Romance through the ages

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

The nuances of historical romance have evolved and expanded since the breakthrough publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower. Her romance successors continue to strive for their own unique approaches, whether writing about familiar times or strange new eras.

Travel the dark road of time immemorial with Maeniel, a lady werewolf, and her shapeshifting partner, Regeane, as they fight for their freedom and the freedom of their kind in Alice Borchardt's newest tale of mystical adventure, The Wolf King.

Following the first two installments of her series, The Silver Wolf and Night of the Wolf, Borchardt now brings to vivid reality the treacherous realm of Charlemagne's armies and their attempts to destroy the wolfish mates. Regeane and Maeniel again face old enemies and an evil force which seeks to dominate mankind and shapechangers alike.

Borchardt, sister of novelist Anne Rice, weaves a powerful tale with her sensuous, provocative storytelling. A beguiling and dark romantic fantasy, The Wolf King captures the brutality and decadent splendor of Dark Ages Rome and the all-consuming triumph of a love that risks any fate.


The forbidden love novels of Victorian England have their contemporary scribe in Susan Johnson. In her latest, Tempting, a fortnight's stolen pleasure is Princess Christina's revenge against her philandering husband. Max Falconer is just the man of experienced erotic talents to accommodate her, but their stolen time ends abruptly when her vengeful husband, the Prince of Silesia, exacts his own revenge by imprisoning Christina, while consorting with his own lifelong paramour.

Johnson writes with molten ink -- heated, passionate, page-burning. Tempting is its own stolen pleasure, a smoldering and sensuous blend of erotic fiction and historical intrigue.


Seventeen-year-old Charity is the second choice to be Prince Augustus' bride when her sister, his fiancee, elopes with another man. And she accepts second place when her husband leaves her untouched to return to his former love. But the new Princess of Jura refuses to settle in Joan Wolf's captivating Royal Bride.

Determined to prove she's the best choice, Charity lives up to her name with good works while hiding her heartbreak. Joan Wolf's endearing portrayal of a not-so-convenient marriage is heartwarming as the ingenue learns the full scope of her womanly powers and finds the strength to fight for her love and the land she rules. A master of Regency romances, Wolf's assured storytelling is simply the best.


Start with the world's ugliest bridesmaid's dress and a woman determined to escape the reminders of her own lost love, stir in a youngster determined to believe in magic, and you've got the irresistible recipe of Constance O'Day-Flannery's Time After Time.

Kelly Brennan literally drops out of the sky at the feet of young Lizzie Gilmore, bringing modern-day attitudes and expectations with her. But Lizzie's father, Daniel Gilmore, is a shocking mirror of Kelly's own past. Suddenly finding herself in the aftermath of the Civil War, Kelly comes face to face with an uncanny clone of her husband who died too young, while Daniel sees in her the wife he lost.

Flannery deftly brings to life the antebellum Louisiana world where young girls believe that fairies can make their wishes come true and where a grown-up girl discovers that the love she lost can be hers again. Lush and evocative, Time After Time sings with the songs of laughter restored and love reunited.


Sandy Huseby reads, writes and raises a wassail cup o'cheer from her homes in Fargo and lakeside in northern Minnesota.

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