On the Book Cart

The new Susan Elizabeth Phillips title What I Did for Love is on the cart this week; it tells the story of Georgie York, a sitcom star who has recently been very publicly dumped by her husband and ends up with a fake marriage after eloping with a former costar. This one looks like a lot of fun! Other contemporary titles include The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O’Neal, The Girl Most Likely To... by Susan Donovan, and For the Love of Pete by Julia Harper. Kaye Dacus brings us the contemporary inspirational Stand-In Groom, a story of wedding planning and assumed identities. The Viscount Claims His Bride by Bronwyn Scott and The Highland Groom by Sarah Gabriel are the only two historical entries this week. Karen Rose’s Scream for Me and Elisabeth Naughton’s Stolen Fury are both romantic suspense, and the lone paranormal is At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost. Place your requests and get some new reading material before the next snowstorm – because you know there will be one!

On the Book Cart

Many new arrivals this week, including the long awaited first novel by Princess of Genovia Mia Thermopolis, with an assist from Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot. Cabot, in the guise of her fictional creation Mia, has penned Ransom My Heart, a grown up love story full of the same quirky charm as her well known Diaries, with the proceeds going to Greenpeace.
Contemporary romances include a romantic suspense story from Cindy Gerard, Whisper No Lies. Other comtemporary titles include Lisa Dale’s Simple Wishes, Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down, Carly Phillips’ Secret Fantasy, and Alison Kent’s Maximum Exposure.
Christine Feehan’s Murder Game leads off the paranormal category, which also includes Shiloh Walker’s The Missing and Barbara Bretton’s Casting Spells.
Historicals include an inspirational co-authored by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke called The Centurion’s Wife, the story of a young woman in an arranged marriage who learns to know both her husband and herself in the tumultuous events surrounding the birth of Christianity. Victoria Alexander presents The Perfect Wife, while Loretta Chase brings us Lord Perfect. Anna Campbell’s heroine decides to Tempt the Devil, while Lorraine Heath’s is caught Between the Devil and Desire. Check the catalog and request your favorites now.

February Romantic Times is here!

The February RT is their 300th issue, and includes an entertaining time capsule filled with stories from early on, complete with grainy photos of well known authors (see Nora Roberts with an ‘80s perm!) There is also a feature on three friends and rising stars in the genre: Jami Alden, Bella Andre, and Monica McCarty. Other cover stories include an interview with author Val McDermid and a discussion of addiction as a storyline in historical romance. Nominees for RT’s Best Books and Authors of 2008 are included; see if you agree with the reviewers’ choices. Author spotlights feature Kristin Higgins, Jade Lee, Tina Wainscott, Helen Scott Taylor, and Jill Sorensen. As always, there are 250 book reviews to help you decide what to read next.

Running Hot

Running Hot
By Jayne Ann Krentz

The newest of the contemporary Arcane Society novels has arrived and I finished it in two nights! It has the author’s trademark fast pace and great character development. From the attention grabbing opening line, “Martin was going to kill her” we know that our heroine is not going to have an easy time. While I am always prejudiced in favor of a librarian as leading lady, Grace Renquist is truly likeable; she’s had a rough time and managed to survive on brains and ingenuity. Her incredible ability to read auras, strong even by Arcane Society standards, helps her keep one step ahead of the bad guys. The hero, Luther Malone, is also an aura talent, one who can read the auras of others and use his own to manipulate theirs. This skill came in handy in his former life as a police detective, and still does in his current life as a bartender and sometime J&J operative. Though Luther has a bad leg and uses a cane due to a gunshot injury on a previous J&J case, he compensates well and gets assigned to bodyguard duty when Fallon Jones sends Grace to Hawaii to ID a suspected multiple murderer. Should be a quick, easy job, but things get complicated when the two run into a veritable convention of paranormal talents and realize they’ve stumbled onto a meeting of a small group of members of Nightshade, the renegades within the society who are determined to recreate the legendary Founder’s Formula. Throw in a couple of unexpected assassins with exotic talents and a supporting cast of quirky characters, and even the inimitable Fallon Jones can’t predict where the plot will go next.
Running Hot is another strong entry into the Arcane Society lineup, with an intricate plot and a great cast of characters. Those who haven’t read the previous contemporary Arcane Society books might find the Nightshade plot a little confusing, but Krentz provides enough background to make it manageable. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment. Based on a few of Grace’s comments near the end of this book, I am hoping that we will finally get to meet Fallon Jones, and that Fallon will get to meet his match....

On the Book Cart

There are three contemporary romances on the cart this week: Beverly Barton’s Dying for You is straight romantic suspense, Divorced, Desperate and Dating by Christie Craig is more of a romantic comedy caper, and Talk of the Town by Karen Hawkins is a “What happens when you go back to your hometown and the hot guy from high school is now the single sheriff” type of book. Parnormal titles include the last of Nora Robert’s Sign of Seven trilogy, The Pagan Stone, as well as the anthology Dead After Dark, featuring stories by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Susan Squires, and others. We also have Julie Leto’s Phantom’s Touch and Linda Winstead Jones’ 22 Nights. There are quite a few historical titles: Eloisa James’ When the Duke Returns, Connie Brockway’s My Surrender, Kathryn Caskie’s To Sin With a Stranger, Lydia Joyce’s Wicked Intentions, Elizabeth Boyle’s Tempted by the Night, and Hannah Lowell’s Highland Sinner.