Hearts are in our eyes and love is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches! While the Nora Roberts American Romance Collection celebrates romance in all its shapes, sizes, and subgenres, my personal favorites are the historical romances.
There’s something magical about being transported 200 years into the past, straight into the arms of a Duke, an Earl, or the heir to a family fortune. Sweeping lace-edged gowns, society scandals, and of course, the drama surrounding a formal ball – these elements make up the perfect sort of romantic escapade I love to read about.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring three novels by erotic historical romance author Pam Rosenthal that are hot enough to thaw the snow on the ground – and spark a fire with a current or future flame.
If you like: political intrigue, reunions, sharp wordplay
The Slightest Provocation, by Pam Rosenthal
“As the children of feuding Derbyshire landowners, Mary Penley and Kit Stansell were supposed to be enemies. Too willful to be bound by prejudices, they became secret friends - and then much more. When they eloped, they thought they'd put rivalry and contention behind them. But neither their ardor nor their marriage could survive their restless natures. Nine years later, Kit is a rising star in the military, while Mary has made her way into an intellectual society of poets and reformers. A chance meeting reignites their passion, and their differences are put aside when Kit uncovers a political conspiracy against England. Amid danger, Kit and Mary rediscover the selves who have never really parted - and the love that is their destiny.”
If you like: scandal, flirtation, family politics
The Edge of Impropriety, by Pam Rosenthal
"Marina Wyatt, popular novelist and beautiful Countess of Gorham, is irresistible fodder for gossip columns, in which her ribald private life is the stuff of public scandal. Of course, Marina's too sharp and resourceful not to realize that the publicity helps sell her romances. In fact, the release of her latest novel happens to coincide with the rebuff of her current lover, the handsome and frivolous gadabout Sir Anthony Hedges, opening the door to an unexpected and totally consuming new affair. Anthony's uncle, the noted scholar and antiquarian Jasper James Hedges, has arrived in London to appraise the art of a wealthy collector. In marina he sees a priceless work of another kind. And for all Marina's passionate inventions, nothing can compare to what Jasper delivers - an erotic adventure of intrigue and betrayal... a dangerous voyage to the edge of impropriety and beyond."
If you like: books and wit, upstairs-downstairs relationships, aristocratic Frenchmen
The Bookseller's Daughter, by Pam Rosenthal
“For Marie-Laure Vernet, serving as a scullery maid to a bored, aristocratic family isn't without its dangers. Trying to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the men and their guests is one. Keeping the china in one piece is another - especially when she finds herself serving the Viscomte Joseph d-Auvers-Raimond. Only Marie-Laure knows that Joseph is also a smuggler of forbidden books who'd once fallen ill in her late father's bookshop. The fateful meeting led to an innocent flirtation, fueled by a shared passion for books and ideas, but it had awakened desires that change Marie-Laure forever. Joseph hasn't forgotten the encounter either. His papers are littered with drafts of an erotic story about a girl who bears a distinct resemblance to the servant spilling his tea. While pleasuring the jaded women of the aristocracy, he'd pictured this girl with the coppery hair and the ink-stained fingers who could indulge both his intellect and his most feverish desires. Now, the only way to save her from becoming his family's plaything is to seduce her first, and the lady seems extremely willing to comply...”
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