Tag: librarian

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#BookReview: The Secret Librarian by Soraya M. Lane

Tight-Set Story Packs Hefty Punches. This is one of those tight set stories where it isn’t a locked room, but the overall setting for much of the story isn’t more than a handful of buildings/ places seemingly separated by as many blocks – in other words, a lot tighter than many of Lane’s other historical fiction (always WWII based) stories, many of which span countries. Yes, a few scenes – notably in the beginning and ending of the tale – are set in other areas, but the vast bulk of the story takes place along a few key streets in Lisbon over a period of just a few weeks or so, thus using the location and time as an effective way to increase both the tension and the suspense of the tale.

Yet again, Lane takes great care to craft fictional yet also all too realistic characters with all too common backstories and motivations, place them in very real situations within WWII, and allow us, her readers, the chance to see how these situations very likely played out in all-too-real manners for our parents/ grandparents/ great grandparents. (Yes, it is hard to believe that that era is now great and in some cases even great-great grandparents, but that is the nature of time. 😉 )

While not as harrowing as some of Lane’s more recent historical fiction novels and by no means a spy-thriller ala Ludlum’s Bourne books, this is also a solid spy drama showcasing intelligence gathering by atypical people in completely typical situations, and Lane does a solid job of showing just how much people of this era were willing to and ultimately did sacrifice for the good of all.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Secret Librarian by Soraya M. Lane was originally written on August 8, 2025.

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#BlogTour: The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a tale that in some ways is a more current American President. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

Almost A Texas-Based The American President. Mostly in overall tone, and with this one being in some instances both funnier and more poignant than even that classic movie – though far from its extremely quotable climactic speech – if you enjoyed that movie, you’re very likely to enjoy this book. In both, you get a lot of Democrat-heavy politics, so if that is a major turn off for you – either because of the specific politics or because you don’t like real-world politics in your fiction, particularly your romantic fiction, generally – ummm… this may not be the book for you. If you *do* enjoy Democrat politics but want your Democrat politicians to be shown as near John Galt mythic heroes… eh… you’re going to be disappointed here, as both of our leads are shown to be very flawed people who happen to meet and fall in love in the middle of an intense campaign. And speaking of the campaign itself, this was actually a remarkably solid look at the inside of campaigning in America today, for all its positives *and* negatives, so there is that – but again, if you’re reading for more pure escapism… that may not be what you want.

Overall the book used its near 400 page length well, showing both a slow burn “fake” romance *and* the various political escapades quite solidly, while allowing several secondary characters various chances to shine as well. All told, this is a solid story for what it is that may not be what everyone wants, but there is nothing technically wrong with what it is. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead”

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#BookReview: All Night Long With A Cowboy by Caitlin Crews

Cowboy Bodice Ripper. This is one of those slow burn (ish) cowboy romances where you’ve got the busty-and-beautiful-but-no-one-knows-it-because-she-hides-it-all-the-time librarian meeting up with the playboy-that-can’t-escape-his-dark-past cowboy. The slow burn and banter through the front half of the book is great, helped along via a subplot involving a troubled teenager. And then you get to the (nearly requisite in the genre) sex around the 2/3 mark where suddenly both of our leads are very well endowed for their genders. Sure, why not. A bit typical, and a bit of a letdown because of it, but eh, when being typical in one particular area is the worst you can say of a book… it really isn’t a bad book. Fans of the genre will like it, those that aren’t fans of the genre won’t have any real reason to come to the genre via this particular book. For the clean/ sweet crowd, well, I already told you it has a sex scene, and there’s references to several others, both “onscreen” and off. Solid tale mostly solidly told, and it does in fact work as an entry point into the series despite being Book 2. Very much recommended.

This review of All Night Long With A Cowboy by Caitlin Crews was originally written on July 13, 2021.