Well, it’s November, dear readers; the month that Louisa May Alcott described as “the most disagreeable month in the whole year”.  And, frankly, I couldn’t agree more.   Thankfully, so long as there are books, there is hope, and thus, we bring you this months’ Romance Garden, where there is plenty of dirt to help your mind grow, and countless happy endings to make November just a little bit more bearable…

Bridget:

Going Deep by Anne Calhoun

I have a lot of trouble with contemporary romance novels (those set in the present day) because it seems that very few of them are willing to challenge the “hard, rugged, dominant Alpha-Male” and “Damsel In Need Of A Hero” tropes.  Not only do I find them damaging for perpetuating ideas about how men and women “should” behave and interact–I also find them really boring.  So I cannot begin to tell you my joy at reading Anne Calhoun’s latest Alpha Ops novel.

Singer/songwriter Cady Ward’s career is finally taking off…but fame comes with a price.  Cady is being stalked online, and after one too many run-ins with some over-enthusiastic fans, Cady’s manager decrees that she cannot go home for the holidays unless she has a bodyguard with her.  Conn is in the middle of a career melt-down.  Though he knows that the accusations of unnecessary force being leveled against him are false, his chief orders him to take some time off…and take care of Cady…until things blow over.

And thus, we are set up with the old  damsel-in-distress/aggressive Alpha Male trope, right?  Actually…no.  The relationship between Conn and Cady is as far from convention as it is possible to get.  Conn may be big and strong, but he is all too aware of the kind of fear that physical strength can impart, and never stoops to treating Cady as anything but what she is–a force, both creative and intellectually–with which to be reckoned.  Cady, for her part, effortless shows how capable she is of rescuing herself, but Calhoun also shows how difficult this role can be, and deals with it beautifully.

As a singer, I really appreciated that Calhoun treated Cady’s art with respect, and showed what a difficult, taxing, and stressful job performing really is.  More than anything, though, I loved, loved, loved the final scene in this book–enough to make it among my favorites of all time.  Readers who haven’t read the other Alpha Ops novels won’t have too much trouble at all with this one, but Anne Calhoun is a darn good writer, so I highly recommend checking out the series as a whole.

Kelley:

Hero in the Highlands by Suzanne Enoch

Suzanne Enoch’s “No Ordinary Heroes” series is off to a great start with Hero in the Highlands, a story that turns the standard English rose meets untamed Highland laird trope on its head to introduce us to Major Gabriel Forrester, a soldier in the British army; and Fiona Blackstock, a capable and confident Highland woman.

When we meet Gabriel Forrester, he is actively fighting for the British army in Spain and enjoying a military career where he thrives on battle, and his family is made up of the men whose responsibility it is his to keep alive. Shortly after we come to understand what being a soldier means to Gabriel, we see that life taken away from him suddenly and unexpectedly when he inherits a dukedom he never knew he was in line for in the first place. As the Duke of Lattimer, amongst the money and some well managed properties in England, Gabriel also inherits a castle in the Scottish Highlands that comes complete with a curse that makes the estate entirely unprofitable and an uncooperative steward.

Fiona Blackstock is the steward of Lattimer Castle, and she has no interest in seeing an English duke in residence at a castle neglected by the previous duke and adequately managed by the Maxwell clan, the clan who owned the castle prior to the English win at the Battle of Culloden. Though it’s been decades since Culloden, and Gabriel wasn’t even alive at the time, the battle is remembered bitterly in Scotland, and he is despised simply for being English. Although Fiona is reluctant to help him at first, Gabriel proves time and again that he is willing to take action when needed and he cares about her clan, so Fiona comes to see that Gabriel might be just what Lattimer Castle and its people need.

The relationship that develops between Fiona and Gabriel is a surprise to both of them, and it’s sweet to watch their romance unfold. Fiona is smart and capable, has the respect of her clan, and has managed the estate for years without need of help or rescuing. For his part, Gabriel is a hard-working man who cares deeply about the people in his care, but has never envisioned a future for himself that didn’t end in an early death. Can Gabriel teach Fiona that having a partner to support and help you can be a very valuable and desirable thing? And will Gabriel ever be able to envision and live for a life that includes a real future and love? I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Hero in the Highlands to find out!

Until next month, beloved patrons…happy reading!