Quick Looks at New Books

Curveball
By Kate Angell
Contemporary Romance

The Premise: The Richmond Rogues, baseball's sexiest major league team, are favorites for the World Series right up until their pre-season Media Day, when the three top power hitters get involved in a brawl so damaging to the team’s image and roster that the owner benches them for the first thirteen games. Collectively known as “The Bat Pack,” Cody “Psycho” McMillan, Jesse “Romeo” Bellisaro, and Chase “Chaser” Tallon find themselves with time on their hands and a lot of angry attitude to work off. Nothing like a lengthy suspension to throw your personal life into focus. Psycho has a gutted landmark Colonial, two badly behaved Newfoundland puppies, and the obsessive Daughters of Richmond historic preservation committee to deal with when Keely Douglas shows up at his door. She is trying to bluff her way into a renovation job; Psycho can smell a con but once Keely sweet talks her way past the Daughters, he hires her, and gets a whole lot more than he bargained for. Romeo, so nicknamed because of his way with the ladies and his title of “Sexiest Man in Baseball,” is trying to make amends to Emerson Kent, the reporter he knocked over during the Media Day brawl, and comes up against one woman who remains unmoved by his legendary charm. Meanwhile, Chaser accidently locks lips with childhood friend Jen Reid, and realizes the girl next door may mean more to him than he had guessed.

What I liked: I enjoyed the whole Richmond Rogues scenario in Strike Zone, and I like it just as much here. The team is full of quirky characters, and the professional sports background is fun. The stories unfold over the length of a baseball season, so the pace is good and the development of the relationships doesn’t seem rushed. The heroines are all different types in terms of looks, background, and attitude, but all likeable and believable.

What I didn’t like: The Chaser/Jen storyline was not as developed as the other two, and just didn’t hold my interest to the same degree. Having the three stories in one volume also means you don’t get quite as much detail on the characters background.

Overall: I think Curveball, along with Strike Zone and Squeeze Play, are well executed and enjoyable romances, perfect for the season and a lot of fun whether or not you are a baseball fan.

Quick Looks at Some New Books

Positive I.D.
By Kathleen Long

Romantic Suspense
The premise:
This is the first of a new series called The Body Hunters from Harlequin Intrigue. The Body Hunters are a group of private citizens with great investigative skills who work together to find missing persons when law enforcement either gets no results or gives up. In this installment, Will Connor, one of the founders of the firm, goes back into the field to try to find his missing daughter Jordan. The tricky part of the equation is that both Jordan and Will’s wife Maggie believe that he died seventeen years previously in an explosion. One of the criminals Will helped bring down had threatened to kill both his wife and his infant daughter, so Will faked his own death to save them. Now his old nemesis appears to have figured out that Will is still among the living, and so he used Jordan and Maggie to lure him out of hiding. Now Will not only has to save his daughter but win back the wife who feels he abandoned her all those years ago, and whom he has never stopped loving.

What I liked:
I thought nearly all of the characters were well drawn, which is no mean feat within the length constraints of a category romance. Even the secondary characters were pretty vivid. I liked the missing person angle as well, particularly the Body Hunters desire to follow a trail, no matter how cold it might be, in order to help the families of the missing find some kind of closure. The suspense element and the love story were pretty well balanced and worked well together, and the pace was good.

What I didn’t like:
Will’s back story and that of the Body Hunters in general, didn’t really hang together for me all that well. Maybe I am being too nitpicky, but how is it that a couple of guys with no training – either law enforcement, military or P.I. – managed to put together this crack team of investigators? Also, if the goal is to find missing persons, how did Will end up breaking up a heroin ring and earning the enmity of the guy who threatened to kill his family? If these details were explained, I missed them. The villain was also fairly easy to peg early on, and was a little less meaty than I would have liked. Again, length constraints probably contributed to this. I also felt that Maggie gave in and forgave Will for his deception rather quickly. One brisk slap in the face and some tears wouldn’t really work for me for a faked death and the accompanying sense of abandonment – I think I might require some thrown crockery and a lot of screaming. But then, I might just be a grudge holder....

Overall:
I think this is an enjoyable, quick read, great for a lazy afternoon. I would read other titles by this author.

Romantic Times Convention Recap

RT held its annual convention in Pittsburgh last week, and if the coverage on its website is any indication, a good time was had by all. The gathering includes all kinds of events, with author signings, contests, workshops for writers and booksellers, and costume balls. If you want to see what it's all about, you can read articles and see videos at the Romantic Times site under News.

On the Book Cart

There’s a wide variety to choose from on the cart this week, from series romance to classic historicals. Positive I.D. by Kathleen Long offers a quick shot of romantic suspense with the story of a government agent who had to fake his own death to escape a criminal vendetta and who is forced to reveal himself years later to save his wife and daughter. There’s also a bit of suspense in Dianne Castell’s Hot and Bothered, when a Savannah hotel magnate hires a sexy private investigator to help find the missing heir to the family fortune. In When She Was Bad, Cindy Kirk’s heroine Jenny Carman decides that since playing by the rules has gotten her nowhere, she’s going to play the bad girl and play the field, but she has a little problem with her double identity when she meets Mr. Right. Jackie Laurens is Flirting with Forty, recently divorced, and beginning a new romance with her surfing instructor in Jane Porter’s novel of mid-life love and reinvention. This week’s historicals include a retelling of “The Taming of the Shrew” set in 19th century Scotland in Hope Tarr’s Untamed. Elizabeth Hoyt begins a new four volume series called “Legend of the Four Soldiers” with To Taste Temptation, in which an “uncivilized” American businessman and former military man woos one of London’s most sophisticated ladies. Another commoner is the hero of Sylvia Day’s Don’t Tempt Me; mercenary Simon Quinn doesn’t quite know what hit him when he gets involved with identical twins, each with her own reason for keeping him in the dark. Last but not least, Amanda Quick’s latest Arcane Society novel, The Third Circle, has arrived. In this story, mesmerist Thaddeus Ware is sent by the Society to steal a powerful crystal, only to find that lovely Leona Hewitt has beaten him to it, and he must protect both of them to complete his mission. Reserve any or all by checking the catalog.

Crossing Genres: Meet Bailey Weggins

As you know, I’m a real sucker for a mystery/romance combination, and Kate White’s Bailey Weggins novels fit the bill. Bailey is a thirtyish, recently divorced true crime writer who lives in Manhattan and works for a high profile women’s magazine. Her ex-husband, the rat, had a rather serious gambling problem, the fact of which totally blindsided her. Given that she’s a crime reporter, her cluelessness made her feel pretty stupid as well. But Bailey forges onward, both in dating and detecting, and her adventures make for some really fun reading. Author Kate White is editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, and her knowledge of the industry makes her portrayal of Bailey’s work life both vivid and interesting. White also does an admirable job of conveying the atmosphere of New York City without sounding like a travel guide.
I’ve enjoyed pounding the pavement along with Bailey as she investigates, flirts, shops, and solves crimes through five different books. I read them (mostly) in order, but each one is enjoyable on its own. Synopses below; pick out one or all for a little armchair travel and adventure!
















If Looks Could Kill: Cat Jones, Bailey’s editor at Gloss, calls early one morning in a panic – her nanny is missing and she fears foul play. Bailey leaves her bed -- and the cute boy in it – to help Cat. She expects to find a tempest in a teapot, and instead finds a dead body and a possible plot to kill her old friend and current boss. Traveling from city townhouses to country getaways, Bailey interviews nannies, philandering husbands, back stabbing magazine employees, and a sexy psychologist while hunting down a cunning killer.

A Body to Die For: Bailey heads out of town for some much needed rest and relaxation at an inn and spa owned by a family friend. Unfortunately, murder is not far behind, and Bailey is once again hot on the trail of a killer. With her handsome psychologist back in Manhattan, and a sexy homicide detective at the inn, Bailey has her hands full juggling men and mysteries.

Til Death Do Us Part: The life of a domestic diva is not all sunshine and radish roses, as Bailey discovers when she comes to the aid of a friend. It seems that members of the bridal party for a rising food and entertaining star are starting to die under suspicious circumstances. The really bad news is that Bailey was a bridesmaid and doesn’t want to end up dying for the honor. She braves the New England winter to investigate the nefarious goings-on in Greenwich and hunts down a killer who is both well dressed and well versed in the art of arranging convenient freak accidents.

Over Her Dead Body: Everyone thinks their job will be the death of them some days, but when Bailey starts a new gig at the celebrity gossip magazine Buzz, she finds out that sometimes work can kill you. Only a few days into her job, she finds the bludgeoned body of her much reviled editor while leaving the office one night. She soon finds that there are more people who wanted the woman dead than one intrepid true crime reporter can count. Her investigation takes her all over the city and out to the Hamptons, and introduces her to Beau Regan, a hot film producer that Bailey thinks she might just want to marry someday – that is, if she lives through the investigation.

Lethally Blond: Bailey gets a behind the scenes look at the hot new TV show Morgue when a former flame asks her to investigate the disappearance of a friend. Next thing you know, Bailey finds herself juggling the attentions of two handsome men and a crazed stalker. When the missing person becomes a murder victim, the stakes go up, and she races to find the killer before she ends up in the morgue for real.

eHarlequin – Not Just for Shopping!

I was noodling around online planning the summer paperback collection the other day when I decided to visit the cyber-home of Harlequin. Given the tremendous number of imprints and lines they have, I figured this was a great spot to find a mother lode of romance titles and authors. Well, I did find a wide variety of authors and series and new titles, but I also found a lot more. In addition to traditional shopping functions, eHarlequin also offers an area where you can read stories and excerpts with daily “Online Reads.” What a great way to test drive new authors or series! For those of who close many a romance novel with the words “I could do this!” there is a “Learn to Write” section, which includes helpful articles, writer’s guidelines for each imprint, new author profiles, checklists for the mechanics of submitting manuscripts, a forum for aspiring and published authors, and a fee-based individual manuscript critique service. You can also sign up for newsletters and publication alerts. Overall, this site has a lot to offer for romance fans, and is fairly easy to navigate. Whether or not you are a regular reader of Harlequin imprints, it’s worth checking out.

On the Book Cart

Some new titles and some old favorites on the cart this week. Nora Roberts old Silhouette romances are often reissued in multi-volume sets; Cordina’s Royal Family: Gabriella and Alexander follow the romantic exploits of a brother and sister from the ruling family of a small Mediterranean monarchy. Janelle Denison’s Born to be Wilde continues her Wilde family saga with the story of Joel, an ex-Marine turned security specialist who finds the woman he has been hired to protect is a little too hot to handle. Curveball by Kate Angell is another story featuring the Richmond Rogues, fiction’s sexiest Major League Baseball team. Another contemporary, Bikini Season by Sheila Roberts, introduces us to a heroine who goes back to her hometown to plan her wedding, but starts questioning her decision when she continuously runs into the object of a childhood crush, and the stress makes her eat so much that she can’t fit into her wedding dress. Historicals include Sharon Page’s Black Silk, a very hot, suspenseful Regency that is also a Romantic Times Top Pick, and a medieval romance between a beautiful, quick-witted thief and the sheriff who is honor bound to help her right a past wrong in Sarah McKerrigan’s Danger’s Kiss. Check the catalog to request your favorites.