I’ve got to be completely honest here. Two pages into this book and I was already inclined to give it five stars, because this is the first fiction book I have EVER read, in ANY genre, which starts off by carefully listing appropriate trigger warnings. Until mainstream fiction figures out some way to follow the lead of fandom and adopt a coherent tagging system for trigger warnings - one which is followed by all authors on pain of getting flamed to death by furious reviewers

Set in the 1830’s, this isn’t a light-hearted romp like many romances set in that era. It begins with a young woman in desperate straits; Tessa St. Croix is in need of a rescuer. Before I go any further, I’m going to put in a trigger warning; the ‘act of quiet violence’ described in the blurb is a rape. Like so many victims of sexual assault, Tessa blames herself; she flirted, she charmed, she ‘led him on’. And like so many, she suffers post-traumatic stress. The way both of

This is a Regency with a really intriguing storyline. Though it’s (I think) third in the series, I was fine reading it as a standalone. There wasn’t really anything I felt confused about even though couples from previous books did make appearances, most notably Jack’s sister Katarina and her husband. Alethea has been hopelessly and irrevocably compromised. A tryst in a vulnerable moment has left her pregnant with the child of a married man. Forced to confess to her cousin, sh

This is one of those books which should probably come with a trigger warning. There is an attempted rape on the heroine and revelations of past rapes and murders committed on members of the hero’s family. While they are relevant to the storyline and not gratuitously detailed, if you have triggers for rape and/or sexual assault, leave this one alone. Those things aside, this is a really good story. The author knows her history, and this Scottish Highlands romance set a few yea

This isn't an easy book to read, and I'm not talking about the quality of the writing. Told in alternating first person between Rose, a young woman trying desperately to regain control of her life and emotions after escaping a brutal past in a church cult, and Colin, the music therapy student who falls in love with her, it's a romance but in no way is it a 'light and fluffy' one. The author warns in the synopsis that graphic descriptions of abuse are contained in the book tha