Trigger Warning: This book involves the kidnap and ultimately death of a baby, drug use, and homosexuality (no sex scenes).
I thought I start my collection of reviews here with a personal favorite. Public Secrets was first published in 1990, so the contemporary part of contemporary romance is stretching it here in late 2013 :D
I am a huge history nerd, and this book satisfied both my romance and history buttons. We met the heroine (Emma) as small child towards the late 1960s and watch her grow up through the different decades. There were times when the heroine acted a bit immature and selfish during her teen years, but who couldn't relate to that? Modern British and American history and music (think of a fictional version of The Beatles) play the background for the story, but this is no doubt Emma's story. The parents of our heroine have a smaller romantic storyline that I found realistic and worthy of rooting for just as I did with the larger, but more subtle romantic storyline. The family includes friends of the parents, creating a loving, tight-knit group of characters that resemble real life families more than the typical nuclear family-style romances. The hero (Michael) is a mix of alpha and beta, whichever the scene calls for without being disjointed. The pace of the storyline involving the crime goes at a snail's pace until the end, then it is a rollercoaster; if you like suspenseful romance, you may be a little frustrated with this part of the storyline.
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