I’ve spent many years looking for Mary Stewart read-alikes and was lucky enough to have been given one by my college roommate this past week. So… if you like Mary Stewart, you’ll probably like…. – Caroline Llewellyn’s The Lady of the Labyrinth (this is the college roommate used-bookstore-find), told in the first person and set [...]

In honour of Augustus’s underground activities, if you like Napoleonic era spies, you’ll probably like…. – Joanna Bourne’s The Spymaster’s Lady, which does a wonderful job showing us the perspective of a French agent; – Tracy Grant’s Charles & Melanie books, Beneath a Silent Moon and Secrets of a Lady, and her more recent Suzanne [...]

As part of the countdown to The Garden Intrigue (we’re practically there!), this is going to be a special, Bonaparte-themed If You Like. The Garden Intrigue is set largely at Josephine Bonaparte’s country house, Malmaison. (You can see my pictures of Malmaison by scrolling down a bit here.) Various Bonapartes play an active role in [...]

If you like Downton Abbey, you’ll probably like…. – Eva Ibbotsen’s A Countess Below Stairs, about a Russian noblewoman who becomes a downstairs maid in an English manor house; – Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance, about a woman who rises from maid in an Edwardian house to mistress of a financial empire; – [...]

If you like stories based on fairy tales, you’ll probably like…. – Robin McKinley’s fairy tale remakes, in particular her Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite books of all time. She revisited Beauty and the Beast in a later book, Rose Daughter, as well as tackling [...]

Given Miles’ and Hen’s landslide victory in the Holiday Bonus Chapter Contest, this seemed like a good time to explore Black Tulip read-alikes. If you like Henrietta and Miles, you’ll probably also like…. – Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me. Hen and Kate would get along like a house on fire. Ditto for Quinn’s [...]

Last week’s post about biographies got me thinking about one of the favorite subgenres of my teen years: the faux diary or memoir, in which a writer impersonates a historical character, purporting to share their innermost thoughts. It provides an intimate take on well-known historical events. My hands-down favorite of this sub-genre? Anne-Marie Selinko’s Désirée [...]

I tend to associate the day after Christmas with biographies (for some reason, those show up a lot in my stocking) and slightly squished chocolate. You’re on your own with the chocolate, but if you like biographies, you’ll probably enjoy: – Antonia Fraser’s Mary Queen of Scots. (This book is the direct cause of my [...]

Reading Anne Stuart’s Lord of Danger last week made me nostalgic for all the medieval (or pseudo-medieval) romances I used to read back in the 80s and early 90s. If you like medieval romances, you’ll probably like…. – Mary Lide’s Ann of Cambray. This was the first romance novel I ever read, the book that [...]

Yesterday, I’d Rather Read posted on her blog about holiday mysteries (including one of my favorites, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s In the Bleak Midwinter– for those who haven’t read these, it’s an excellent series!). My immediate reaction was, huh? Holiday and mystery? Sounds weird. Then I sat down and started ticking off favorite books on my fingers [...]