a Little Black Dress” – Not very good. Skip this one, or get it from the library. Characterizations didn’t gel, plot was ridiculous at best, the romance lukewarm. I read it on the recommendation of a reading list, and was quite underwhelmed. I’m going to give Ms. Boyle one more chance, as I picked up “This Rake of Mine” at the library today, but I doubt I’ll be adding her to my Love This Author list.

Loretta Chase, “Miss Wonderful” – All right. Library or used bookshop, not a pay-full-price kind of a book. The hero is quite interesting – his history of Episodes of Stupidity was very funny – and the heroine is refreshingly my age (rare in a Regency!), and while it was interesting and relatively absorbing, it didn’t sparkle the way Loretta Chases’s “Lord of Scoundrels” did. Since I loved that book so much, I picked up “Lord Perfect” from the library today to give Ms. Chase’s backlist a further whirl.

Eloisa James, “Desperate Duchesses” – Moderately interesting. Get from the library or a used bookshop, not worth full price. Definitely read it, though, as it sets up a series that looks to be quite good. Heroine is boring, though cute, but the hero is quite interesting, and the side characters even more so. I think I want to be the Duchess of Beaumont when I grow up. She sets up as a centerpiece for a party: a naked woman, painted gold with pearls glued on, and a full peacock’s tail. Now that is just awesome.

Eloisa James, “An Affair Before Christmas” – Book 2 in the Desperate Duchesses series, and very good. Get this one any which way you can. Steamy and romantic, really enjoyed this one. It continues the side character stories from the first book, and I am on the hunt for book 3 in the series. Picked up books 4 and 5 from the library today and will be reading them this week, after I find book 3.

Eloisa James, while not on par with Julia Quinn, is definitely on my list now for reading more of her work. I want to finish the Desperate Duchesses series. I normally stick with Regency-era novels most of the time, but these are in the slightly earlier, much raunchier, and less-written-about Georgian era, and are well-researched to the time period but not overwhelmingly “period” feeling in the dialogue and settings (sometimes too much of a good thing – historical accuracy – makes a romance novel fall flat).

Sadly, there was another one on my list that I read on Thursday, but it was so forgettable that after trading it back in to Zeno’s (the local used book store) on Friday, I can no longer remember the title or author. Clearly, it wasn’t worth sharing.