This book is an unusual find–one that attempts to blend literary erotica with Regency romance and emerges as something else entirely. Fans of erotica may find it too soft. Readers of traditional Regency romance might find it too sensual. I found it to be beautifully written and thought-provoking.

The four novellas that comprise ON THESE SILKEN SHEETS all touch one another and find their premise in a naughty gentleman’s club called Harridan House. By choosing this unapologetically lurid setting in a famously prim and proper time period, the author immediately sweeps away any illusions the reader might have. Instead, she shines a light on the seedy underside of the era, and challenges readers to deny that no matter what social mores rule, our basic sexual instincts remain under the covers.

In spite of this erotic indulgence, most of the stories conform to traditional romance genre rules. At least, outwardly. What I found most edifying about Ms. Darby’s work is its fundamentally transgressive nature. In every story, she finds some element of the forbidden, and subversively weaves it along with what romance readers supposedly want and expect from a love story. We have the conventional lonely widow, the diligent parliamentarian with a broken heart, and even a single father, looking for traditional love. But alongside these expected romance tropes, we also have some unrepentantly depraved characters, and I loved them best for their utter rebellion against the society in which they lived. (And to some extent, against the society in which their desires would still raise eyebrows.)

Ms. Darby gives us self-actualized women, some of whom have rather standard fantasies and sexual urges, and some of whom would be thought as perverts, even today. Our very first heroine is a voyeur–and there was something courageous about Ms. Darby for exploring the sexuality of a young woman who wants a man she’s just seen making love to someone else. We are also given a former brothel madam as a heroine, and although her love story may have been the least erotic of the bunch, it was also presented without hysterics or histrionics about her past.

Of the four novellas in the book, the last one was my favorite. Perhaps it was because it was the bravest and I appreciate the challenges the author faced in writing it. Her hero, in this last story, was the butt of every joke in the stories preceding it. We’d already seen him through six other pairs of eyes, and the impression was not flattering. What’s more, our heroine isn’t a lady or an heiress, but a lowly maid. And when Lucy the Lady’s Maid is offered a position as a mistress to a powerful man, she does not throw up her hands, wailing dramatically about her virtue and honor–but rather, accepts willingly and happily.

Meanwhile, I eagerly await Ms. Darby’s next work and can’t wait to see what rules she decides to break next.

In a GIRL’S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT and the series it spawned, Ms. Klasky established herself as a mistress of the light magical touch. Now she’s back with a fun new romp about a romantically challenged woman and the genie that changes her life.

HOW NOT TO MAKE A WISH is quirky and creative. The heroine is a stage manager, and I probably learned more about the theater from this book than I ever did in my college classes. Ms. Klasky takes full advantage of the odd personalities that comprise the world of acting, and her heroine is forced to endure one zany theater misadventure after another.

As always, the supporting cast is well-drawn and lovable. Ms. Klasky has a gift for nostalgic detail and character quirks, and by the end of the book you can already predict what the heroine’s lawyerly father is going to say about her lifestyle changes. You know what kind of Chinese food the characters love, and you’d even be a little surprised if her promiscuous roommate settled down with one guy.

If there’s anything to complain about in this book, it’s that our heroine makes remarkably modest wishes. If I had a genie in a lamp, you’d better believe that I’d be a gazillionaire by the end of the day. But the wishes our heroine does make cause her no end of trouble.

This book made me giggle a lot. Ms. Klasky writes with great affection for her characters, for her subject matter, and for her readers. It’s hard to read a book like HOW NOT TO MAKE A WISH and not feel like a genie just gave you a hug and produced a hot cup of cocoa out of thin air.

Although Regency Historical Romances are not normally my cup of tea, there’s a special place in my heart for Julia Quinn and now for newcomer Tessa Dare.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Dare at the recent Romance Writers of America convention in DC. A lot of hype surrounds her debut because she reportedly received a six figure book deal. Now that I’ve read Goddess of the Hunt, it’s my opinion that Tessa Dare earned every penny.

The heroine of Goddess of the Hunt is not your typical plucky Regency sweetheart. No, Tessa Dare’s heroine is just this side of being a harlot–and I quite adored her. The hero would otherwise be your garden variety dark-and-brooding-landed-gentry, but his grudging delight with the heroine’s quirky antics and unexpectedly lusty nature totally endeared him to me.

Goddess of the Hunt is funny and fun. It isn’t literary fiction and it won’t force you to ponder the secrets of the universe. There are also some slow moving bits (the intrusion of class politics in the latter half slammed the brakes on an otherwise quick read) and I had the distinct impression that I’d picked up a book in the middle of a series rather than the first of a series. But overall, this novel was a delight, start to finish.

In fact, Tessa Dare has an authorial voice of a much more experienced writer and I found it difficult to put the book down. If you’re looking for some sweet summer reading that will make you smirk, and smile, and occasionally feel scandalized, this may be the book for you.