The Heat

MY FAVOURITE ROMANCE NOVELS

BY RUTH GOWAN

I read a lot of Romance novels mainly to keep myself on track and aware of what is current. Some I like and some I plow thorough as it were, but it is necessary to research what is that our customers are actually purchasing and reading.

I seldom don’t finish a book unless it is truly awful. On the other hand, I find some really interesting and great reads books like The Tuscan Child by Rys Bowen this is a beautiful story starting in 1944 when a pilot is parachuted from his stricken plane to thirty years later his estranged daughter dealing with her own emotional trauma, finds an unopened letter to Sofia. Joanne embarks on her own emotional Journey to Tuscany.

Devil’s Lake by Paul Arron Lazar: really more my kind of book with twists and devious turns. After two years of brutal captivity, Portia escapes and returns to her family farm - only to find her parents gone to New York for treatment for her mother’s cancer. Boone a friend and neighbour is running the farm, he tries to help the broken young woman heal together with her family. But one thing threatens her fragile hope of recovery: The man who took her is waiting to make his next deadly move.

Then there are the light novels that you just would like to read as an easy snuggle down in the duvet or bake on the beach type of read like Alicia Eve’s The Billionaires Marriage Game. This is a familiar popular theme in chic lit. A fun light romp: Kat happens to dance with a handsome billionaire at an engagement party, is her luck is changing. He’s clever, charming. And he needs a wife as soon as possible if he wants to inherit the family business. A friendly competition the winner will receive a marriage proposal, a diamond ring. But meddling in matters of the heart can be dangerous, especially when the heart wants what it can’t have.

Then there are the modern Irish Female Authors writing romance most of these leave me cold then there are the exceptions.

The different and wonderful novels by Jean Grainger pick any of these up and you will be enthralled. Her latest: What Once Was True - An Irish WW2 Story.

From the leafy grounds of an Irish stately home to the bombed-out streets of London in the Blitz, allow yourself to be swept away once more in this story. As war looms, two families find themselves drawn into the conflict and begin questioning everything that once was true. In a time when social structure was paramount. Jean’s descriptive passages, her dialogue rings so true and real. She is a gifted storyteller.

I am really looking forward to this box set which is due out in January The Darkest Hour this Anthology, I suspect will be a heart rendering tear yourself away from the stories reluctantly type of read. The theme of the anthology is resistance and all ten of the stories pertain in some way to how people resisted the Axis powers during WW2. Jean’s has written a story called Catriona’s War. It’s about an Irish journalist who goes missing in France in 1940 and his daughter who goes to look for him. An unknown number of chilli’s as yet…

As new Irish author to the scene Ruth Gowan wants to write a contemporary chic novel with a twist. Her aim is to add a little suspense and mystery to her romantic stories. One of a very few women to enter the sport of car Rallying, Ruth drove competitively before she married, enjoying success at international level. These experiences form the background of her novels. Which takes you back in time but not too far.

But of Jean’s books my personal favourite is Shadow of a Century: An Irish Love Story: You can almost feel yourself back during the tumultuous time. The class structure, the arrogance the self-sacrifice during the Easter rising is brought to life and leaves you with strong emotions. A heart-warming story with a feeling of the real Ireland.

Heart of a SEAL by Dixie Lee Brown

Six months as a POW taught Navy SEAL Luke Harding things he never wanted to learn about life and death. Only tender memories of Sally helped get him through the torturous days and nights.

Now, home at last, he’s about to plunge into a new kind of war, fighting a killer with a personal vendetta…for the future they may not live to see.

Blood of Our Fathers by Sonny Girard

Three romances authentically set in the world of New York’s organized crime by a former mobster. Jailed for something he did not do, Mickey Boy Messina, an associate of the Calabra crime family in New York City, is paroled after six years and must put his life back together.

He is caught between a parole officer who wants to catch him consorting with known members of organized crime so that he can return Messina to prison, and Laurel, with whom he falls deeply in love only to find that she hates his way of life.

Saber’s Vida by L. Ann Marie

Jump into the world of adventure and LOL situations. The Providence FBI Ops Field Office is waiting for you. When Commander Saber is put in his place by one woman, another finds his charm and panty-dropping smile worth the risk. Assistant DA, Cassidy knows she’s worth more than a Delta Groupie title and makes Saber work for it.

MC: Boxed Set 1-4 by L. Ann Marie

Not your typical MC. This is life in the Badass Brotherhood. 21 book series, all start with Knight. Every book deals with a different subject, domestic abuse, gang wars, human trafficking, disabilities etc. Every book has a strong woman showing how she got to be with her alpha. These are my stories.