Dinca’s review of A Mother’s Homecoming by Tanya Michaels
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin American Romance 2 Aug 11

If you like a lot of “the way we were and could be again” in your story, this book might be for you. At first it read like an autobiography of a recovering alcoholic which is not my idea of light romantic reading. I kept thinking it had to get better since it’s a Harlequin. It is a love story in the end… and I mean end.

Pamela Jo returns to her hometown after twelve long years as a recovering alcoholic to make peace with her mother, who is also an alcoholic, only to find she has passed away and left Pam the house she grew up in.   Thinking her ex-husband and daughter she abandoned live in another state, she is surprised to find them in town. Not wanting to disturb their life, knowing her stay is temporary, she tries to stay away from them while she gets the house ready for sale so she can leave again.

Nick doesn’t know what to do or how to protect his daughter, or if there is a need to protect her, from Pamela Jo. His daughter wants to get to know her and has set out to do it with or without his approval. He decides if contact is to be made he will be involved in it. Doing so gets him and Pam involved again. Spending time with her brings all the old feelings back. He has to decide if they are new feelings or the same ones that never left.

The book is half over before it turns into a romance. In Chapter Eight they have a decent conversation and it’s much later before any romance develops in this fifteen-chapter story. The rehash of twelve long, grueling years is a little much for me. It is really not my idea of light reading. In the end they start over again, living the teenage years and all its antics. I am surprised Pam fell for that and Nick, since that is what she left in the first place. One would think Nick might have picked a more adult approach twelve years later.  I am really happy she cheers for him when he tells his mother off. That’s about twelve years too late, but better late than never.

The book is well written and there is certainly a story to tell. When looked at from that point of view and not as a light-hearted romance, which is usually what I am after, all the informational data and drama is necessary and the author does an amazing job. My hat is off to anyone who can accomplish this feat and turn it into a romance in the end. In the romance element of it gets a C, but it is so well written and detailed I am giving it an A.

Grade: A

Summary:

Welcome Home, Stranger

For Pamela Jo Wilson, returning to her sleepy Mississippi hometown means coming face–to–face with her past. At seventeen, overwhelmed by the responsibilities of a new marriage and family, she fled Mimosa. But Nick Shepard wasn’t the only one Pam left behind. Now, thirteen years later, she just hopes she can make things right with her ex–husband and the child she barely knows.

Nick’s first instinct is to protect his daughter, but his little girl is hell–bent on meeting the woman who left her behind. With his own feelings for Pam being as powerful and all–consuming as ever, how can Nick know what he’s feeling is real? And how can he trust Pam again? First she has to convince him she’s through running. That she’s come home—this time for good.

Read an excerpt.

Dinca’s review of The Substitute Bride by Janet Dean
Love Imspired Historical published by Harleqin 9 February 2010

This is one of the best mail-order bride stories I have read. I find the plot innovative with lots of twist and turns. Ted and Elizabeth each have a secret they don’t want to share.

Elizabeth Manning is on the run, she has promised her little brother she’d come back for him when she finds a job and a place for them to call home. Waking up at the depot where she spends the night, she spies a young woman crying. Finding she’s a frightened mail-order bride, switching
places with her is an answer to Elizabeth’s prayers.  Anything is better than being payment for a gambling debt!

Becoming the mail order bride gets her a train ticket to New Harmony, Iowa. Now if she can only go through with the marrying part of the deal. Discovering her husband has a farm is promising – possible home for her little brother. At least the decision for marrying is hers and hers alone.

Ted Logan is a widower with two children. He is determined to make the farming way of life work. This is his second chance in life and he will do whatever it takes to keep his family together on the farm. With vulture in-laws breathing down his neck threatening to take his children, he decides to order a bride through the mail.

Not exactly getting what he thought he ordered, Ted comes to an uneasy agreement with Elizabeth, and visit the preacher before heading out to the ranch. They learn a lot about sharing and forgiveness and heartache while falling in love.

I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to anyone who wants a sweet love-inspired tale with a happily-ever-after ending. It is well written and a very pleasing read. Janet Dean has created another wonderful tale.

Grade: A

Summary:

Fleeing an arranged marriage, debutante Elizabeth Manning exchanges places with a mail-order bride bound for New Harmony, Iowa. Life on the frontier can’t be worse than forced wedlock to pay her father’s gambling debts. But Ted Logan’s rustic lifestyle and rambunctious children prove to be more of a challenge than Elizabeth expects. She doesn’t know how to be a mother or a wife. She doesn’t even know how to tell Ted the truth about her past–especially as her feelings for him grow. Little does she know, Ted’s hiding secrets of his own, and when their pasts collide, there’s more than one heart at stake.

Read an excerpt.

Dinca’s review of Marriage by Solution by Megan Kelly
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin American Romance 3 May 11

This is a good story with singles, family, and no whining – even from the kids. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale and it is believable to boot. Megan Kelly does a wonderful job of setting the stage for more to come, one chapter after the next.

After being abandoned by the father of her child and her parents who want her to not have her baby, Tara Montgomery takes off and starts a new life for her and her son. She works at a children’s day care while she furthers her education. After a picture of her is discovered by her son’s paternal grandparents, they start a custody battle over her son.

Dylan Ross has just discovered he has been a father for four years. His ex-girlfriend’s mother calls and asks him if he is coming to the funeral and what his plans are for his daughter. After bringing his daughter home and to his mother’s day care for assistance, he discovers his daughter bonding with Tara more so than his mother or himself.

Dylan is at his wit’s end. The emotional trauma to his daughter is heartbreaking. He calls the one person his daughter seems to trust. With Tara’s help he realizes he needs more of her time than a few hours here and there. He offers her a live-in job as his nanny.

Tara knows how difficult it is to be a single parent, even without the extra trauma, but she cannot help Dylan. No way can she be a live-in anything with any single man and keep her son out of the clutches of his paternal grandparents.

The marriage solution seems to be the answer to both of their problems. She gets the appearance of a steady home life and a two-income world for her court battle and Dylan gets a stable environment for his daughter with the one person she has forged a bond.

In this world you can rarely make everyone happy, but it is nice to read about. I did enjoy the story and it is very well written. I will have to go back and pick up Dylan’s brother’s story, which was released in 2008, so I will have to hunt for that one.

If you are having a bad day, pick up a copy of this one and sit and relax. You will be glad you did.

Grade: A

Tara Montgomery is nobody’s fool. She’s known love ‘em and leave ‘em types before—heck, she was left pregnant by one.
There’s no way charming Dylan Ross can tempt her into anything. Except the womanizing bachelor has more in common with Tara than she’d like. He’s just
discovered he’s a father to a four-year-old girl. Single parenthood is tough, and Dylan needs the daycare employee’s help.

But Tara has her own problems. In a vicious custody battle, a high school diploma and empty bank account are no defense. Throw in “single working mother,”
and Tara could lose her son. That’s the only reason she’s considering Dylan’s outlandish proposal. Marriage may be their only solution, but Tara is going into
it with her eyes open. Her son has to come first—no matter what her heart wants.

Read an excerpt.

Dinca’s review of The Cowboy’s Triplets (Callahan Cowboys, Book 1) by Tina Leonard
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin American Romance 3 May 11

This story is a disaster waiting to happen and I am looking forward to all of them. There is a lot of plot planning for the saga that keeps the storyline going and
going and you start to fall in love with all the Callahan brothers and their lovely willful aunt.

Pete Callahan hates to be manipulated by anyone into doing things he doesn’t want to do. Especially his conniving willful Aunt Fiona. He would do just about anything for her, but marriage? When all the brothers decide he’s to be the fall guy just because he’s had a long-time girlfriend, which he thought he had kept secret, what a laugh. Nothing is a secret in this small town.

Jackie Samuels is one woman who can take care of herself. I really fell in love with this character. She is hard working, strong emotionally and physically with a kind and loving heart. After all, she has hidden her love for Pete Callahan for five long years. But enough is enough. She needs a change in her life and it might as well start on the homefront. After breaking up with Pete and sending him on his way, she decides a job change is next. On a leap of faith, she quits her job as a nurse and starts a business with a friend. A wedding business, no less. Kind of ironic for someone who is in love with a confirmed bachelor?

When Pete does decide to get married, he blows his chance and Jackie rejects him again. When Pete finds out he is going to be a father. he blows a proposal all over again. Well, at least he can tell his brothers how not to get a gal to say yes!

Triplets or not, there is only one reason Jackie is going to get married. LOVE! Why does it take so long for the guy to figure that out? Pete ramrods her into a quick wedding almost on doctor’s orders.  But all is still not well on the homefront. You will just have to read it for yourself. I am happy I was there until the end… or the beginning of the next story of the Callahan Cowboys.

There are so many single women in this story I am having a hard time deciding who will end up with which brother. I am so happy I got in on the beginning of a series, I am bubbling with excitement.  This story has so many mysteries, I am wondering if they will all stay hidden until the last brother gets hitched or if we get a little satisfaction one story at a time.

Grade: A

Summary:

Callahan Cowboys are bachelors for life!

That is, until Pete Callahan’s wily aunt delivers her ultimatum. The firstCallahan to marry and have children—the more kids the better—wins the family ranch.

Like his five brothers, Pete never considered himself the marrying kind. And that’s just fine with Jackie Samuels, a hardworking nurse who seems perfectly
happy with her and Pete’s Saturday-night arrangement. Until she realizes she wants something more from the hunky, footloose rancher. Like a father for the
triplets she just found out she’s having.

Pete couldn’t be more delighted. He’s suddenly got an instant family. Jackie’s the only obstacle to their happy ending—she refuses to marry him. But maybe she
knows the best way to land a cowboy is playing hard to get!

Read an excerpt.

C2’s review of The Darkest Secret (Lords of the Underworld, Book 7) by Gena Showalter
Paranormal Romance published by HQN 29 March 11

Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld series has a very interesting basis, I’ve always thought.  In her world, Pandora’s Box held demons and when the demons were released, rather than all flying free to fill the world with misery, etc., some were caught and housed inside the warriors that were supposed to keep the box safe and intact.  After thousands of years, the warriors and demons have learned to deal with each other relatively well…most of the time.  A very good thing, since it turns out the warriors cannot survive if their demon is removed.

Amun is the Keeper of Secrets.  His demon absorbs the darkest, deepest thoughts of those around him.  And once those secrets are in his head, he has no way to be rid of them.  Amun chooses not to speak aloud because, once the secrets start pouring out, he is afraid he will not be able to stop.  Instead, he uses sign language to communicate with the other Lords.

Haidee is a Hunter – a group dedicated to eliminating the Lords of the Underworld.  She is brought to the Lords’ fortress after being captured by Strider, Keeper of Defeat.  Strider thinks they will be able to get all sorts of useful information about the Hunters from her…one way or another.  What Strider doesn’t realize is that Haidee has a secret.

Amun and some others have just returned from a mission to Hell – literally (in The Darkest Lie).  This time he absorbs not only secrets but actual demon minions and they are slowly driving him insane.  Amun absorbs so much evil it seeps from him and affects those around him – they crave things they would never want and are tempted to do things they would never normally do.  He is under guard until it is clear he will not harm himself or others.  During his suffering, Amun internally calls out for help.  Haidee has been locked in the room next to his and hears his mental call…first in a nightmare and then awake.

When Haidee hears a familiar voice where she expects only enemies – the horribly injured person next door looks and sounds like her boyfriend, Micah (a man she has dreamt of all her life, even though they only met a few months before) – she is determined to get them both out of the Lords’ fortress safely.  When Amun realizes she is a Hunter and she thinks he is someone else, he plays along so he can keep her safe.  Of course, she quickly finds out the truth – that he is one of the creatures she is determined to kill…even if that option isn’t as attractive as it should be.

Only with Haidee is Amun lucid and able to keep the demons inside him subdued.  Since she is a sworn enemy, the Lords are determined to find another way to save him.  The only option they can find is that Amun must return the demons to Hell.  And the only way he can manage is if Haidee goes with him.  While they are on their quest, Amun is determined to find out exactly who and what Haidee is…why she affects him the way she does…and he may have to do it the hard way – by talking – because his demon isn’t particularly cooperative when it comes to Haidee’s secrets.

During their travels through the realms of hell (creepy, creepy realms!), they do get to know each other.  And their attraction increases – even though Haidee is fighting it.  She tells Amun she doesn’t want to start a relationship with him until she breaks up with her boyfriend…and cell reception in hell is not so good, faithful reader.  I have to say, Haidee’s insistence on the whole break-up-first issue is annoying.  She already knows she’s only attracted to Micah because she thought he’s the man she’s been dreaming of for so long.  And they had barely even dated!  The only thing they had in common is that both were Hunters.

Eventually (almost too late) all Haidee’s secrets are revealed to Amun – why her skin is so cool to touch, why she has lived many lifetimes, why demon minions flee from her.  Don’t you want to know what she is? How she can do all sorts of things a normal human Hunter shouldn’t be able to do?  Of course you do!

The structure of this book is different from earlier books in the series.  The Darkest Secret spends a lot of time with Strider and some of the other Lords in a not-very-connected subplot.  I enjoyed the subplot sections but, because the tone is so different from the main plot, the transitions are jarring.  I’m sure it is to expand the world of the series and to set up Strider’s book (coming up next), but the two plots didn’t blend as seamlessly as they could have.

Is this book for you?  If you have enjoyed the series so far, yes.  This isn’t my favorite of the series, but it held my interest.  Does it stand alone?  No.  I always recommend starting a series at the beginning, but you really need to here – if nothing else, read the previous book, since Amun’s story really starts there.

Grade: C

Summary:

Keeper of the demon of Secrets, Amun can manipulate the darkest thoughts of anyone nearby. But when the immortal warrior is chained and isolated to protect those he loves, death is his only hope of release—until he meets Haidee, a fellow prisoner whose beauty and hidden vulnerability draw him into a reckless test of his loyalty….

Haidee is a demon-assassin, raised to despise Amun’s kind. Yet how can she hate the man whose touch sets her aflame? But to save him, she must give herself body and soul…and face the wrath of a powerful adversary sworn to destroy her.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

Dinca’s review of Texas-Sized Temptation by Sara Orwig
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin 3 May 11

Sara Orwig is a delightful story teller. I look forward to her books, and Texas-Sized Temptation is no exception. You will find a few surprises along the way and a wonderful ending, which, of course, includes happily ever after.

Jake Benton leaves the corporate world and returns to his west Texas ranch for a little R & R, only to find a beautiful woman relaxing on his front porch. Finding such a beauty on his door step is a good thing. Finding out she’s a Santerre is a disaster, even if she is the illegitimate daughter of his family’s arch enemy. He thought he had seen the last of the Santerre’s in the area, once he bought their neighboring ranch from her half brother Will Santerre.

Caitlin Santerre just has to see Jake Benton. She tries to get in touch with him at his office and never manages to get past his secretary. This is her last-ditch effort, even if it is trespassing. She has to see him and talk to him in person. There is just too much hatred between their families for a phone discussion.

Caitlin has to get the family land back. At least the part with her grandmother’s house on it where she grew up as a Santerre. Her father and half-brother have never accepted her, not even when her grandmother adopted her. Now all the people she loves in this world will be turned out in their senior years because her devious half-brother sold the place out from under them, and to a Benton of all people!

Jake doesn’t really care what she wants. As long as she stays around long enough to get the one thing he wants – her! The undercurrents sizzle around them the moment he’s within three feet of her. Thanks to the weather he at least has her under his roof, if not in his bed. Jake keeps putting her request to sell him the property off to spend more time with her. It is apparent Jake is not the only hard sell.

This is part of the Stetsons and CEOs series by different authors, which is too large to add all the connecting books here. They are all stand-alone books, and I have had the pleasure of reading most of them and have found them very enjoyable.

Grade: A

Summary:

A Santerre—a sexy one—dared trespass on oil magnate Jake Benton’s ranch? The Santerre and Benton families had been feuding for generations. Yet here was Caitlin Santerre, standing inches away, asking nicely for the land that Jake had bought out from under her. Just how far would she go to get what she wanted?

Illegitimate daughter of a billionaire, Caitlin had never been accepted by her family. But now, she was determined to hang on to the land that meant so much to her—even if she had to bargain with a Benton. Even if she ended up in his bed.

Read an excerpt.

LynneC’s review of The Forbidden Innocent by Sharon Kendrick
Contemporary Romance published by Mills and Boon Modern Romance 1 Jan 11

When Kate Hewitt told me that Cathy Williams’ In Want of a Wife?, based on Pride and Prejudice, is actually not the first in the series of adaptations of popular romantic classics, I had to look up the first. While William’s riff is disappointing, I thoroughly enjoyed Kendrick’s modern take on Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite all-time books ever. Period. It was the second  book when I got what romance is about (the first was Fanny Burney’s Evelina.) More than Pride and Prejudice, more than Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre is my book. Considering Kendrick has disappointed me in a few recent reads, I was wary of opening this one, but I needn’t have worried.

Just as in the adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, it wouldn’t have been fair to do a direct comparison with the original. The author doesn’t have the time to spend on the book, she doesn’t have the word count, and she’s writing for Mills and Boon, which means there are expectations that have to be fulfilled.

The length means that some characters, or their equivalents, had to go. So there’s no Adele and no St John Rivers. I think Kendrick made the right choice. Too many characters wouldn’t have given the romance enough time to be developed. In this one, Ashley, our Jane, comes to work at the manor for Jack, our Rochester, as a secretary to type out the novel Jack is writing in longhand. He works better in longhand, and since he’s independently wealthy, he can afford someone to type the manuscript out for him.

Kendrick hits some of the important points of the novel and provides a nice point of recognition. For instance, Ashley is walking in the grounds when she meets Jack for the first time. He’s on horseback, and the horse shies when it sees her and throws him.

Jack is restless, fierce, and an ex-soldier. I love him. When he falls for Ashley, he falls hard and there’s no big misunderstanding about the way they feel for each other.

I have to admit a qualm when I learned that Ashley, like Jane, is only eighteen, but Kendrick pulls it off for me. I dislike younger heroines, but Ashley’s life has been hard, and she’s older than her years. I like her, as I love Jane. She’s socially shy, but not stupid, and she isn’t a pushover, nor is she TSTL.

The one thing that bothers me in the book is the shifting POVs. I dislike the frequent switches, sometimes paragraph to paragraph, and I don’t think it adds anything to a scene. While it’s sometimes enjoyable to have a scene with more than one point-of-view character, I prefer to have a solid section in one, then the other, then maybe back again, not six different switches on one page.

But on the whole, I’m glad I read this one. It reminds me of the brilliant romantic atmosphere in the original with some added some touches of its own.

Grade: B+

Summary:

New bride at Blackwood Manor? Having spent her childhood in care, Ashley Jones has no one. She desperately needs her new live-in job as an author’s assistant. But she is filled with trepidation when she arrives at isolated Blackwood Manor and meets the formidable Jack Marchant. Ashley thinks she is just a drab nobody…but her heart goes out to anguished, tortured Jack. She has no idea what troubles him. But one day a private kiss becomes a passionate affair…an affair that is as secret as it is forbidden…

After just one night with Sydney, Raimond knows she’s his. And when the time is right, when she loves him in return, he’ll reveal his deepest secret. For now, he’ll enjoy pleasuring her in the most intimate of ways.

But when Sydney’s life is threatened, Raimond’s instincts take control, and she gets a glimpse at the beast within…

Read an excerpt.

LynneC’s review of  To Tempt A Sheikh by Olivia Gates
category novel released by Silhouette Desire Feb 11

I generally enjoy Olivia Gates’s books. A couple haven’t resonated with me but the ones she’s written for the Silhouette Desire line are treats. Lush treats.

This book starts more like a romantic suspense. The hero, Harres, is head of security. He’s discovered the situation of a sensitive hostage, someone who calls himself TJ Burke, although the real TJ is in jail. But this TJ has sensitive information that could bring his family down, and since his family rules the country, it’s important.

So there he is, muffled against the sand, watching the kidnappers and waiting for his chance.Of course he rescues TJ, and of course he gets the shock of his life. The rescue is described well, though not brilliantly. Where Gates excels is describing the attraction Harres feels for the person he rescues. Parts of that made me smile.

After they escape in a helo, Harres finds himself stuck with a bewitching female called Talia, crashed in the middle of the desert in a no-signal zone, at least three days walk away from the nearest oasis. They can’t be rescued by modern tracking devices. Talia is a doctor, and since Harres has been shot in the rescue, she sets about fixing his wound. Beautifully and precisely described, but since Olivia Gates is a doctor in real life, I can believe her description. (At this point I felt slightly uncomfortable, because, not to put too fine a point on it, fiction and fact might be very similar here).

They have to get to a place of safety. They only have enough water for a couple of days.

We know they do, because Gates mentions it in her introduction, and hey, this is a romance, right? So it’s how they do it that we’re interested in. Without spoilers, suffice it to say that Harres and Talia connect very strongly, and are then driven apart by circumstances when they return to civilisation.

So we have the desert romance, and we have the sheikh fantasy. Prepare to wallow.

I wallowed. We get to the part that Olivia Gates excels at – the sensuality. She builds the sexual tension right up, so high you don’t think she’s going to fulfill it. And then she does. There are long scenes of lovemaking, but described in lush, sensual terms that occasionally slips into the purple. But I loved it, because by then I was rooting for Talia and Harres. I wanted them to find happiness together.

Harres is a real alpha male. He won’t let any harm come to Talia, even when he believes she is his enemy. His protection of her as they trek through the desert is lovely. He is steadfast and true.

Talia is worthy of him. As a doctor who has worked in some of the world’s trouble spots, she has strengths of her own that go beyond the medical. She can look after herself, and she does her best to hold her own against the stronger Harres. He loves her for it.

My only problem came with the end. It was awfully rushed. I’m guessing that it was shortened to meet the word count, and I’m glad they went with that, rather than the lovemaking or the trek description. But I might have skipped a few scenes with the happy villagers instead, and concentrated on the main plot, perhaps developing the character of Talia’s brother, or making the black moment more credible. So I have to take a small point of for that, but don’t let that stop you buying the book.

It was a really great read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Definitely a guilty pleasure, and one I’ll be returning to in the future.

Grade: A-

Summary:

He rescued hostage Talia Burke from his royal family’s rival tribe and swept her into his strong embrace. But Prince Harres Aal Shalaan soon discovered there was more to the brave beauty than he knew. Talia held information vital to protecting his beloved kingdom…and she had every reason not to trust him.

Marooned together at a desert oasis, Talia couldn’t resist Harres. Yet even as his sizzling seduction entranced her, his loyalty to his family and country would always make them enemies. Falling for the sheikh would be her heart’s greatest mistake…but she feared it was already too late….

Read an excerpt.

Dinca’s Review Private Parts by Tori Carrington
Harlequin Blaze published by Harlequin 16 Nov 2010 

The third time or fourth in this case is not always the charm.  I for one am glad this is the end to the Private Scandals Series.

Tori Carrington continues the tale of the Metaxas family and the collapsing town of Earnest Washington with the older brother Troy Metaxes who  has overcome a lot with his whole family thwarting their sworn enemy, Manolis Philippidis .

Troy Metaxes is a steadfast trust worthy businessman who has too much faith in his fellow enemy.  He is valiantly trying to save his home town since the family business had gone under and half the town lost their jobs.  Since his brother and cousin feel in love with the right arms of his enemy, he has one last shot at getting Manolis Philippidis to close a viable deal to get the town back on its feet.

Manolis Philippidis has one last weapon to spring upon the Metaxes family… Kendall Banks. The sultry hot attorney who will do anything to save her family. She would just love to mix business with pleasure as long as it came in the form of Troy Metaxes. From the cooperate boardroom to the town’s only B & B there is no level where they don’t hit it off.

If you have read Private session and Private Affairs, Private Parts is just more of the same with a weak ending. As usually the characters are strong but Tori Carrington has repeated the same places and scenes, i.e. the make out cove, different couple same sheriff catching them. That got a little old. I expect more from this dynamic writing duo. I also did not care much for the story line. I don’t expect my heroines and hero’s to be perfect but what Kendall did was unethical and I feel some consequence should have happened to her for her actions even if she was trying to save her father by doing a bad thing for a good reason. I also found it redundant that a world renowned Greek tycoon cannot conduct business without blackmailing someone.

I will continue reading Tori Carrington. This is first review that didn’t get an A from me.

Grade: C

Summary: 

Subject: Troy Metaxas. Intense—and intensely sexy—businessman. He never mixes business and pleasure… until he meets his sirenlike new lawyer!Object: Kendall Banks. Hotshot attorney. Willing to do anything to save her family from ruin…no matter how devastating the cost!

Situation: They’re fighting to rescue an economically beleaguered town…right before Christmas. They’re also having mind-blowing sex that’s so steamy they can hardly be in the same room without ripping off each other’s clothes!

Unexpected maneuver: Troy discovers Kendall betrayed him…in business and in pleasure. Only one victor will emerge in this new personal battle…unless the spirit of the holidays inspires them to find a way they can both win—over and over again….

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:
 

LynneC’s review of Trial By Desire by Courtney Milan
Historical Romance released by HQN Books 01 September 10

Courtney Milan has written a highly enjoyable book that almost sold me on the Victorian era.

I dislike the Victorian era. It’s a personal prejudice, born of many things, but mainly the namby-pamby, hypocritical way they went about things. It contained many fine people and many great reforms, but it’s not for me. But Courtney Milan sold me on the era in this book. There are always exceptions. Well, nearly always.

I haven’t read the previous book, Proof of Seduction, but although characters from that book appear in this one, I didn’t feel that I needed to. It’s nice to read a book that is so well constructed. The earlier chapters have a series of hooks that keep you reading, eager to know what’s going to happen, and then, in the middle part, is the seduction bit, and the consummation. After that, the plot picks up again, and everything surges to a satisfying finish. There is very little to say about this book except that it’s a good, solid read, and thank the powers that be, for the most part, accurately researched, with vocabulary suitable to the period.

To a British reader, it’s obvious the book has been written by an American, but it’s only by little, everyday words. An American wouldn’t notice. Sigh, all right then, if you want examples: “trek” (a word that came into common use in Britain after the Boer War in 1898), “son of a bitch” (has never been a common British curse), “Corral” (in use, but not common, and far too reminiscent of the Wild West, so while not wrong, it leads the mind into the wrong avenues), “gotten” (I know, but five uses in the whole of Trollope’s oeuvre don’t make it common, and to the modern British reader, it screams “American”), “mother-loving” (I think the first time I became aware of that phrase was a Frank Zappa interview). As you can see, trivial and easily ignored. They didn’t bother me much.

There is a liberty taken with the trial part of the book, but Milan explains that in a note, and I completely agree with her. To spend the whole book in a trial, when the story is really about the coming together of a previously estranged husband and wife is completely excusable, and understandable. Good call on her part.

So many thanks to Courtney Milan and the care she took in research, and creating a realistic, believable background for her characters. At last. A historical writer I can enjoy!

While I can’t say the book engrossed me so that I couldn’t stop turning the pages, it provided something good to look forward to and settle down with. The book is written at a leisurely pace, so that was how I read it, and I’m glad I didn’t race forward.

The prose is precise, and the vocabulary pleasantly wide, without overtaxing the reader or using two words when one would do. In fact, for me, it was one of the best parts of the book. To read someone who knows how to use words properly and in the right order makes any book that bit better.

Kathleen is not a perfect heroine, but that is something I don’t like in a book. Perfection. Ick. She accepts her lot in life, even if she doesn’t always like it, and she strives to make the most of it. she cares for the estate, looks after her friends and doesn’t sulk. WTG, Kate.

Ned, the hero, abandons his wife to go to China. We don’t find out for sure until later in the book, although there are hints given throughout the text. This is the part of the book that I find most unsatisfactory, which is to say, not very much. There are a few contrivances, and one is Ned’s original reason for leaving for China, and his reluctance to engage in intimate relations with a woman who is, after all, his wife. I couldn’t see the point, even when the matter becomes clearer, except to lead the reader to wait for the big scene.

Which is fun, I have to say.

Ned has a problem that I sussed early on, because Milan gets the cure spot-on. Activity works for depression, because if it’s kept up, depression can be averted. Boredom is the friend of depression and can lead to terrible downers. Ned has discovered this and exhausts himself in extreme physical activity that exhausts him. WTG, Ned. Don’t be a victim, find what works for you and do it. I did like Ned, although his reasons are sometimes convoluted.

The sex isn’t of the turn-on kind, but is described well enough to stop me skipping, something I don’t do very often anyway, and it’s appropriate to the characters, except that I find Kate strangely immodest for a young, barely experienced Victorian lady. I wasn’t really engaged by their sex life, much more interested in the way they grew to know each other through the book, slowly coming to an understanding that ensures their happy ending. While I didn’t get the OMG lovers-to-friends moment, their love is of the lasting kind, and I could see these two being happy together by the time I closed the book.

I’d been putting off reading this book for some time, mainly because of the “Best thing since sliced bread” reviews I read when it was first issued. And the Victorian setting. Both highly personal reasons, but I’m really glad I finally brought myself to the sticking point, because I had a lovely read that took me through a couple of fraught situations in my personal life.

Milan’s style and the way she constructs her books reminds me of a writer who appears to have disappeared off the scene – Lydia Joyce. The great prose, the careful construction, and the choice of the Victorian era are all reminiscent of her style.

A goodie, and well worth your time.

Grade: B

Summary:

She cannot forget the fire he ignited…

In the three years since her husband left her, Lady Kathleen Carhart has managed to forge a fulfilling life for herself. But when Ned Carhart unexpectedly returns, she finds her tranquility uprooted—and her deepest secrets threatened. Though she has no intention of falling for Ned’s charms, Kate can no longer deny the desire that still burns in her heart.

Or the promise of his love…

Ned is determined to regain his wife’s trust by using unbridled seduction. But just as Kate surrenders to Ned’s passion, her carefully guarded past threatens to destroy her. Now Kate must place her faith in the only man she’s ever loved, and the only one who has ever betrayed her…

Read an excerpt.

Dinca’s review of The Good Provider by Debra Salonen
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin SuperRomance 12 Oct 10

The Good Provider has it all. A stronger-than-she-realizes heroine, a sensitive, caring hero, a believable asinine jerk, and an obnoxious soon-to-be ex-mother-in law, all which add up to a good read. This story has most everything in today’s lifestyles. I found this book a very believable tale of two people coming together with unexpected twists and turns ending with a realistic outcome. Debra Salonen has done it again with her continuing tales of Sentinel Pass.

Daria Fontina has spent almost six months planning the end of her dysfunctional marriage, only to be sabotaged over Christmas by her soon-to-be ex-husband. Her grandfather arranges a private pilot to whisk her away in her time of need. The last thing she needs is to be attracted to the gorgeous hunk who is also Hollywood agent.

I find myself Daria’s personal cheering squad. I even gave her a standing ovation when she dumps all of her ex-husband’s personal belongings in the yard after he has the gall to move back into her house while she’s in the hospital. That has to be my favorite part of the story. I am still smiling about it.

Nothing about William Hughes’s life is perfect – not his past, not his present, and who can predict the future. When his friends call on him to help out, he’s more than willing to lend a hand. He just isn’t sure he can do so without his other body parts becoming involved. After meeting the soon-to-be divorced gorgeous mom of two beautiful daughters, he knows he needs to stay focused and attached to his mission. But after coming face to face with her domineering soon-to-be ex-husband, he knows she has not exaggerated the situation. There’s no way he can pull out when he recognizes the danger signs. He just needs to find a way to assist without losing his heart.

Well, my friends, you will just have to read the book and be prepared for a run on your emotions. As for mine, they ran the gauntlet from sad to happy, to hurt and angry, and a happily ever after all in one afternoon. Be prepared to sit back and relax as you fly around California, South Dakota, and even a jaunt to jolly old England and back.

Grade: A

Summary: Life as a single parent is good. Sure, Daria Fontina has hit some rough patches on her road to independence. But compared to the situation she left…

Things are coming together when she’s tossed a curve ball in the form of William Hughes. He’s a Hollywood agent with a glamorous lifestyle that’s a far cry from her busy-mom routine. Can this gorgeous man really be interested in her brand of domestic bliss?

Yes, he can, because he’s quite clear he wants her…and her little family. The temptation of him and the promise of a new start are almost too good to be true. She’s not convinced she’ll avoid repeating the past. But maybe it’s time for her to leap at the chance life has provided.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Hot to Touch by Kimberly Kaye Terry
Contemporary Romance published by Kimani Romance 16 Nov 10

I have my core group of auto-buy authors, but category romance is the one sub genre where I still gleefully impulse buy.  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out how Hot to Touch came to be in my possession.  A firefighter hero!  And that cover!  As a mere mortal woman, I was unable to resist.

Photojournalist Emogene “Emma” Rawlings’ latest assignment has her traveling to Wyoming to shadow a group of smoke-jumpers.  Firefighters who jump out of planes and land in literal hot-spots to combat wild fires.  She’s looking forward to this latest job, until she meets second-in-command Shane Westwood.  Oh sure, the man is fine, but he’s also a jackass determined to get her thrown out on her ass.  What he doesn’t realize is that she didn’t get where she is by playing the shrinking violet.  If Shane wants a fight, he’s got one!

Shane is all macho Alpha male with women issues.  When a jump goes bad, he looks for someone to blame.  And since he’s a romance hero?  Naturally that someone is a woman.  Emma’s arrival on the scene dredges up memories and also reminds him that women have no place in his line of work – even if said woman isn’t a smoke-jumper but a journalist.  Whatever.  Of course all this really means is he’s hot for her, and since the feeling is mutual on her end?  Yeah, sparks fly.

I confess that I love a good raging jackass hero if the circumstances are right, which they are here.  I pretty much wanted to smack Shane early on, but Emma’s unwillingness to cower in the face of his jackassery saves the day.  It also adds a steamy amount of tension to the proceedings.  So much so that when they do finally burn up the sheets together?  That tension sadly gets sucked out of the book.  However the author picks up that slack by giving both of her characters emotionally-wounded back-stories, so as the reader you know the other shoe will eventually drop.  Yep, there’s a grovel during the final chapters.

That all being said, this story wasn’t always a joy to read.  One thing that’s firmly reinforced to me is the difference between tropes and cliches.  Tropes are recurring themes that often crop up in genre fiction.  Like Beauty and the Beast or marriage of convenience.  Cliches are just flat-out bad writing and Hot to Touch suffers from one too many of them.  Emma licks her lips so much that I started to wonder if it was a nervous tic.  She also suffers from Overactive Nipple Disorder.  Shane being across the room, and breathing, is all it takes for Emma’s nipples to set a world record in puckering.  After the first few chapters I wanted to airlift a care package of ChapStick and padded bras to her.  I’m also not sure how someone described repeatedly as petite can have “long shapely legs.”  Unless petite equals 5’9” and Shane is 7 feet tall.  The final straw though?  The Dubiously Timed Love Scene.  Although in this instance is wasn’t the timing so much as the real estate.  Like they say, it all comes down to location, location, location.

For readers who can look past some of the more annoying cliches, this is a pretty good story.  The author obviously did a fair amount of research, and while journalist heroines don’t have the best track record in Romance Novel Land (too many opportunities for Too Stupid To Live behavior) – Emma is a likable girl.  Some of the emotional baggage is telegraphed at the end, but Shane’s grovel helps instill some hope in the happy ending.  This wasn’t a total wash, and there’s enough here that I would definitely try this author again.

Grade: C-

Summary:

Emogene Rawlings isn’t afraid to fight fire with fire. But when the feisty photojournalist heads west to tackle her toughest assignment yet, she ignites a blaze that may be too hot to handle. Rugged firefighter Shane Westwood is tall, dark—and dangerous. And he’s sending her heart straight into the line of fire….

Shane loves the wide open spaces of Wyoming, loves living a life of risk. And when the petite fireball who’s shadowing his every move enflames his deepest desires, the aroused smoke jumper is more than up for the challenge. But is Emogene ready for the most dangerous mission of all? To give in to the passion that’s consuming everything in its path—that will brand them heart and soul?

Read an excerpt.

Dinca’s review of A Cold Creek Baby by RaeAnne Thayne
Contemporary Romance published by Silhouette Special Edition 1 Oct 10

I can feel the tenderness and heartache in this story as if it is real. The anguish and compassion and love vibrate off the pages. RaeAnne Thayne gives us a story of love and honor, and no matter how hard you try for the greater good of others, you can still do everything wrong. Even in the name of love.

After Easton Springhill was orphaned she came to live with her aunt and uncle. Easton has always loved Cisco del Norte and has lost him over and over again. She has even lost his child. In an attempt to move on with her life, she starts dating a local police officer. Now Cisco shows up in her kitchen, exhausted and with a baby! He is secretive about his life and whereabouts, only coming home in emergencies. Although she can see through his façade of a wanderlust drifter, she wishes he just cares enough to be honest with her.

Coming to the Winder Ranch after his parents’ deaths, Cisco del Norte has became part of a family with two foster brothers. After serving in the Marines, he’s moved on to another government position, one he is not at liberty to divulge to his family and friends. Having them think he is a drunken drifter weighs heavily on his conscience. He has to return home to deliver his deceased partner’s baby to her relatives, and having to wait on the baby’s aunt a few days, he instead brings her to the ranch so he can recuperate from a wound.

I enjoyed all aspects of this heartwarming story. It breaks my heart when the baby is left with her aunt. Everyone is so busy trying to protect their hearts they wind up devastated. I really like the surprise ending.  I am going to have to explore the Cold Creek tales,since looks like I started with the latest one in the series.

Grade: A

Summary:

She’d often dreamed about him coming back, with a baby in his arms. And now, Cisco del Norte was home. But the baby he carried couldn’t possibly be theirs.

Still, Easton Springhill got part of her wish. The man she could never stop loving was back, even for just a little while—with a serious injury, a beautiful baby girl and an explanation about them both that was as flimsy as his excuse for leaving years before. And after five long years of trying to forget him, Easton was faced with a choice: love him—and that little girl—while she had them, or save herself and get away while the getting was good.

Because there was no way she’d be able to escape with her heart a second time…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Dinca’s review of A Thunder Canyon Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Special Edition 16 Nov 10

This book has it all. RaeAnne Thayne does a wonderful job of including the town gossip, the want and need of two people finding their way, and the family disasters that keep piling up on Elise Clifton.

Is she or isn’t she? Elise Clifton, that is. Hiding from her family at a dinner party, Elise tries to hook up with her girlfriend at the local watering hole. She is into her second margarita by the time her friend calls and cancels. Not wanting to go home yet and face the new family gossip, mainly the topic of her being switched at birth with Erin Castro, who is having dinner with her parents — er, supposed parents — now you see why I couldn’t put it down? Back to the bar — a guy two bar stools over moves next to her.

Just when she is ready to tell him to go away, Matt Cates walks through the door. Not wanting him to see her, she uses the stranger’s body to hide, but he reacts the wrong way, thinking Elise is flirting. When she tries to get away from him, Matt comes to her rescue again. He’s always been there for her, his “little Elise,” always picking her up, dusting her off, and keeping the bullies away. A bar fight breaks out, which results in Matt taking her home– to his home, since she still doesn’t want to go to her own home where the switched sister is visiting.

Matthew “Matt” Cates zeroes in on Elise the moment he walks into the bar. He always has, ever since grade school. Even though they were the same age, she’s petite and some of the kids would pick on her, and he hates bullies. Then Elise moved away when she was sixteen, after her father was murdered. Now seeing her again for the first time after 10 years brings back all his protective instincts, especially with her sitting next to Jake Halloran. When Matt finds her in the hallway trying to avoid Jake’s kiss, the only option, in Matt’s mind, is to leave with him, which Jake objects to.

So Matt takes her home to feed her and sober her up before taking her to her place. After a much sought-after kiss, he’s a perfect gentleman. They talk and she cries about the latest town gossip, which is the hospital baby switch and her parents’ real daughter wanting to get to know her mother and brother. Falling asleep together after some talking and crying, Elise doesn’t make it home until next morning.

Elise finds out Matt has a girlfriend, which only adds to his bad boy reputation. With all the turmoil in her life, she backs off, not wanting to fuel the gossip mill with herself in the headlines again. But little good it does to try not to fall in love with Matt when she’s never fallen out of love with him in the first place.

Matt sees his future lies in Elise and is determined to be patient while she deals with her birth family and the switched Erin Castro. With his support and understanding, hopefully she can see her way clear to have room in her heart for him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It is a pleasant break from all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas rush. I had just wrapped a bunch of presents and sat down to rest, and I ended up reading it straight through. It is a good thing my husband is self-feeding, because I didn’t put the book down until well after dinner. I finished the last chapter with a smile on my face and glad that I too have a Matthew Cates in my life.

Grade: A

Summary:

Elise Clifton is back in Thunder Canyon for a family reunion—with her newly discovered parents. Now rumors are flying about the woman behind the town’s hottest story and Matt Cates—the tall, dark, gorgeous cowboy who’s making Elise long to turn the past into a future…with him.

Ever since he came home to Montana, Matt’s been trying to live down his wild playboy reputation. And the moment he sees the petite blonde again, he doesn’t have eyes for anyone else. Will Matt’s love for Elise become the town’s next big headline? Stay tuned, faithful readers, to see if Thunder Canyon’s most honorable cowboy can persuade Elise to tie the knot with him and turn this Christmas into a true season for giving!

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

Dinca’s review of Until He Met Rachel by Debra Salonen
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin SuperRomance 11 May 10

Debra Salonen has a hit with the mysterious Rufus Miller. I had a hard time not taking a peek ahead while reading, but I just didn’t want to miss anything. With one misconception after another, these two opposites, Rufus and Rachel, are definitely attracted to each other.

After her short marriage collapses, Rachel Gray takes off in her Porsche, a leftover possession from her marriage, to Sentinel Pass in the Black Hills of South Dakota where her brother has settled. After all, she can start a website design business anywhere. She is counting on a local artist to be her first client. Rachel is impressed with the man’s work, even if he is a recluse and she refers to him as Big Foot’s cousin. When she discovers he doesn’t live in a hovel in the woods, she senses there is more to the bearded, flannel-covered hulk than meets the eye.

Rufus Miller is in hiding. Not just from the world but from himself as well. He has changed his name and lifestyle until he has transformed his very existence. When Rachel wants to open him and his work up to the world, he is reluctant. Rufus wants no part of him and his home displayed in pictures on the internet. He eventually finds himself allowing her to display his art on a website that turns out to be a huge success.

Rachel offers money to Rufus to be her date at a Christmas party and wedding so she can avoid the disparaging remarks from her mother if she shows up alone. Rufus agrees and shows up looking like the old self he left behind in New York. Rachel’s mother is so condescending to him she accuses him of having to rent a suit. At least the derogatory remarks are directed at him instead of Rachel. But when he vanishes from the party without saying goodbye, Rachel confronts her mother and then takes off after him.

The tension between these two is so tangible, from the first look they share to the box of sex toys later scattered at their feet, that you will read straight through to the last page. Even the supporting characters have believable personalities. Rachael’s mother could be a book unto herself. Maybe she will some day.

Grade: A

Summary: Rufus Miller is a mystery.

It’s the one fact the entire town of Sentinel Pass can agree on. And Rufus has no intentions of solving the riddle. He likes his privacy. His cabin and his work suit him just fine, thanks.

Then Rachel Grey shows up.

The energetic entrepreneur has decided Rufus is her ideal client and is full of marketing ideas to make him a household name. And he’s tempted. Not by her impressive strategy, but by her. Suddenly the guy least likely to answer a direct question wants to open up. Wants to share his space with her. Wants her to know all the skeletons in his closet. And that urge to be with Rachel so completely is the biggest mystery of all.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Dinca’s review of Private Affairs by Tori Carrington
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Blaze 01 Nov 10

There is more excitement to be had in the town of Earnest, Washington. And the gossip vine tells all. So sit back and hang onto your seat as the tongues wag and the heat sizzles you down to your core. Tori Carrington (Tony and Lori) are at it again.

Penelope Weaver is the small-town girl who lives with her grandmother and great aunt. She is the sole proprietor of Penelope’s Possessions or Penelope’s Café, as it now known because of the town’s demise over the past few years. After hearing her long-lost love has returned to town, her dreams turn into red-hot fantasies. If losing your first love is hard to handle, try living through it again and again. Penelope Weaver stayed behind when the love of her life left their hometown to go east to make a name for himself. Fifteen years later she’s face to face with him again. One look, one touch and she is back in his lap. Do they have a second chance at happily ever after? Especially after the bombshell news she drops on him?

Palmer DeVoe never thought he’d be back in Earnest. But hopefully, now that he’s here, he can make things better for his hometown and reconnect with his father, which was his mother’s dying wish. Both tasks prove harder than anything he’s to accomplish in the last fifteen years. Little does he know that his business partner’s, Manolis Philippidis, greatest wish is to make a ghost town out of Earnest. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” unless you are a very rich, scorned man known as Manolis Philippidis.

Palmer has a reputation of flying solo, so much so one of his friends asks him if he’s gay, something that happened in the previous book, Private Sessions. That notion goes out the window when the county sheriff finds him covered by his old flame in a parked car at the local make-out place. Still joined – not at the hip – they both stare straight into the sheriff’s shocked face. The very sheriff that refers to himself as “Penelope’s boyfriend.”

The gossip vine in Earnest is fascinated with every move Palmer makes,none of which goes unreported. Penelope can’t take a breath without someone telling her what Palmer has done now, when all she wants to do is forget he has left town again and this time without saying goodbye. She didn’t even get a chance to tell him her secret.

I really enjoyed the sizzling story of Palmer and Penelope and I hope you will too. I can’t wait for the next book to be out in December, Private Parts. I hope they all have a hand in getting Manolis Philippidis once and for all. He is turning out to be a vengeful, crazy, self-possessed old coot. Once again Tori Carrington creators have done a wonderful job. It would be interesting to know if they tried out that scene with the steering wheel in the way. LOL

Grade: A

Summary:
Subject: Palmer DeVoe. Small-town boy turned successful—and still wildly hot—businessman. Conquering hero who returns to his hometown…and the one woman he never forgot!

Object: Penelope Weaver. Successful in her own right. And owner of a heart that only one man can truly claim….

Situation: Filled with overwhelming sexual tension…and hush-hush trysts that leave them both gasping for more! But you know that saying, you can’t go home again? It’s true!

Unexpected maneuver: Because Penelope has a secret—a big one! The kind that threatens to tear them apart forever. Unless Palmer is willing to give up everything for another chance at “what might have been”….

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

The new Mills and Boon covers.

I really wanted to avoid writing this, but I can’t. I was so pleased that Mills and Boon/Harlequin took criticism onboard and decided to revise the titles and covers of their category lines.

In July, I went to the RNA Conference at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. I really enjoyed it. During that conference, we got a preview of the new covers from Mills and Boon. No doubt they’ll find their way across the Atlantic sooner or later and morph into Harlequin. I sat in horror, staring at the screen, hoping that my reaction wasn’t typical. I love these books, they’ve given me hours of enjoyment but I’m really glad I read on my Kindle these days.

Almost every review I’ve done, I’ve commented on the titles, which I really disliked. “The Billionaire’s Pregnant Virgin’s dog,” or other, more preposterous titles. Couldn’t stand them, and sometimes they even contained spoilers. But the covers? I didn’t mind them, thought they were fine. Even enjoyed some of the buff male models who were holding the heroine tenderly in their arms. A little judicious airbrushing made them less realistic, more general.

Titles? So far, an improvement. Perhaps their title generator ran out of possibilities, or perhaps management realized that we are reading the books despite the titles, not because of them. But well done on reforming them, and thank you.

The new covers? I’m just glad I read my books mostly in digital format, because I don’t have to look at them. Honestly, they’re not good, at least, I don’t like them. I want to emphasize that I’m not discussing the contents here. Some of the books I’ve really enjoyed in the last month have had some hideous covers. If anything drives me away from print, this will be it.

Judge for yourself:

Give me the old covers back, please. Or at least the old pictures, the heroes and heroines in clinches, on beds, dancing, obsessed with each other, not with me. I want to be an observer, not a participant. Not these awkwardly posed, over made up people. I’m not interested in them, I want them to go away.

I quite like the dual idea in the Presents line, the little indication underneath of the story’s setting. And it provides a nice panel for the title and author’s name. But the main photographs, where do I start? The models all look like vacuous bimbos. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the actual models are nothing like that. But the poses they’re in and the way they’re often draped over the heroes, makes me squirm, especially since they’re not paying the poor guy any attention. Some are giving the camera arch looks and almost all of them are staring out of the cover, to the cameraman. No, they’re not looking at me, inviting me in. I don’t want to be invited anywhere by a woman. I’m hetero, and I want my heroine obsessed by the hero, not by me. The Modern covers are probably the worst, but then, that’s my favorite line, so maybe I’m biased. The woman on the cover above has, by the look of it, just discovered kohl and wants the world to know but in her excitement forgot about lipstick. She looks as if she’s just remembered that she’s left something in the oven. She doesn’t seem particularly enamored of the hero. She isn’t even looking at him.

That goes for the hero, too. I don’t like them, either, for the most part, because they don’t look as if they have any character. Just people dressed in something appropriate, in obvious poses. They’re often obscured, blurred, looking away or only part of their faces show. Are we supposed to identify with the heroine, and keep the hero as a creature of fantasy? I guess so, though I don’t identify with any of the heroines on the covers that I’ve seen so far. I tell you what. Just give me a picture of David Gandy in a state of undress, and I’ll be happy.

Seeing the features up close of the heroes and heroines is, for me, off-putting. Because in my mind, they might not look like that. I don’t want to superimpose the images I have in my head with the sharp, detailed pictures on the cover. No, my heroine doesn’t look like her, so who is she?

No more airbrushing, no more artistic skims over photos. I don’t like that, either. And I get the feeling, though I haven’t been able to find absolute confirmation, that they’ll be coming to the States, too. Harlequin won’t want the extra expense of producing two separate sets of photos.

There are a few other details. Farewell, Silhouette. Now we just have “Desire.” Although I haven’t seen the American versions yet. Such a shame, I think, because it kept that line separate from Modern and Modern Heat (Presents in the States). The covers are RED. Let me repeat that. They’re RED. You can’t miss them. They’ll leap off the shelf at you. But, sigh, the same kind of photos. But of all of them, I like them the best.

Historical – what history? A woman with modern makeup, wearing a modern bra, with hair that would have made a medieval knight withdraw in horror (unless the heroine is meant to be a prostitute-I haven’t read this one, but they were the only medieval heroines to let their hair flow free). Blaze has now gone black, which doesn’t really do it for me, even with the big red rose. It just doesn’t say “passion,” and the greyscale photo is positively twee. Intrigue has gone retro, by the look of this cover, and also very boring.

Colors are changing in some lines. Medical and Intrigue have different colors within the lines, but the logos are the same, i.e. the cross for the Medical stories and the circles for Intrigue. Cherish is a new line, which incorporates Romance and Special Moments – the less sexual lines. The heroine looks about forty (again, I haven’t read this one, so she might well be) but she’s in sharp focus, something I don’t like. At least they’re not staring at me, but I do wonder what they are looking at. Maybe a sports game? He looks a bit pained, so perhaps her team is beating his?

The Modern covers are probably the worst, but then, that’s my favorite line, so maybe I’m biased. The woman who has, by the look of it, just discovered kohl and wants the world to know but in her excitement forgot about lipstick, looks as if she’s just remembered that she’s left something in the oven. She doesn’t seem particularly enamored of the hero. She isn’t even looking at him.

These covers are begging for a caption competition.

I had a book out recently, and I love the cover. As it happens, it’s a genre that could just pass as a Mills and Boon – a contemporary romance with a larger than life hero and a feisty heroine. I love this cover, I have to admit.

An indication of the setting, a nice picture, not too detailed of the hero and heroine, who are heavily into each other, not into me, and a hint as to the hero’s dilemma (he’s had an eye operation that went wrong).

Anyway, covers are so subjective. So my opinion might not be yours, and part of this exercise is to find out what you think. My reaction is no, just no. But you might love them. Do you?

Lynne Connolly, http://lynneconnolly.com

C2′s review of All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin 27 Jul 10

For the longest time, I have had a note on my Books To Be Bought list saying “Higgins, Kristan – try something.”  I don’t remember when or why I put it there…I’m sure I read a glowing review somewhere by someone I trust.  So, when I was browsing in my favorite new/used bookstore recently and saw a copy of All I Ever Wanted, I picked it up.

Callie Grey works for a public relations/advertising firm in her hometown.  She has been in love with her boss since high school and had a business trip fling with him almost a year before the “now” of the book.  He told her they couldn’t continue a relationship because the timing was bad, the agency came first, blah blah blah… The blahs are mine, by the way. Callie totally bought his excuses reasons.  They still work together, he is still smiley, friendly, pseudo-flirty, and she remains hopeful that he will realize how perfect they are for each other.

We meet Callie on her birthday (an aside – I never go to work on my birthday – it is my own personal holiday).  After Mark (the slimy boss) gives her a birthday present and birthday kiss, he tells her a new employee is coming to work at the agency – the daughter of their biggest client AND his new girlfriend.  Happy birthday to her.  Weasel.

The book is set in Vermont where, apparently, one’s driver’s license expires on one’s birthday – Callie is upset, but she doesn’t want Mark to know, so she leaves to go renew her license.  While in line at the DMV, she goes into meltdown about the Mark situation, much to the disgust of the guy in line behind her.

Callie is a people pleaser, friendly, happy, upbeat, annoying…she wants to be liked and feel needed.  She and her dog, Bowie, live with her grandfather – she moved there after he lost part of a leg – and their relationship is one of the bright spots in the book.  Callie decides she needs to try to move on and find a new relationship.  Someone in her yoga class mentions there is a new vet in town – a single, male vet.  Callie (and lots of other single women, as it turns out) decides Bowie needs a check-up.

Imagine her surprise when Dr. Ian McFarland turns out to be the cranky guy from the DMV.  She turns the vet visit into an offer to do some PR for the new practice, though – and is almost convincing when denying that she brought Bowie (the best character in the book) in so she could scope out a new guy.

Over the course of the book, Callie pines over her lost relationship (?) with Mark and continues to unexpectedly encounter Ian – generally during less than impressive situations.  She deals with assorted family crises and work issues, while trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.

Is this a romance?  Well, it says it is on the spine of the book, right under the publisher’s logo.  Only by the very loosest interpretation of what a romance is, says me – because there is a romantic happily ever after (and a happier ever after epilogue).  For me, though, it feels very chick-lit-ish.  It is more about Callie’s relationship with herself (mind’s out of the gutter, please) than it is about any romantic relationships she might have.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that…if that’s what you want to read.

Also, for those who care about such things, the book is written in first person…very stream of consciousness first person.  More common in chick lit?  I generally don’t mind first person narratives, but it got to be a bit much in this book.  Plus, it might have been enlightening to be in someone else’s head from time to time.  The supporting characters voiced opinions of Callie, but actually hearing their thoughts could have been eye-opening.

So, now that I have tried something by Ms. Higgins, has my note on the TBB list changed from “try something” to her complete backlist?  No.  If All I Ever Wanted is a good representation of her books, then they aren’t for me.  However, it is well written and has some interesting twists on often cliché-ridden supporting characters.  If your tastes run toward chick lit (instead of far and fast in the other direction, like mine), give her a try.

Grade: C-

Summary:

One Happily-Ever-After Rocking Chair and no sign of any forthcoming babies to rock in ol’ Georgebury, Vermont. For Callie Grey, turning thirty means coming to grips with the fact that her boss (and five-week fling) is way overdue in his marriage proposal. And way off track because Mark has suddenly announced his engagement to the company’s new Miss Perfect. If that isn’t bad enough, her mom decides to throw her a three-oh birthday bash in the family funeral home.

Bad goes to worse when she stirs up a crazy relationship with the town’s not so warm and fuzzy veterinarian, Ian McFarland, in order to flag Mark’s attention. So Ian is more comfortable with animals…. So he’s formal, orderly and just a bit tense. The ever-friendly, fun-loving and spontaneous Callie decides it’s time for Ian to get a personality makeover. But dang, if he doesn’t shock the heck out of her, she might actually fall for Vermont’s unlikeliest eligible bachelor…

Read an excerpt.

Ten years ago, the once great giant Mills and Boon/Harlequin was in trouble. Its readership was aging and it wasn’t attracting young readers from the new generation of electronic savvy, newly affluent generation. The books were seen as dated and old-fashioned. If a hero used a laptop, it was a rarity, and condoms weren’t often mentioned. The demographic was all wrong. So without public announcements or making a huge fuss, HMB set about revamping and revitalizing its main category lines – its bread and butter.

Just in case you’re not familiar with it, market analysts, sociologists and the like divide the population into six categories. While efforts to alter it and bring it up to date have been running as long as the categorization, it’s still there. And by and large, it still works. Remember that analysts aren’t interested in the exception, but in the bulk of the population and its habits. There are always exceptions, but much fewer than there are people who prove the rule. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be exceptions, would they?

Here are the socio-economic groups and my explanations. If you want the dry official ones, they’re readily available:
A – dead posh, dead rich, of limited influence because they don’t go into society too much. A lot of inherited wealth. While the people in this group rule the world, they’re hard to reach and influence.
B – celebs, rich people, but more entrepreneurs fit here than in the A class. They can be poor people made good, by education, luck or a particular skill. Lots of leisure time and disposable cash, but not many in number.
C1 – upper middle class, in old terminology. Well off, professional, people like lawyers, university professors, surgeons. A fair amount of leisure time and nice hunks of disposable cash.
C2 – lower middle class. Teachers, doctors, office managers, PA’s. Harder working, less leisure time and disposable cash. In the C2 class we start to see aspirational people – people who buy the magazines that talk about the rich and famous, and who dream of something better. May have more intelligence than cash.
D – ordinary workers, clerks, factory workers, small traders. In the old days of class distinction, these are blue collar workers. In effect, they might have more cash than the C2’s but their status is lower.
E – Poor people who have to work like dogs to make a living wage. No inherited money, no saved wealth, very little leisure time or disposable income.

So there you have it. There’s an old sketch that shows this really well and makes you laugh.

There are more meaningful, more accurate classifications that are used by professionals, but the old ABC1C2DE classification will never die. It’s easy to understand and most people know what you mean. So a statistician preparing a report for other people will sigh heavily and change the 1.1 to 8.6 classifications to the alpha-numeric ones.

So in those terms, ten years ago and more, the HMB audience was primarily C2DE. They sold lots of copies of secretary/boss romances, about innocent, sweet virgins and rough to the point of abusive men. Until the market began to dry up. They also had to contend with an ageing readership. They would die, or move on to something else, and they weren’t being replaced by new readers.

Well that changed, didn’t it? Now you can read reviews of HMB books all over the place.

Clever, that. The ebook authors were keen on getting a wider readership, and let’s face it, a living wage, and they knew the ins and outs of book production. Many already had good reputations, websites, readers, and they’d already had what egos they started with pulverized by editors, low sales and publisher closures. They could work with the new writers. And at HMB, it’s the brand first, the category second, and then the author. The ebook author was also familiar with what sold best. They could bring that savvy to the company, but were still hungry enough to adapt to the tiny royalties, modest advances that the publisher produced. Because sales were great.

HMB has always been big on marketing and that, I think, is its secret. It does huge surveys to discover what the reader wants, and while they don’t always deliver that, they take the majority view, adapt it and use it. HMB are unmistakable, from cover design to the way they’re displayed in store. There is nothing like an HMB book – now – although there used to be. HMB have followed the market rule that one company is important for all, thus following the marketing observation that has been true for at least a hundred years. One to rule them all.

HMB were also pioneers in ebooks, at least as far as the big publishers were concerned. They didn’t concern themselves with readers and technology, but in the product to be read. That’s where most of the money lies, as Amazon has discovered. They saw what was coming, and it wasn’t that difficult to predict, but they were the first of the big publishers to put serious money into ebooks, ebook stores and delivery of the book to the client. I think that their insistence on DRM has held them back, and it certainly hasn’t prevented bootlegged copies becoming readily available, but that glitch apart, the digital side of the business has done really well. They’ve started a non category e-publishing arm, Carina Press, which is attracting names from the e-publishing community, and although there is no formal crossover, it’s noticeable that the main site has bought some new authors from e-publishing, like Maya Banks and Red Garnier.

And the stories. This is the really clever bit.  HMB has changed the content. Never foolish enough to believe that the surface – book covers, presentation etc – is all that’s needed, they have always focused their attention on the repeat buyer. The mail order business, now defunct but for years a mainstay of the company, delivered 12 books to your home every month at a discounted price. The books were heavily aspirational, appealing to the C2DE buyer, and cheap. They closed the mail order business and started the online one.

They’re still cheap, but the content has changed a little. The stories have changed, too. The bedroom door is now wide open in most categories, the covers are being revamped (a big one coming this autumn) and HMB has recruited a slew of new authors, some of them from the ebook sector, previously renowned for innovation and edgy fiction. The heroines are tougher, less Cinderella, more Mulan, going out there and making things happen. Most don’t take abuse from the hero for long, or if they do, the hero has blackmailed them into doing it. They don’t just run with the secret agent hero, they know how to use a gun and fight back. But the hero, the treasure to be won, hasn’t changed a lot. He’s still alpha, and he can still be abusive. However, he doesn’t cheat on the heroine, he uses condoms and he knows one end of a laptop from the other. It’s more like we want our men to behave, but with a fantasy overlay. The newer lines have increased the scope of the company, from the more erotic Blazes to the Nocturne line of paranormals. And subtle changes in the stories have reaped their rewards, as has the relative anonymity of the ebook. With a Kindle, nobody need know what you’re reading and women have been rediscovering the guilty pleasure of the HMB.

The authors at HMB are for the most part, frighteningly professional, highly intelligent and used to the insults that regularly fly their way. Terrific women, for the most part, and they have good support from their publisher. Some have chosen to leave the company for the world of the single title, but the HMB style is so specific that they haven’t always met with success. However, before the rise of independent ebook publishers, most of the emerging talent in the romance world had dabbled with category at some point. Jo Beverley, Suzanne Brockmann, Linda Howard, Elizabeth Lowell – they all started in category. Now, not so much, but there are long-term HMB authors who are happy where they are and happy with the career they’ve made with HMB. Some never move on. It’s a comfortable sinecure. You produce your 4 books a year, they provide the marketing opportunities, the branding and the distribution. For writers not entirely happy with promotion, it’s a great way to get into the writing world, which, if you haven’t guessed it by now, can be brutal. Royalties are pretty pathetic, but you reap rewards in the regular releases and the heavy marketing that HMB does.

So they’ve succeeded, the editors and managers at HMB. They’ve lowered the average age of the reader, and they’ve lifted the socio-economic profile. With our help, and by producing stories that engage the interest of the new readers. Often overlooked by people who take them for granted, the parlous state of the company only a few years ago demonstrates how savvy they are, how much nous they’ve used to get where they are. A long time ago, at business school, one of my tutors was the cybernetician Stafford Beer. He’d have been fascinated by the way HMB has managed its interfaces, and impressed by the way the company has adapted to changing times. Still not progressive, but that’s not what it’s there for. It’s there to provide the working woman with an hour or two’s break. And that remains its ultimate philosophy.

Eight years ago I had a historical manuscript ‘orphaned’ at HMB (that’s when the editor who has encouraged you and wants your book leaves – the new editor wants a new list, so you’re dropped). I had to tone down the sex to almost nothing and increase the complications, give the hero a mistress, perk it up. I rewrote that sucker three times and then got a form rejection from the new editor. So I put back the sex, took out the mistress and sold it somewhere else, where it’s done pretty well. I can’t help thinking that I’d have had a better chance these days with the original manuscript, but as yet I have no intention of trying again. One day I might. When I find the time.

Liviania’s review of Red Wolf (Wolf Moons, Book 3) by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom
Paranormal Romance published Silhouette Nocturne 01 Feb 10

When I read Moon Marked, Linda Thomas-Sundstrom confused me and created a world in which I wanted to spend more time.  Fortunately, Red Wolf was far less confusing.  Thomas-Sundstrom had much more space to explore the different factions of her world, although there may be less world-building in the novel than the novella.

Adam Scott is a policeman who accidentally stumbles upon the activities of crime lord Chavez.  Tory McKidd is the sister of one of his victims, as well as a genetic werewolf.  She’s out for revenge and doesn’t have time to protect a human caught up in the world of monsters.  She doesn’t have much choice when she imprints on him.  I don’t really mind the destined mate plot, but Thomas-Sundstrom fails to provide much chemistry aside from the imprinting.

There’s also a flaw in how the series is structured.  Chavez is the big bad to all the heroes and heroines, with no minor bosses for distraction.  So the book ends with the hero and heroine going against Chavez and losing.  (They do win in the sense that neither of them dies.)  The climatic battle goes by quickly, perhaps to distract from the fact it’s a disappointing ending.

Red Wolf also contains Blackout, Thomas-Sundstrom’s first Wolf Moons Nocturne Bite.  The heroine is Dana Delmonico, Adam’s surprisingly competent rookie partner.  I think I would like Blackout better if I had read it before Red Wolf.  Instead, I’m confused by how it relates to the main story line.  Dana is apparently infected awhile before the full moon.  Does she no longer have any contact with Adam?  It seems like he would notice and help her.

The hero, Dylan Landau, is a genetic werewolf like Tory.  His approach to the change does not match hers.  He considers himself and monster and avoids the moonlight.  How does his family remain separate from the other werewolves in Miami?  It seems like two groups with opposite ideology would clash.  Miami may be a big city, but two good wolf packs and one bad one seems unsustainable.

I’m not sure if I’ll read the next Wolf Moons novel.  The series has potential, but there’s something lacking in the execution.  Red Wolf was fun to read, but its flaws are distracting.

Grade: C-

See Sandy M’s review here.

Summary:

Tory McKidd understands exactly what kind of monster is stalking the moonlit streets. She, too, is a werewolf and is ready to bring the rogue shifter to justice. What she isn’t prepared for is Adam Scott, the sexy detective whose investigation crosses paths with her own–a human who inexplicably stirs her senses.

Adam Scott is searching for a killer, not a lover, but with one look at the flame-haired beauty, he is ensnared. When one steamy night ignites their animal passion, there is no denying their fate. But when werewolf meets human, danger lurks–and the one they hunt may be the one hunting them….

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of The Executive’s Pregnancy Ultimatum by Emilie Rose
Contemporary romance released by Silhouette Desire 1 Feb 10

After limecello got onto me for reading specific titles she recommends by the author she likes instead of picking any book by the author, I pretty much chose to read The Executive’s Pregnancy Ultimatum by Emilie Rose because I know limecello likes Emilie Rose.  But hey, living dangerously paid off.

Renee Maddox just discovered her divorce papers were never filed.  She also wants a baby – the same baby she always wanted, from her husband Flynn.  He agrees to giving her his sperm, but only in a direct manner and only if she tries to live with him, with the baby, for a year.  Rose doesn’t make the mistake of dragging out the secret to the couple’s split up to where the reveal seems silly.  It’s explained within the first several chapters that Renee and Flynn agreed they wanted three or four children before they married, but Flynn’s new job after his father’s death kept him away from home.  He gave Renee neither attention nor a baby.  She communicated that she really wanted a child and split when he refused.  Renee had another complication: she began drinking heavily, like her alcoholic mother. She managed to stop after leaving the stressful situation.

I loved Renee.  She’s a successful business woman who doesn’t give up her job for her man.  She’s unafraid to be a single mother and has the courage to stand up to her hideous mother-in-law.  Then the Renee I fell in love with disappeared toward the end.  Suddenly, she isn’t communicating with Flynn.  She’s running from telling him that she isn’t really an alcoholic but has the potential to be . . . as he knew since her mother was an alcoholic and Renee chooses to avoid alcohol now in order to avoid temptation.  She also brings it up as a risk to their children, despite the fact she’s been planning to have children since before the book began and it isn’t an issue until the end.  It’s odd.

Luckily, Flynn’s characterization stays steady.  He messed up by taking Renee for granted, but now has his personal and professional life in balance.  He’s caring and thoughtful.  He stands up for Renee and respects her dedication to her business.  It’s no wonder that Renee falls quickly back in love with her husband.  It is a wonder that she thinks he’d hate her because she isn’t actually an alcoholic but showed the potential during their impending divorce.

I enjoyed Emilie Rose’s writing.  I liked the hero and the heroine.  I just wish there wasn’t a manufactured conflict, because the story would’ve worked much better without it.  It undermined a lot of what Rose was doing so well.  I am still likely to pick up one of her novels in the future.

Grade: B-

Summary:
Flynn Maddox, the driven vice president of Maddox Communications, thought he was over his ex-wife, Renee. But when he learned that they were still married—and that she was trying to have his baby—he realized he had never stopped wanting her. It was time to put his fierce negotiating skills to good use. He would give her the baby she so desperately wanted…but not without getting her to sign off on some terms of his own.
No excerpt found.

Sandy M’s review of Immortal Bride by Lisa Childs
Paranormal Romance published by Silhouette Nocturne 1 Mar 09

I’ve not read Lisa Childs before and because she writes Nocturnes, which is my favorite Silhouette line, and I have several of her books in the TBR pile, I opted for this one first since I haven’t read a ghost story in a while. I’m very pleasantly surprised. We get two ghosts, a love of a lifetime, and a twist at the end that keeps you guessing. Just my kind of book.

Damien is still grieving over the loss of his wife during their honeymoon. Her body has never been found, for she rests at the bottom of the Lake of Tears. He doesn’t come back to their lakeside home that often, but when he does he’s drawn to the shore where Olivia died.

And that is where his loving wife is waiting for him, waiting to make him pay for taking her life. Confused as to why her husband would want her dead, she makes her way into their home to take care of her unfinished business, but what she sees and hears makes her question Damien’s guilt.

As these two become aware of each other again, Damien finally seeing his ghostly wife and Olivia seeing Damien as a wife should, they have a very different spirit working against them. An angry, ancient shaman of Damien’s people is out for his own revenge for what he believes he lost to Damien’s ancestor. They must work together to defeat the specter’s evil and finally let Olivia rest in peace.

I like how Ms. Childs slowly works Olivia back into Damien’s life, a flash here, a movement there, a feeling once or twice, until he finally convinces himself she truly is with him. And then his disbelief when he learns Olivia blames him for her demise is also well done. Though Olivia does come close to exacting her revenge, once she spends more time with Damien she realizes he really did and does love her. I think she’s able to see it so clearly so quickly because she always believed it, death just got in the way for a while.

The ending came as a surprise, but when all is said and done, not much else could have happened in unraveling the mystery surrounding the Lake of Tears and the shaman. And there’s also an extra surprise just because this is a paranormal story and romance at its best when it comes to HEA. A solid, enjoyable read, and I’m ready to find the rest of Ms. Childs’ books in that old TBR pile.

Grade: B

Summary:

For generations, local residents have whispered about an evil menace lurking near the shore of the Lake of Tears. The recent murder of landowner Damien Gray’s bride, Olivia, confirms the worst. Now, confused and heartbroken, Olivia’s spirit survives death and seeks vengeance upon the man she desired more than life itself, the man she now suspects was her killer—Damien.

But an angry shaman has his own vicious agenda, one that will bring Damien to understand his Native ancestry. Steamy passion and ancient vendettas will draw them ever deeper into a drama of a family’s legacy, murder and a love so strong it can withstand even death.

Read an excerpt.

I’ve been thinking about the sudden surge to self-publishing and vanity publishing and the interest I’ve recently seen in various blogs and other places.

Being a suspicious soul, I started to think about why this should be. Not all improvements come because the time has come and it’s right for them. Sometimes the situation is carefully created.

I don’t for one minute think that the big six publishers intend to give an inch of ground to the new ones coming up, the Ellora’s Cave, Samhain and Loose-Id’s of this world. I’ve been involved in a developing market before, used to specialise in it, and I’ve seen it work itself out. Either a new big company emerges to take the profits, or one of the old boys muscles in and takes it later in the day, after others have pioneered. Or the market fragments, and the niches become the thing.

While every new market has a similar pattern, the details are more complex and the reasons come from several sources. With the new emphasis on self publishing, it might not come from the place you can first see, the vociferous place, the authors who are deciding to take that route.

Yes, the market is more open than it used to be. The big publishers have lost ground to the smaller ones, the market is more diverse. The smaller publisher can respond faster to market forces, demands for ‘more books about fairies,’ or ‘older heroes and heroines,’ or just ‘more sex.’ Even more when it’s digital. But many people still prefer a paper copy and many authors prefer not to put their livelihoods at the whim of a big corporation.

But there’s no demand from the public, the readership, for more self-published books. No big group of readers is seizing on a publisher like Lulu and asking for more books. The vanities aren’t growing market share. So where’s the demand coming from? When was the last time you walked into a bookstore and asked to be shown the self published section?

It’s being created. Sometimes a market responds to consumer need, sometimes the market shows the consumer what it really wants, and sometimes a market has to be built by the people who want it. These aren’t necessarily bad. I mean, who knew we needed Windows until Bill Gates showed us? Then yes, it was just what many of us were looking for, computing without all that tedious programming. I was involved in the early years of the computer. I learned (and forgot) four different programming languages, Cobol, Fortran 77, Basic and Diplomat, a language unique to the company I worked for. It was a complete drag. Then we get Windows, early BBC basic and the Acorn computers and we begin to see. It’s the experts who show us what we can have first.

But self publishing isn’t reinventing anything. It’s a book, same as other books. It’s for the author and the manufacturer. As a reader, I don’t care where the money’s going or who published a book as long as it’s readable and it looks pretty good. As an author, I put up my hands in horror at that statement, but to deny it would be foolish. I buy a book, I read it. If it’s in my price range, then I might buy it on a whim, the way most books are purchased. If it’s by a favorite author, I might pay a bit more. If it’s an art book, or something that is a beautiful object, I might pay more still (I do have some breathtaking fashion books – my shiny black copy of the book celebrating Yves St Laurent’s 25 years of design is one of my prized possessions, but oh, the price!)

So here’s what I think. I suspect it’s a production initiative. Think about it.

I suspect that there’s a convincing looking report going around, showing how the publisher can use up excess production capacity by farming it out.
I used to work in the print industry (I was a litho buyer) and print machinery is huge, massively expensive, and deteriorates quickly, as well as taking up a lot of physical space. It’s all expensive. So self publishing, for a publisher that owns such equipment and is looking for a way to use the capacity to take up the loss in bulk production, is a good idea.

And the marketing department has been told to sell it.

Most people know that the old system of oversupplying the stores so that every store has a book available, then returning half or more, is coming to an end. Stores are much more efficient in their stock turnover, there are fewer physical copies going to fewer stores, and the digital revolution is making serious inroads into paper books.

But those machines sit there, eating money.

Renting out time on the press looks like a win/win for the manufacturer. Which is why I think the marketing of Dellarte, the Harlequin vanity press, was so inept. They didn’t look hard enough at the front end. Editors, marketers etc could have told them what the reaction would be, and Harlequin employs some of the best, so my guess is that they were brought in on a done deal at the last minute and had to scramble to make the most of it. They want to keep those machines rolling. So sell it to the punter, in this case, to the writer.

Until that machinery is depreciated into oblivion, it has to make a profit for the company that owns it. The alternative is to do some clever financing, but most publishers have done that already. The production end is separated out so that it doesn’t drag the rest of the corporation down with it. But it’s still there and the parent company wants to maximize its profits.

So the editor, geared to selling to the reader, fine-tuned to deliver what the reader wants and the marketer, geared to making the most of what the company does best, is now expected to sell what the company produces. Which is, after all, how many companies started.

The difference for us is that they aren’t selling to the reader, they’re selling to the author. And that is so different it has to be hived off as a separate concern. I can’t see myself buying a book just to support the author, unless it’s a charity book, where all the profits are designated to one charity or another. The author who really knows what she’s doing can be on to a good thing. She must know the bookstores won’t take the books if they’re non returnable, she’s aware that she won’t have a big company behind her easing her way. She’s worked all that into her business plan. But the author who has tried every publisher and received a rejection from them all, who is being sold this option as a viable way of putting her “unusual, different, they-don’t-understand-me” book out there, it seems perfect. Of course it isn’t, it’s a cynical exercise to sell to the most vulnerable out there. Probably.

I would really love it if in the comments we didn’t get some of the self-publishing evangelists. Yes, we get it, it’s the best thing since sliced bread, a new market, a new opportunity, but this isn’t want this article is about. It’s about where the demand is really coming from and who stands to gain the most from it. And it isn’t the author. If you want to write a piece about how self-publishing has changed you and why an author should take that course, write an article and send it to Sybil (sorry, pet!). Or put it on a blog of your own.

The difference between self publishing and vanity publishing is deliberately obscured by many of the people selling it. For the customer, that is the author, it often isn’t clear until that first statement arrives, but basically it’s simple. In self publishing, the author buys a service, but she owns the ISBN, the copyright and 100% of what she can make from the final product, the book. In vanity publishing, the publisher owns the ISBN, can own the copyright too, and the publishing rights, and to take the Delarte example, takes 50%. So which is the best deal, especially since the author has to pay for everything and doesn’t even get the value of the Harlequin name on the dust jacket?

Let me see…

What does it mean for me? Nothing. I have no intention of going into self publishing in the market as it stands right now, though never say never. Things might change enough for me to consider it. But I’ve had my fill of selling, marketing, assessing markets, and doing everything for myself.

I come from a long line of small businesspeople, long enough to know I don’t want to wear myself out early doing things I don’t want to do. I want to write. And for me, the best option is to let someone else do all the other things. I want to concentrate on the thing I do best, which is the writing end. I could do the marketing, but I don’t wanna. Never did enjoy it very much. So I’ll give a proportion of the income up to someone who will. And will work hard to improve my sales and market share. Sure, I’ll help, which is why I can see the value in a cooperative, but I don’t want to do it all myself.

I just want to write. And read.

This just in…

All Romance eBooks is sending out the Christmas spirit this year, giving away free ebooks to lucky Wildfire eZine newsletter subscribers.

~ Select ebook titles from Harlequin, Liquid Silver Books, Tease Publishing, Pink Petal Books, Excessica Publishing, Eternal Press, The GA Hauser Collection, and eXtasy Books will be free of charge for a limited time during ARe’s 12 Days of Christmas campaign.

~ If you’re an ARe Wildfire eZine subscriber already, just sit back and wait for the special announcements that will be sent to you daily to receive your free books.

~ Not a subscriber yet? Simply head over to All Romance eBooks and register as a new customer. You will be given an option to  check to receive the newsletter when filling out the necessary account information.

~ In addition, Harlequin is giving away Wrapped and Ready, a holiday short story by Julie Kenner. The link for the free download can be found on any book detail page on the ARe website. Put the free selection in your shopping cart, check out, and the title will appear in your library instantly.

~ So hurry! You don’t want to miss even one day of this special event!

Consider yourself flashed.

Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Sizzling Seduction (Hightower Honors #4) by Gwyneth Bolton
Contemporary romance released by Kimani Romance 01 Oct 09

I play fairly fast and loose when it comes to picking out category romance titles to read.  I’m always willing to try a new-to-me author, and I tend to blindly choose books based on the back cover copy.  It’s really no surprise I picked up Bolton’s latest.  Hunky firefighter hero?  Single mom school teacher heroine?  Seriously, it’s got Wendy written all over it.  Unfortunately it stumbled a bit in execution.

With his three younger brothers happily married, one would think Patrick Hightower would be jealous of their bliss.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He’s happy for them, but not so happy that he’s ready to take trip number two down the aisle.  He caught his first wife in bed with another man, and the divorce practically ripped his heart out.  No thank you.  He has learned his lesson.  That is until Aisha Miller shows up at his fire house with her kindergarten class ready for a tour.  He takes one look at the sexy single mom and he’s sunk.  Hook, line, sinker, wham-o!  Now all he has to do is convince the gun-shy Aisha to go out on one measly date with him.

Aisha has an incredibly horrible track record with men.  Her father is an emotionally abusive asshole, and then she got married at a very young age to her emotionally abusive ex-husband.  She ultimately divorced her husband, finished her college degree in education, and is making a home in a small apartment with her ten year old son Dillon.  The last thing she wants or needs in her life is another man.  But dang, that sexy Patrick Hightower is nothing if not persistent.

I wish Harlequin would do a better job of spotlighting series books in their Kimani Romance line.  A sub-title or cute little graphic on the front cover would make me one happy girl.  This is the fourth book in the author’s series about the Hightower brothers, and while it stands alone fairly well, there is a fair amount of info-dumping early on in the book.  It didn’t always make for a smooth read, and it wasn’t until after the first few chapters that I really started to settle into the story.

The conflict from the standpoint of Aisha’s past makes for the most compelling reading.  It’s hard not to admire a woman so determined to finally break out of the cycle of abuse that has plagued her all her life.  She wants better for herself, and her son, and I could easily understand why she didn’t fall all over herself accepting a date from Patrick – hunky firefighter or not.  What didn’t work nearly as well was the conflict surrounding Patrick.  His crazy, cheating ex-wife is trying to lure him back into her bed, and she’s being egged on by his vile Aunt Sophie who has some long-standing vendetta against his mother.  I’ll be honest, I found Aunt Sophie to be a huge, pointless distraction.  Especially since the conflict surrounding Aisha was much more compelling.

All this being said, I suspect that fans of this series will happily be gobbling up this installment – especially since they very likely got tantalizing glimpses of Patrick in the earlier books.  Also, they’ll probably be more tolerant of Aunt Sophie, who from what I can gather, was a source of conflict in the previous stories as well.  However as a newcomer to the series, I couldn’t help but wish the author had spent more time on Patrick, Aisha, their growing attraction, and Aisha’s past – kicking the Hightower family drama to the curb.

Grade: C

Summary:
Firefighter Patrick Hightower will take any risk in the line of duty. Risking his heart again? That’s something he’s vowed never to do. He prefers scorching affairs—the briefer, the better—though he might make a temporary exception for smart, sexy teacher Aisha Miller. But Aisha isn’t interested in exploring their instant, searing connection-no matter how much she feels the heat.

Aisha has had enough of dominant men trying to control her life, and the gorgeous firefighter who visits her kindergarten class is alpha male through and through. Yet the gentler side Patrick shows, especially around her young son, gradually melts her reserve. As shadows from Aisha’s past resurface, she’ll discover just how far Patrick will go to prove she’s found her real-life hero.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Several bloggers have answered comments on the AAR forums about blogging recently. In doing so, some have noticed a recent snippiness and touchiness in the reading community, from readers and from writers. I was hanging around at Wendy’s blog recently, something I do a lot, and she’s noticed something similar, too. Mrs. Giggles has spotted it. 

I think I have an inkling as to what might be going on, or at least some of it.

Actions and consequences…

I heard a program on the radio this morning, “Whistleblowers” about Paul Moore and how he warned the bank HBOS about its risky strategies and its target-based culture, and how it and banks like it pushed consumers into taking too many risks. It was all about selling, he said and they didn’t look at the long term consequences, and the unbalanced risk it introduced.

Sound familiar? It should.

It’s happening in the book business, and it’s not all down to the recession. Before 2009, signs of strain were already showing. Historically, books have always followed the newspaper model of distribution – copies were distributed to suppliers, bookstores for the main part, and those that didn’t sell were returned. That meant that you could drop into your local bookstore and be confident of finding the book you wanted. It also meant a bucketload of returns. Then Anderson News, one of the biggest distributors went under.

Two things were happening. The supermarkets were buying books in bulk, undercutting traditional retailers and doing their own distribution. And the newspaper industry was failing. It would have made sense to try to do away with the “sale or return” system, but it was too convenient to the companies involved – the accounting and financing of the publishers would have had to be restructured, and that can’t be done quickly, and it was a good thing for the supermarkets, who wouldn’t have surplus stock to sell or dispose of.

Sell or die…

At the publishing houses, there were a number of fine editors who had a lot of control over the books the house took and what was done with them. It gave each house a distinct identity, and its authors were given relative artistic freedom. Now, no decision is made independent of the marketing and finance departments. The question was no longer asked, “Is this book good for us?” but “Can we sell enough copies?”

A carefully balanced portfolio of bestsellers, middle ground authors and risky chances that could take off in a big way or could bomb spectacularly, was abandoned for the best seller model. Big authors, controversial themes, with big money put behind them. Middle ground authors, career authors with reputations but no huge sales were dropped. I’ve met a few, and while being resilient and determined to weather the storm, there’s a core of unhappiness and cynicism that just wasn’t there before. Existing authors are sometimes desperately chasing targets, because if their current book doesn’t sell up to target, they’re dropped. No second chances.

The publishing business has gone from brutal to savage, from relatively civilised to a jungle culture. If you don’t sell, you’re gone. No benefit of the doubt, no “see what your next title does,” no “this will be a slow burner.” Without that attitude, we wouldn’t have had The Lord of the Rings, or The Chronicles of Narnia, or even Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles, all series that became massive sellers, but had relatively slow starts.

Wait, we don’t get them, do we? Not any more. A series has to start with a huge bang and go on to sell and sell, otherwise it’s gone. A writer with a three-book contract will see her books cut off after the second, even the first, leaving the readers hungry for the last ones, and increasingly determined not to buy a series until it’s all out. So sales at first are low, and more get cut. A self fulfilling prophecy.

Big publishers are struggling to stay afloat. If it weren’t for cash reserves and the massive profits they stand to make by selling e-books and not passing on savings to authors or readers, they’d probably go under. Midlist authors are going to the e-publishers, giving up or trying for the big one. Or writing for Harlequin, which is taking serious note of the market and going from strength to strength.

Ahead of the curve…

Harlequin always had the drop on other publishers with its direct mail order service, which didn’t depend on distributors or returns. It had a regular audience and after slipping behind in the late 1990’s, turned its lines around and rejuvenated or dropped them. And Harlequin has an established, successful e-bookstore.

You’d expect me to say e-publishing is where the future is because I write for e-publishers. Well that’s not why I do it. I’ve had chances to write for others, but the offer or the money wasn’t quite right. I promised myself I’d do this to make myself happy, not to go for the big bucks or the huge sales. As it happens, I think I’ve fallen into the right part of the industry. Right for me, right for the future.

No, I don’t think we’ll see the end of the paper book. It’s a transition. But the sale-or-return culture, plus increasing costs in distribution and production, plus increasing pressure from ecologists has all pushed producers of print to think again. It’s been coming for a long time, from the day when Rupert Murdoch pushed the print unions to breaking point and then smashed them, from the day when Anderson’s closed its doors, to when Wal-Mart became indispensable to many people and one-stop shopping became important.

Make a fast splash…

So, back to the point of the article. Writers and readers getting snippy. Of course there’s no one reason. Writers are being pressured to write the big one, the big series, the High Concept book, something that is different but stays the same. Nobody’s telling them to, it’s just the way “the market” is going. Fewer authors, higher sales per unit. Splashy, lots of action, lots of sex.

For some writers, that’s exactly what they want to do. Others don’t, their metier runs to a different kind of book and they’re getting short shrift now. The chase for the next big thing has resulted in markets rising and falling ever faster. Right now it’s urban fantasy, next it’s steampunk, but if you aren’t already in there and working hard, either close to publication or accepted, then forget it, because for the writer, that’s over. The publishers have all the authors they want in that genre and you’re going to have to look for something else, something with a platform, a high concept, a distinct genre.

This is making writers edgy. They’re putting out books faster, and each book is getting a little less theirs, a little more of a product. Less love is going into creating it. Editors are all about buying the next book and spotting the next trend, not nurturing the writers they’ve already bought. It’s not their fault, it’s just the way the market is going.

Readers can only buy what is in the bookstores. If you love paranormal but you hate the market leaders, you’ll look for something else, pick up the next book with a great cover and blurb. Maybe you’ll find something. But rarely a book with great depth, something that speaks to your soul. It’s always been like that, there have always been splashy, dramatic books, and good luck to them. We all need one of those to read from time to time. But readers want more, they want different, and it’s getting harder to find. It’s not the reader’s concern to analyse and decide what they want. Why should they? But if they don’t find what they want, they’ll move on to videos, video games, other genres.

So writers, edgy with the increased pressures and with writing more books are snipping at readers, and readers, dissatisfied but not quite knowing why, are snipping back.

There are always exceptions, always a great book, always an author who ploughs her own furrow, but it’s the general trends, not individual greatness or otherwise that is driving the market. Always the Pareto rule, the 80:20 ratio that goes into the marketing and finance departments. There’s a reason for the saying “the exception proves the rule.”

Plus it’s the change of the season, and that always brings a bit of disturbance. So maybe it’s just the weather.

Limecello’s review of The C.O.O. Must Marry by Maxine Sullivan
Contemporary Romance released by Silhouette Desire 10 Feb 09

I really enjoy Maxine Sullivan’s stories- and she’s one of the “Down Under” Desire authors I keep an eye out for. The C.O.O. Must Marry is another Valente book, and there’s so much to gush about here. The old “friends to lovers” with a history, the family pressure, money problems, intrigue, it’s so complicated, robust, engaging, and entertaining.

Sasha Blake is a likable heroine, and I sympathized with her, and did like her- but in a way she’s weak. However, its understandable. Sasha basically has a handicapp forced on her because of her family. She’s always had feelings for Nick, but realized those would go nowhere, and moves on. Life and her family have thrown her back into Nick’s circle, and she’s doing her best to cope, and make everyone happy- even at a detriment to herself. I did like that Sasha isn’t someone to put herself first – and I felt badly for her.

Nick Valente start out rather well rounded, because he’s the brother that wants the family home. The fact that it means something to him I think shows that he’s rather traditional, and is not only happy with, but wants continuity and stability. It also gives him the reason to marry Sasha. He speaks in anger sometimes, but grovels nicely.

The fact that both the Blake and Valente families are manipulative I think really play off each other nicely. In a way, the Blake and Valentes are foils. Yes, both pressure their children to do things best for the family, but the Valentes know in the long run it’ll be the best move for their children too. The Blakes, however, are purely selfish.

You have to feel bad for Sasha always being put second, or third, and realize how that has shaped her as a person. she does well enough on her own, and does have a back bone – she and Nick and merely learning each other, because despite the fact that they knew each other when they were younger, they wre more acquaintances than anything.

I think the tenuous history helps establish the connection, and then the warmth and vulnerability of Sasha really brings it all together. She finally comes into her own, and Nick realizes how great she really is – and apologizes for being an idiot. It all works out nicely, believably, and I was satisfied.

I can’t wait to read Ms. Sullivan’s next books. I really liked the Valentes.

Grade: B+

What would compel millionaire playboy Nick Valente to marry a woman he hadn’t seen in years? Blackmail, of course. To keep his family home, Nick must marry the woman of his father’s choosing: Sasha Blake, a long-ago flame. Sasha had been barely out of her teens, but there had been nothing immature about her then–or his desire for her. Now she would be his wife, and Nick would be free to make love to her as often and any way he liked. But there was one nagging question in his mind….

He knew his reasons for agreeing to this marriage…what were hers?

Lynne Connolly‘s review of The Greek Tycoon’s Reluctant Bride by Kate Hewitt
Contemporary romance released by Mills & Boon (UK) 1 Jan 08, Harlequin (US) 9 Feb 10

This book should really have been a full-length novel in a more serious line. The hero and heroine both have Issues, and they are nasty ones, ones that would take more than a category-length title to resolve. I think there’s a pacing problem here, too, because after a long set up and middle bit, it was resolved too fast. 

Alethea and the hero, Demos are both Greek. Demos marries Alethea when he thinks she will make no demands on him, believing her to be the party girl she pretends to be.

Both hero and heroine are wealthy, Demos being a self-made man. I liked their internal conflicts, I really did, but it resulted in a book that was decidedly down-key for HMB. Nothing really to cheer them on for or to smile at on the way. It was depression all the way. So I read and read and kept wishing I liked this one more.

There’s a genre in the UK, until recently very popular, known as mis-lit. Nothing cheerful happens until the last page. Usually it is about struggle through adversity. Maybe this would have made a great mis-lit book and I really think that Kate Hewitt should have thought about writing this as a woman’s fiction book. Or maybe she can take the heroine’s dilemma and write a long, exploratory novel about the problem. I would totally read that.

Alethea behaves much as someone with her history would, but because we don’t know her history until later on in the book, she appears petulant and spoiled. Alethea is a cocktease, and she does it to Demos, but he pursues her and proposes because he wants a party girl, someone who will make no demands on him and show his troubled sister that marriage can be fun. However Alethea has real problems, and one of my problems with her character is her father. The man is stupid, blind, and doesn’t see what he shouldn’t, and yet he is presented in a sympathetic manner. He deserves a kick up the butt.

The hero’s problem is clear from the start. He’s a self-made man, looked after his family from when he was a small boy and when his mother remarries, he finds she doesn’t need him anymore. Unlike his sister, who needs him too much. Demos is a tycoon, a billionaire, and his mother lives in a little house with her husband. Strikes me as a tad unlikely, but I could see why he was miffed, because she refuses to take advantage of his money.

It was a great attempt that ultimately failed, partly because the pacing is off, and partly because there is unrelenting unhappiness for most of the book. And at the end I wasn’t convinced that the marriage would last. It ends on a decidedly ambiguous note – they are together and in love, but I didn’t think this one would be a successful marriage. At least they understood each other. As a Harlequin, I have to give this one a C-.

Grade: C-

Blurb:

The Greek tycoon’s marriage demand!  Darkly handsome Demos Atrikes wants a wife to provide heirs to his fortune. No emotions, no complications…
Catching sight of stunning, intriguing Althea Paranoussis, he has to have her. She may be a society party girl, but he believes she’s perfect wife material – and their wedding is arranged.  The chemistry between them is all-consuming. But, once married, Demos discovers the painful truth of Althea’s childhood. She needs more from him than he’d ever planned to give…

Read an excerpt here.

Holly‘s review of A Fortune Wedding by Kristin Hardy
Contemporary romance released by Silhouette Special Edition 1 June 2009

I really tried to like this book. Two things marred my enjoyment: 1) the fact that I hadn’t read any of the previous books and 2) the heroine. There were many things that were referenced in this book that I didn’t understand because I hadn’t read any of the previous ones.

Frannie’s husband is murdered and her whole world changes. She’d been living under his thumb for years and now she doesn’t know what to do. She wants to become an independent woman, wants to take control of her life, but she doesn’t really know how. I can appreciate that. I understood that her life had been turned upside down, but rather than dealing with it she just stuck her head in the sand and refused to do anything. She whined and complained when Roberto offered to help her, and complained when he tried to support her, but she did nothing to make her life her own.

I can’t stand a whiny heroine. It’s annoying and frustrating when she complains about her situation but does nothing to change it. I found it interesting that she was willing to look the other way and not take charge with anyone but the hero. Which means she basically just pushed him away the whole book. For no good reason.

Roberto I liked. He was hurt by Frannie in the past, but he was willing to step up and help her regardless. He was definitely the more stable and logical of the pair. I liked that he was willing to stand with Frannie even though she was a total mess. Unfortunately, that was also one of the things that turned me off from him, too. As the book progressed and Frannie acted more and more like a spoiled child, I lost respect for Roberto and the way he kept trying to be in her life. There comes a point when enough is enough, and I thought Frannie crossed that point early in the book.

I was surprised at the twist the plot took toward the end. Finding out what happened with Frannie’s dead husband was what kept me reading. I enjoyed the way the story played out. Otherwise, I can’t offer much to recommend this story.

Grade: D

Summary:

Once, he was her whole world…

…until Roberto Mendoza left Frannie Fortune and their hometown far behind. But she was no longer the seventeen-year-old in love with the smoldering ranch hand. She was a woman accused of murdering her husband.

When he left Red Rock nineteen years ago, Roberto swore he would never return. But when an unseen enemy threatened the Mendoza clan, he found himself charging to Frannie’s rescue, determined to help her clear her name. And when passion reignited—hotter and more powerful than before—Roberto knew he’d do anything to heal the past and build a future with the woman who’d always belong to him.

The woman he’d never stopped loving.

Read an excerpt for A Fortune Wedding

Holly‘s review of Make Me Yours by Betina Krahn
Historical romance released by Harlequin Blaze 1 July 2009

Before I go into my review, I have to tell you that it annoys the crap out of me that the Blaze line now includes historical and paranormal novels. In the past Blaze has always been sexy, contemporary romances. That’s what I expect when I pick up a Blaze. 95% of the time I don’t even look at the blurb, just throw it in my cart based on the “Blaze” logo and the author’s name. Messing with reader expectations is never a good idea. Just saying.

Moving on to the review….

I love Betina Krahn. She kind of fell off my radar a year or so ago, and I’m really bummed about it. I love how true she stays to the historical time period she writes about. This wasn’t necessarily a comfortable storyline. Watching the hero follow around after the heroine while she finds a husband who won’t care she’s going to be mistress to the prince is unconventional to say the least. The fact that Krahn makes it work is a testament to her ability as an author.

I really liked Mariah. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place so she made the best possible decision she could. I really enjoyed her wit and humor. The way she played the situation to her advantage was hilarious.

Jack was a strong character who had strong convictions and a deep sense of right and wrong, but that didn’t transfer well at first. His attraction to Mariah is frustrating to him because he knows he can’t have what the prince has already claimed for himself. I really enjoyed his inner struggle, because it really gave us more insight into his character. He seemed like a stick in the mud, but watching his passion come unleashed was worth the wait.

The two of them were really good together. They had great chemistry that really came across the pages. I was definitely rooting for them as the story progressed.

The storyline here was unique and though a bit uncomfortable at times, I was impressed overall. The heroine was refreshing and a perfect match with the hero.

Grade A

Summary:
Mariah Eller was only trying to save her inn from being trashed. So how did the widow manage to attract the unwanted—and erotic—attention of the Prince of Wales? Not that being desired by royalty is necessarily bad… Only, Mariah much prefers the prince’s best friend….

Jack St. Lawrence is very tempting, and very loyal. And he knows that the prince gets involved only with married women. So he figures sexy Mariah is safe…until the prince demands Jack find her a husband!

The problem? Jack and Mariah can’t fight their sizzling attraction. And once they give in to their desires, the situation is even worse. Because the prince’s man has found a husband for Mariah.

Himself…