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Volume 5, Number 11 November 2006 Home | MBW Index

Table of Contents

Dunford's Bookshelf Kaveny's Bookshelf Klausner's Bookshelf

Laurel's Bookshelf Mary's Bookshelf Paul's Bookshelf

Shelley's Bookshelf Shirley's Bookshelf Taylor's Bookshelf

Vicki's Bookshelf

Dunford's Bookshelf
Ham It Up
Stephanie Quinn
Quinn Entertainment
7535 Austin Harbour Drive, Cumming, GA 30041
0977309916 $19.95 1-770-356-3847 www.quinnentertainment.com

Written by Stephanie Quinn from her years of experience holding summer acting camps in a performing arts studio, Ham It Up: How To Start Your Own Acting Camp for Kids is an in-depth guide to running a fun, safe, and creative program for young people ages 8 to 15, the better to cultivate their performing talents, and includes an exciting performance to produce for family and friends. Black-and-white photographs illustrate these plain-spoken instructions for interacting with parents, leading kids in theater preparation and warmup exercises, and a detailed five-day planner filled with activities for kids to learn about everything from scriptwriting to body positioning to dress rehearsal and curtain calls. The most valuable aspect of Ham It Up is that its curriculum has been thoroughly tested and put into practice, allowing the teacher to focus upon instruction itself rather than fine-tuning lesson plan mechanics. Enthusiastically recommended especially for summer camps, summer school instructors, community theater groups, and Sunday school groups in need of a quality week-long acting camp.

Rethinking High School Graduation Rates & Trends
Lawrence Mishel & Joydeep Roy
Economic Policy Institute
1333 H Street, NW, Suite 300, East Tower, Washington DC 20005
1932066241 $13.50 www.epi.org 202-775-8810

Written by Economic Policy Institute (a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank) members Lawrence Mishel and Joydeep Roy, Rethinking High School Graduation Rates & Trends is a serious-minded re-examination of modern statistical data. In an increasingly knowledge-driven and globalized economy, people without a high school diploma are at a disadvantage - but modern scholars disagree upon the precise rate of graduation in U.S. high schools. Rethinking High School Graduation Rates & Trends scrutinizes current sources of statistical data on high school completion and dropout rates, taking into account the findings of the Census Bureau Household Survey, historical trends, the General Education Development (GED) issue and more to draw mixed conclusions. On the one hand, graduation rates are unquestionably in need of improvement; on the other, they are higher than presupposed, and getting better. An extensively researched guide devoted to clearly defining the extent of the troubling national problem of high school dropout rates, without overstating its volume or understating its importance.

Acting
Edited by Robert Emmet Long
Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.
80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
0826418058 $14.95 www.continuumbooks.com 212-953-5858

Edited by Robert Emmet Long, Acting: Working In The Theatre is a compilation of the insights of more than one hundred create theatre performers, from Ian McKellen and Tony Randall to John Lithgow, Elizabeth Franz, Lynn Redgrave and many more. The paragraph-long tips, insights, and observations are grouped according to subject matter - from auditioning to working in an ensemble to theatre and cinema vs. television - and cross-referenced by means of an index. A superb source of inspiration for anyone pursuing amateur or professional theatre. A sample quote from noted theatrical performer and Star Trek star Patrick Stewart: "Someone once defined to me craft - or technique as I've always thought of it - as being what you use when you don't feel it anymore."

Michael Dunford
Reviewer

Kaveny's Bookshelf
I called my editor-in-chief Jim Cox a while ago because I was concerned about the length of Kaveny's Bookshelf. Jim assured me that there are no page counts in cyberspace. Therefore, I am going to take him at his word, and review a play, Elmer Rice's (1892-1967) 1923 play The Adding Machine. And an educational Video DVD, for which I am working as part of a project here at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, for Dr. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton on media images of African Americans in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, century. I will also include two parts of my three-part article on my experiences as a student and radical at U.W. Madison in the late 1960's.

But before this, I would like to make brief not of the revolution that has taken place in educational technology since the advent of high-resolution, low-cost Video DVDs a handful of years ago. The biggest thing they do for a humanities scholar like myself is to add new light to the 20th century culture, and to apply new theoretical viewpoints to subjects which may have seemed to be closed. This is in addition to the wonderful job that they do as a classroom supplement, but only as a supplement. There is no substitute for a human teacher who makes education more than simply watching the history channel, as wonderful as that is.

I was finally able to give the PBS Video

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (1999)
ASIN: B00000JLTO
$21.95

my full attention, and I must say by the end of it I had tears in my eyes. To me, the most powerful aspect of his life is the way he used his art to become political, and transcend white expectations. I am also am proud of him for his fight against Fascism in the 1930's and the late 1940's, and how he was willing to pay the price for what he believed. Robeson (1898-1976) suffered a kind of house arrest when his passport was revoked in the 1950's. In a sense, within The United States he became artistically invisible and suffered in some sense the fate of W.B. Dubois. One can sense the power of an African Prometheus unbound as he reforms his art in an authentic African-American voice and pays the price in doing so. Maybe I have the introduction to a term paper here, and for class I will focus on him in the 40's and 50's.

Though I have a wall full of advanced degrees, I am in the process of getting a second B.A. here at U.W. Eau Claire. It is a part of a lifelong process of intellectual retooling. For the last thirty years I have written reviews and literary criticism, some which I have been paid for. In addition, I have taken advanced criticism from a number of academic departments. Yet I have never taken aesthetics from a philosophy department until now. I am taking Philosophy 325 from Mr. Myer, who is half my age, and receiving the tools and historical grounding which hopefully shows in my following work to re-think my critical approach.

Let me start with this analogy. Aesthetics is to criticism as mathematics is to science. Once you know the math you can do what you want with it, as long as you are consistent. I am sad to note that this play is not available in Media format. It is available in paperback book format, but see the play if you can.

The Adding Machine
Elmer Rice
Kessinger Publishing
ISBN: 1425470890 $14.95 48 pages

A delightful UW Eau Claire Theatrical Production. Had Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) been in the audience at the Kier Theater, here at UW Eau Claire, last Thursday night Oct 12th for the production of Elmer Rice's (1892-1967) 1923 play The Adding Machine, it would have delighted him just as it did the rest of the audience. Delighted seems, I know, a very strange word to use in conjunction with one of the most brutally pessimistic German philosophers 19th Century.

Arthur Schopenhauer was the first European philosopher conversant with Eastern Philosophy to reject The Enlightenment, and with it the corollary that things are getting better. He adopted a worldview that life was nothing was more than foot-slogging along on a treadmill of endless suffering, towards oblivion. Sadly, we are driven by the slave master of the insatiable passions of our senses. Within this realm of suffering the satisfaction of our worldly passion is like salt water to one dying of thirst in the desert. However, Arthur Schopenhauer holds out one ray of hope. This hope is expressed in the revelatory power of art to make us a disinterested stranger to our passions, to be free of them, if only for the duration of the instant by the articulation of artistic genius.

Had Arthur Schopenhauer been among the audience, he would have seen his view of the world validated with a level of dramatic execution and technical excellence which I last saw when my wife and I attended the British National Theater in London's production of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, in December, 2005. Pullman's play was based on his trilogy of children's books, The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spy Glass. In the two-day seven-hour production of His Dark Materials, the British National Theater took a metaphysical wrecking ball to the grounding assumptions of the three Great Abrahamic monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Elmer Rice, in a strange kind of a time warp, picks up where Philip Pullman left off, which is a bit strange since The Adding Machine was first written and performed eighty years before His Dark Materials. Just as an aside in a weird and wonderfully backhanded way, Elmer Rice gives a bit of substance to the claim of some postmodern philosophers that postmodernism, in fact, preceded modernity.

The Adding Machine is set in 1923 and is about Mr. Zero, a man who has been reduced to a cipher and spends his days working as a human computer in large factory. He is filled with unresolved and hostilely articulated sexual tension between himself and his co-worker Daisy, who meanwhile amuses herself with an internal dialogue in which she envisions ways to commit suicide, as they tabulate seemingly endless numbers on interminable scraps of paper.

At the end of the day Mr. Zero returns to home to his shrewish, self-centered and unattractive wife, who has just deprived him of the only, tiny guilty pleasure of his life. Mrs. Zero has forced him to call the cops on exhibitionist Judy O'Grady, who used to titillate Mr. Zero through the window by parading around her tenement apartment across the adjoining alley wearing nothing but an undershirt. Mr. Zero was forced by his wife to have Judy O'Grady busted and sent to the workhouse for six months.

The next day, at the end of his shift, Mr. Zero is collared by his boss and told that his reward for his twenty-five years of service to his company is that he is to be fired, and replaced by a high school girl running an adding machine. Mr. Zero sees red, which fills the set and the stage with rage larger than can be contained in any video, or for that matter flat theater screen, and kills his boss with a paper spike through the heart.

For those of us whose imaginations have become flaccid from watching too many video or movie screens, it must be remembered that when properly executed on the theatrical stage the show has the depth, human presence, and power of twenty-five centuries of western history behind it, and the nuance of millions of years of primate communicative gesture driving it. This is wonderfully realized as Zero address a dozen stone-faced jurors, not with what he wishes to tell them, but with chaotic ramblings of his own interior dialogue, which reminds one of marbles rolling around inside a coffee can. Yet at the same time his interior dialogue gives us a brutal insight into the dark side of modernity and the human condition.

Yes, Mr. Zero is found guilty, legally executed, and finds himself in a place quite different from heaven or hell where Charles (a kind archangel of the sadistic catharsis), explains that Zero is in a kind of repair shop for souls. Zero's soul will be wiped clear of all memory and sent to earth a thousand times a thousand more times, until his evolutionary drive will be culminated as he operates an adding machine as a large an office building with only the pressure of his little toe. At first Zero, just like a contemporary computer geek, thinks that operating a machine that big would be kind of neat. But then he realizes in classic style, just like Oedipus in Oedipus Rex, the horror that he has become. For Zero there is no release, no opportunity for the grand theatrical gesture of gouging out his eyes. Zero is left chasing after the cruel illusion of a cute little trick whose name, Charles says, is Hope, as his soul proceeds down its evolutionary ramp though endless reincarnations. Granted this is not much of a catharsis for Zero, but the audience certainly felt at lot better afterwards. A wonderfully bright nineteen year old red-haired man told me afterwards, "I'm embarrassed I know nothing about this wonderful play; where has it been my whole life?"

Arthur Schopenhauer would have felt, I think, two things. First I think he would seen his view of the world realized perhaps even more completely than he had thought, by this 1923 play produced in the 21st century. Second, he would have loved how modernity and the Illusion of progress fell to it like a paper tiger to a fire hose, in this outstanding theatrical production. Yet he would have also realized that it was the genius of Elmer Rice's play The Adding Machine, executed and enhanced by The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, which takes us at least briefly to where art must take us. We share in what German novelist, poet, and Nobel laureate Herman Hesse (1877-1962) called, "the laughter of the gods", which frees us as it must at least for a little while, so we then go on again, and again, and again, just like our hero, Mr. Zero.

I would add that The Adding Machine, which is set and first performed in 1923, is more about the present and the future. If you don't believe me, ask anyone who has recently lost a high-tech job because they were downsized, or is facing a future in telemarketing, or working telephone customer service, where every key stroke is counted, and three errors in any given quarter may lead to summary dismissal. Perhaps, this is why the play spoke so well to my brilliant nineteen-year-old red-haired friend.

UW Madison in the Late 1960's, Part I

I was there at U.W. Madison in the late 1960's, both as an undergraduate and graduate student. That is to say, I was there until I was asked to leave graduate school for writing the F word on most of my final exams. I was not formally booted out; I was only told that I would have to talk to a committee before I re-enrolled, which I did not do until 1990 when I re-enrolled and later completed two different graduate programs.

If you think this article is going to be about drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll, well, sorry to disappoint you. This article is about the shared experience of a certain members of the "baby boom" generation that found a powerful contradiction between loving justice and loving our country at the same time. This article is also about some of us who tried to do something about this apparent contradiction.

The 1964 presidential election is as good a place to start as any. I was a junior at U.W. Madison, majoring in political theory, foreign policy, and economics and comparative government. At the time I thought I was on a career trajectory which would lead me into the Foreign Service or teaching when I finished. Even with the Kennedy assassination in Nov. of 1963, we were a generation, at least in Madison, who took John F. Kennedy's phrase "Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country" very seriously. "The New Frontier ", The Peace Corps, The Space Program, and surely the Civil Rights movement were the government's business, as we saw it. We also thought it was the government's business to give every American a shot at a better life.

In the fall of 1964 I was taking Macro-Economic theory, the United States was experiencing an adjusted GNP growth rate of around 3.5%, and "The War on Poverty" seemed winnable. The question that concerned us was not whether the War on Poverty was do-able , but whether it was ethical for the government to lift people out of their poverty and give then a chance at a better life. My Macro-Economic Theory professor pointed out that we could have both Guns and Butter, since the whole defense budget could be paid for by real economic growth.

However, there was the shadow of Vietnam on the horizon. We were studying Vietnam in my Major Problems in American foreign policy course, taught by a young Harvard Hot Shot and student of Henry Kissinger. I remember in class we analyzed the madness of Barry Goldwater's Vietnam policy that would commit three hundred thousand troops Vietnam, bomb North Vietnam "back to the Stone Age "and defoliate the entire country. L.B.J., we were told, would have no such madness and would use limited force to achieve a stable and democratic South Vietnam, with American troops serving only in advisory capacities.

I must add that, as willing as we were to discuss Barry Goldwater's Madness, we were unable to recognize our own. We were less than two years from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which by all accounts (even those by the major players like former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara), brought the world to the brink of nuclear Holocaust. Yet we talked about limited Nuclear War as if it were a viable policy alternative. Furthermore, we read the work of theorist Herman Kann, author of Thinking the Unthinkable, who rationally compared nuclear war outcomes in which thirty to forty million American and Soviet citizens were killed as if working out chess problems. I am certain that at least some of my classmates must have risen to the fields of power as I did not, and perhaps it was their ability to put a human face on these horrible figures that lead to a nuclear stand down and end to the cold war.

About this time in 1964, a graduate student Bob Cohen and a number of other radical sociologists from New York were starting to do "TEACH-INS" at U.W. Madison. In these teach-ins, the idea that Americans were always the good guys in the foreign policy arena was held up to rigorous scrutiny. We were the generation of American baby boomers that had just come of age. We were a generation whose fathers and Uncles who had fought in "good war" WW II to save the world from the fascism of Nazi Germany, Italy, and Imperial Japan. This was also a generation who had sent some its best members to the American South to work on voter registration. We thought we were the good guys.

What I remember about the first Vietnam protest and teach-in I attended was Bob Cohen standing on Bascom Hill mall at U.W. Madison, with a large map South East Asia set on an Easel next to him. He yelled for me and a bunch of my friends to come over to look at the map. He then took his pointer and pointed to South Vietnam, and said, "You guys should get to know this place, since lot of you are going to die there."

I remember at the time I was a six foot one, two hundred and sixty-five pound college heavyweight wrestler, and self-proclaimed foreign policy expert. After all, I was a political science major. Funny how little has changed in forty years.

I told Cohen that he did not know what the hell he was talking about. I said,

"America is following a restrained and rational policy of democratic nation building in Vietnam with a very limited use of force. And America will never slip into the madness of Barry Goldwater; our country is for certain going to elect L.B.J., who promised a reasonable and prudent Vietnam policy."

Further, I added that I knew this because, after all,

"I am a junior at U.W Madison, majoring in political theory, foreign policy, and economics and comparative government."

Cohen, who was about half my size with a full and very curly beard said to me,

"If you think America is doing such a great job why don't enlist in the Army as a Tank."

I responded with semi-simian cleverness, by offering to use him and his beard to clean my cannon barrel, if I did enlist.

By April 1965, everything had changed. Johnson had won the election handily but we had now had half a million troops in Vietnam. Worst of all, everything we studied in theory became real, and grades became a life and death matter.

Here I need to mention that for the last forty years I have been a serious tournament chess player, not a great one but a player. This brought me into contact with a lot of bright people in the science and math departments, who seem to gravitate toward the game. Gradually they became my friends an drinking buddies, and I fell away from my former wrestling buddies, some of whom I would meet on the wrong side of fixed bayonets a few years later during the student riots, but that's getting ahead of myself.

Around that time my friend Rich Jensen, a calculus TA, showed me a final exam blue book he was grading next to a pitcher of beer we were sharing in Lorenzo's, which was a campus bar a lot like "The Joint" on University Avenue in Madison. The guy was about a handful of points short of a D minus and had left this note on the last page of his exam along with a drawing of a skull and crossbones. The note said, "If I don't pass this course I will get kicked out of school and lose my student draft deferment. This means I will get drafted and probably get killed in Vietnam."

I told Rich if he gave the guy a D minus, I would buy the next pitcher of beer. Rich went over the exam again, found the guy a few extra points, and passed him.

UW Madison in the Late 1960's, Part II

In order to help you make sense out of this article, it is necessary that I make a slight digression. Forgive me if I move ahead forty years and interject just a little bit of the postmodern philosophy I am presently studying here at U.W. Eau Claire as it relates to language and reality.

In doing this, I am not going to do any philosophical name dropping; because even the concept of me as a knowing subject is verboten in the most radical reiterations of postmodern philosophy. This is a field where it becomes a leap of faith on my part that to think I can write a sentence, in which I communicate even the shadow of my intention to my readers. Further, all meanings are said to exist only in a positional sense as they relate to other language. Therefore, the idea of a referent, that is to say a meaning, and even an idea which underlies, and perhaps even exists outside of any given, language system is trivialized in the most brutal sense, within this discourse.

Yet as I write this article a term asserts itself in my consciousness. This term has affected all aspects of my life. I learned it about ten years ago from my dear friend, and philosophy professor Dan Pekarsky, when I was a graduate student at UW Madison in the late 90's. Dan (a white male with a Doctorate from Harvard) was reflecting on his lifetime of scholarship and being a beneficiary of "white male privilege". Dan reflected that this privilege is invisible to those who have it, and glaringly obvious to those who don't. Further, those who have it assume with the best intent that it is a universal and inalienable human right. In operation what it means (if you have it) is that there is an easy button that you can hit to realize those things you want to achieve. Access to that easy button has a lot to do with the accident of your birth, your skin color, gender, sexual preferences, and social economic reality. Perhaps the simplest example is someone who gets into Harvard because they are legacy; that is to say, they don't have to pass entrance requirements because one of their parents went to school there. In my own life experience it meant that I graduated towards the top of my high school class and got into college rather easily, even though I flunked six subjects in ninth grade. This was because I finished the rest of high school in two years as an honor student, so my principal chose not to certify my junior high school, and my father was sort of connected.

Well my rub with Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) and the rest of the Francophile critical theory enterprise (which has become emblematic of radical postmodernism) is that they would deny the existence of this privilege in any sense that transcended language. I on the other hand argue based on the validity, and generalizing from my and a generations experience that white male privilege was the real deal. It was a real deal before we had a name for it. In the Vietnam era, white male privilege existed in a life and death manner which shaped my generation. Whether we had it our not was literally a life and death matter, even when it did not exist in language.

White male privilege has been with us probably at least as long as writing, and much longer than any contemporary social system, though it seems to manifest itself through all of them. It manifests itself sometimes in simple and didactic ways, and sometimes with mind-boggling complexity. It is so prevalent that it is almost ignored.

It appeared in The New Testament in the form of the apostle Peter's and Paul's Roman Citizenship, which meant that they were granted some semblance of Roman due process rather than being summarily tossed to the lions in the Coliseum. Two thousand years later, it meant that I could be part of a group of students who occupied the Vice President of UW Madison's office for eight hours with him inside, to know with very high degree of confidence that a S.W.A.T. team would not be called in. For that matter, I could stand in front of the National Guard unit patrolling the grounds of the State Capital in Madison, and with some degree of confidence act as if I were bulletproof, along with thousands like me.

It also meant that the cops and The National Guard responded very differently to the Student Riots at U.W. Madison in the late sixties than they did to Watts Riots in Los Angles in 1965. Sections of the African American section of L.A, in which the riots were contained, are still empty lots. Though, I would add that privilege as a student was not a sure thing. There is a bronze tablet and a tree behind the Davies Center here at U.W. Eau Claire, dedicated to the students that were killed when the Ohio National Guard fired on student demonstrators at Kent State in early May of 1970. It is something that makes me very proud to be a part of U.W. Eau Claire. For clarity, I must also add that a crowd of African American Students were fired upon at Jackson State University in Mississippi; at least one was and killed and more than a dozen were wounded.

As one moves to a national level, it is obvious that our last two presidents had white privilege. What this meant was that it bought them time; one had it the form of deferments and one in the form of a National Guard Commission, which kept them out of combat in Vietnam. But in the case of most of us Vietnam Era males who did not serve in the armed forces, it worked a little bit more subtly than that and involved access to knowledge of the appropriate alternatives, and perhaps even more important, access to the necessary language to pursue them. For me this was not necessary because I was classified 1-Y, unsuitable for military service according to the draft board's standard, as I found out shortly after I was sent down to Milwaukee for my draft physical in 1967. I remember an army doctor smiling and telling me I was too short for my weight, even though I was six foot one. He said that according to his chart, someone my weight has to be seven foot six inches tall. I never planned it that way, but it certainly made things easier for me at age twenty-three.

Here I must say something about the fifty-six thousand American men and women who died in combat in Vietnam from the perspective of how I felt then, and how I feel now. As I do, one of the last things that Bill Clinton said publicly in the very early morning, before the polls opened in Maine on Election Day of 1992, comes to mind. It went something like this:

"I loved my country, but I hated the War in Vietnam."

There were a lot of reasons for hating the War, which ranged from the cold, harsh cost-benefit analysis of foreign policy experts, to the transcendent ethical considerations of what was a just war that some theologians raised, to the horrible, disruptive, and costly effect that the war had on American and Southeast Asian Vietnamese generations.

But that does not mean that the American men and women who fought and died from their sense of duty, or over-riding necessity, died for nothing. They died trying to keep themselves and their buddies alive, just as soldiers have always died since there were soldiers, and this is not a small thing. It is a thing I was able to choose not to be a part of. Though three of my friend's names are on the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C., I will not go there, though I think it is a sacred thing. I have been to Arlington National Cemetery, which is also hallowed ground. It's hard to say why I won't go past saying that the memorial is not meant for me, it's for them.

Those who died included at least three members of my Madison East High School wrestling Team, where I wrestled as varsity heavyweight at 180 pounds. One was our Junior Varsity 127 pounder Dave Ackerman. Dave had the kind boyish sweetness that you are always surprised you find in a soldier. Robert Caspersen Junior, our 154 pounder, was perhaps the finest, most compassionate man I met in my life. Bob was from a self-made Madison family of Norwegian Lutheran tool and dye makers. When he was brought home in 1967, all of us who served as his pallbearers later helped his father put up a forty-foot flag pole in front of the house, with a dedication to him on a bronze tablet. Our names were written in the cement that held the flag pole. I would add that Bob most reminded me of Joseph Conrad's character "Lord Jim" from his novel of the same name. I bet some of you are still required to read it for your English Literature classes.

Both Bob and Lord Jim went to their deaths, for reasons known only to them. I would in all seriousness say that Bob used to often visit me in my dreams, looking just as he did when he was blond, blue-eyed and twenty-three. I wrote a play about the sense of loss that I felt for all them in 1980. It will be performed in the Hibbard penthouse for Dr. Rowlett's religion and literature class Monday Oct 23rd at 6:00 P.M. The public is invited and refreshments will be served.

I would add that in 1975, Bob's father Robert Caspersen Senior found out that President Gerald Ford had pardoned President Richard M. Nixon after Watergate; he hung the American Flag upside down from that same flag pole. I found this out from my very close friend our Varsity 127 pounder Neal Hauser. Neal died in 1995 of a brain tumor, probably related to exposure to Agent Orange carcinogen that was used to defoliate large areas of South Vietnam in order to remove cover for Guerilla Vietcong Operations.

As I write this, I just realized that I need to write another installment of this article, because of conversations I had today with two U.W. Eau Claire faculty members. Much as I had not intended to, it is necessary for me to write about music, and about "the sexual revolution" from my standpoint living through the late nineteen sixties at U.W. Madison. In the early years of the sixties, among my crew of single males, the prevailing attitude was that sex was something that men got, and women hated. Further, homosexuality was treated at best as a mental illness, until 1973.

Phil Kaveny
Senior Reviewer

Klausner's Bookshelf
Star Brigade: First Renaissance
C.C. Ekeke
Llumina Press
7915 W. McNab Road, Tamarac, FL 33321
159526387X $21.95

In 2403, POW fighter pilot Habraum Nwosu is freed having been captured during the Ferronos Sector War. He does not know what to expect in terms of an assignment except probably some desk job when he comes home to Cercidale though he knew he would receive heroic accolades from the leaders of the Galactic Union of Planetary Republics. Instead to his shock he, because of his training and genetic engineered skills is placed in charge of a new elite unit, the Star Brigade consisting of the most experienced best of the best to fight invincible ever changing enemy terrorists. Almost a decade later a weary defeated Habraum goes home to mourn his wife's death in a horrific cargo freighter incident and to wallow with guilt as a sneak attack wiped out his Star Brigade unit. He takes full responsibility for the latter as she should have been prepared so he plans to rusticate while raising his son as a single dad. Without him, the Star Brigade cannot function so when the Korvenite Independence Front (KIF) begins assaults on Union planets, the leadership asks Habraum to rebuild his unit with mostly soldiers not battle tested to fight the deadly KIF, users of WMD. Though somewhat overwhelming as author C.C. Ekeke combines too many subplots (easily could be three interrelated novels), FIRST RENAISSANCE is a fun military science fiction that sub-genre readers will enjoy. The story line is loaded with action and adventure (much more than described above as there still remains for instance the Kedri Imperium-GUPR trade negotiations) that never ends from the moment that the new Star Brigade is formed that serves as the basis of readers believing in the Ekeke twenty-fifth century universe. Habraum is a fine star figure holding this future together even as he struggles to hold him self together. This is an interesting tale making sub-genre readers want to join the Star Brigade.

In Every Flower
Patti Hill
Bethany
c/o Baker House
PO Box 6287 Grand Rapids MI 49516-6287
0764229397 $12.99

Several years have passed since her spouse died in a biking accident. Mibby Garrett, owner of Perennially Yours Garden Design and mother to fifteen years old Kyle, feels it is time to move on. She accepts the proposal of Larry, who is kind to her teenage son, after they discuss what marriage means to one another. Both feel ready as they know what to expect. After the ceremony, they go off on their honeymoon leaving Kyle with Larry's mother Connie. However, when they return home to set up housekeeping, neither had anticipated the impact of their marriage on their extended family. Connie not only redid the kitchen, but she is over every moment offering unsolicited advice and being hurt when that advice is ignored. Kyle struggles with no longer being the man of the house as much as having a new father. Others are almost as intrusive leaving the newlyweds to wonder if it was worth it. Mibby asks God to help her by guiding her through the chaotic loving interference of others. Book three in the Garden gates tales (see LIKE A WATERED GARDEN and ALWAYS GREEN) is a terrific realistic look at second marriages mostly from the perspective of an intelligent, deeply devout caring person. Indirectly by how they behave to the beleaguered Mibby, the audience also sees how Larry, Ky and Connie react. Still this is Mibby's tale (and trilogy) as she feels so overwhelmed by the actions and reactions of others she wonders whether living in sin would have been a better option before turning to the Lord for guidance. This is a solid character study miniseries that deeply follows a woman from mourning to re-dawning of her life.

I'm Dreaming of Some White Chocolate
Rhonda Rhea
Revell/Baker Book House
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
0800731360 $10.00

Broken into eight parts with five subcategories in each, Rhonda Rhea provides an insightful amusing anecdotal look at the Christmas season in which many find themselves overwhelmed by the demands. The author provides insight into the real traditions and how they help to overcome the "Christmas Busies" that start in some places before Thanksgiving and makes the season feel like a trek through the "Jungle All the Way" until the New Year arrives as a refresher. Not just for Christians, readers will appreciate this rich look at Yuletide with and without kids. Inspirational with discerning looks at the spirit of the season especially the sharing through the authors humorous personal adventures and quotes from Biblical passages representing varying Bible interpretations (sort of religiously correct), I'M DREAMING OF SOME WHITE CHOCOLATE is a fine reminder of why Christmas can be a merry jolly season for all; just make mine a chocolate bell from the Bronx bakeries.

Stranded
Lorena McCoutney
Revell
0800731387 $12.99

Senior citizen Ivy Malone and her young traveling companion Abilene are on their way to Arizona when their RV breaks down outside the small town of Hello. Ivy is on the run from a criminal family the Braxtons, as her testimony is sending one of them to jail. Abilene is on the run from an abusive husband who has vowed to kill her. When they arrive in Hello, the resident mechanic tells them the vehicle needs a new engine. Unable to pay for the repair, Ivy gets a job at the library and Abilene obtains work training to be the vet's assistant. Lawyer Kelli Keifer invites both women to stay at her uncle Hiram's home now empty since he was murdered two months ago. The townsfolk believe she is the killer but Ivy who has taken an immediate liking to the attorney decides to find the real killer because she believes Kelli is innocent. There are plenty of other suspects with strong motives. Readers who like a warm, entertaining, small town cozy with no blood or gore will definitely enjoy STRANDED. The small town welcomes the new visitors and people go out of their way to make them feel at home. The support cast is well developed and fleshes out the ambience of the small town yet the focus stays on Ivy who demonstrates getting old doesn't mean immovable rocking chairs. The mystery itself is well crafted and readers should be very surprised when they learn who the killer is.

Twilight of the Dead
Travis Atkins
Permuted Press
0976555964 $14.95 http://www.permutedpress.com

The world as humans has known it no longer exists. Flesh eating zombies are in control; once bitten a person becomes deathly ill immediately, but twenty-four hours later is reanimated. In Florida, Courtney Calvin's mother has been bitten; her spouse will not leave her, but the National Guard arrives to take them to safety. Only Courtney goes. The group is attacked with everyone left dead except her as a soldier rescues her and brings her to Camp Rigero near Carson City. While at the post, a Black Beret teaches Courtney how to survive and supplies her with equipment to fight the creatures. When the camp is overrun, Courtney is the only survivor. She follows the signs that normals write directing her to the walled in city of East Pointe along with six Black Berets. When Dane, a scientist, arrives after working on the cure for five years he announces he has found the Cure. He gets the Berets to accompany him to a ship where he can obtain the Cure to save the people of the city. However, Dane is not quite what he seems to be placing Courtney back in danger. Zombie lovers will want to read TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD, a tale somewhat similar to the Romero mythos but containing a few surprises from the Atkins diet. The protagonist keeps to herself until she is needed for instance to help get the cure. At those moments she does not hesitate, which explains her survivability rate when everyone in her circle seems to get converted. Travis Atkins provides a refreshing spin to the Zombie movement.

Valley of Silence
Nora Roberts
Jove
0515141674 $7.99

The Goddess Morrigan tasked the sorcerer with traveling through space and time to gather together the people who would fight for the life of humanity. Hoyt gathered Cian the vampire, the shifter Larkin, Blair the demon hunter, Glena the witch, and Moira the Scholar princess. Through the dance of the gods they travel to Moira's homeworld of Geall, a medieval like pastoral place that has never known war to make humanity's last stand against Lilith, the vampire queen. If the circle of six and the people of Geall lose, all humanity in all the worlds will be destroyed. The final battle will take place in the Valley of Silence and Moira, who pulled the sword out of the stone that rests upon a fairy mound, is now the queen whom will lead her people. Cian, who was turned against his will by Lilith, sides with the humans even though most fear him. Moira sees him for what he is and loves what she sees; so when she goes to Cian he is helpless to fight his feelings as well as hers. Both know that there is no future in their relationship but for a little while, both will know a love so powerful that it is beautiful to behold. As the battle looms, the circle of six uses innovative battle methods since the vampire horde out numbers them four to one. This concludes The Circle Trilogy and it is by far the best series Nora Roberts has ever written as the author addresses the themes of free will, good vs. evil and the power of love to sustain and strengthen people so they make ethical choices. The tale concentrates on the characters of Cian and Moira, two star-crossed lovers who find solace in each others arms for the present. She is a magnificent warrior queen in the tradition of Boudica and he is the dark gothic hero who puts his lover's needs before his own. VALLEY OF SILENCE is a fantastic work of romantic dark fantasy.

Calling the Dead
Marilyn Meredith
Mundania
6470A Glenway Avenue, #109, Cincinnati, OH, 45211-5222, USA
1594263523 $11.00

In Bear Creek, California, Felicity Pence calls Pastor Hutchinson because her spouse Arthur is badly ill. Hutch, his wife Deputy Sheriff Tempe Crabtree and her son form her first marriage eighteen years old Blair arrive at the Pence home. However, Arthur is dead. Two teens report finding a body in a nearby river; Tempe investigates and finds Doreen Felton dead. The teens give a fake name and leaves before the detectives Richards and Morison arrive. They assume that Doreen's lover Jimmy Patton killed her. Hutch believes that Felicity killed Arthur so he asks Tempe to investigate though her superior Sergeant Guthrie warns her to stay out of the investigations. Tempe learns that Felicity has had two previous husbands die and soon begins to uncover evidence to support Hutch's contention. She also seeks to prove that Doreen committed suicide though the detectives have two suspects; the only seemingly means to learn what really happened is a paranormal interview of the deceased, which in of itself would never hold up in court. The latest Crabtree police procedural (see JUDGMENT FIRE) is an excellent tale in which the hero investigates two cases that could cost her job even if she proves to be right. Ironically, in the Arthur scenario, Tempe tries to prove murder when natural cause has been ruled; in the Doreen inquiry, she tries to prove suicide when murder is the official position. Readers will enjoy this delightful investigative mystery starring an intrepid heroine seeking justice for the dead and the living.

Until Death Do Us Part
Karen Wiesner
Whiskey Creek Press
PO Box 51052, Casper, WY 82605-1052
1573746970 $5.99 www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Head of Operations at the crime fighting top secret Network Angelo Pluzetti has proof that his immediate superior, Giles Jameson, the liaison between field operations and the oversight commander Shannon McKee, is a dangerous traitor. Insuring McKee is safe; Pluzetti plans to bring down his boss, who has apparently vanished. If Jameson implements his scheme, the Network will be exposed and subsequently no longer exist. Meanwhile the Network Alpine field team leader Kirsten Ulrick and first position operative Ash Barnett are assigned to go undercover as a married couple to keep witness reporter Raven Harris, who found the evidence that exposed Jameson, and her husband Casey safe from the former Network manager. The two field operatives observe Raven and Casey struggle with their relationship, which was shattered by the death of their child in an accident that is now suspect. Neither Harris trusts in love, but need each other to survive their ordeals. Kirsten and Ash understand how this pair feels because they too love one another, but also fear their hidden affection could prove costly on a mission as duty must come first. The second Incognito book (see NO ORDINARY LOVE) is a fabulous romantic suspense that keeps the intrigue at stratospheric levels throughout without diluting the key players' personalities. The fast-paced story line is character driven as Kirsten and Ash are attracted to one another, but know their mission comes before their desires while the subplot involving the Harris's couple estrangement and grief augments the tale as neither has been able to turn to the other for solace since their child died yet need one another badly even while Raven's exposing of Jameson put them at risk. Karen Wiesner is a sure shot to entertain her audience, which UNTIL DEATH DO US PART will enhance her deserved reputation as one of the sub-genre's consistent best.

Balancing Act
Kimberly Stuart
Navpress
1600060765 $12.99

Following steak and stitches at that gourmet spot the "birth suite" of St. John's Hospital to celebrate her giving birth to a girl, Springdale High School Spanish school teacher Heidi Elliott returns home to raise her infant with her spouse of five years Jake, owner of Elliot Paints. Six months later Heidi is near a breakdown from the demands of motherhood, teaching, neighborhood, and a few other hoods. Nothing seems the way it was before the birth of baby Nora. Nora is 24/7 smelly no matter how hard Heidi tries to keep her clean for a nanosecond. Meals are late and half cooked while Heidi drops her subscription to National Geographic as she compares her pathetic helplessness to mothers in the Amazon. At work, substitute teacher Ms. Stillwell feels like a failure, Jake seems to spend more time with his new client Jana van Fleet, and Heidi's former live in lover Ben Cooper has moved into the neighborhood while the new parents have no sex life and less and less of a relationship between them. A desperate Heidi joins the Mom's Group where she meets strong females ready to devour outsiders (males and females with no offspring) This is an interesting look at how much having a baby nukes the lifestyles of the parents. The delightful character study centers on mostly Heidi's woes as she finds her world off kilter since giving birth. Teaching is not the same as her students wonder if her humor was removed along with the placenta. Jake is not the same as he prefers time at work over time with his two special girls. Finally Ben is not the same man she remembers though he remains more than just a distraction. Readers especially working mothers will appreciate this well written deep look at a woman's BALANCING ACT failures.

Bad Idea
Todd & Jedd Hafer
Think (Navpress)
1576839699 $12.99

The parents of eighteen years old Griffin Smith are divorced. His mom remarried Maxwell the "Mediocre" novelist; they live on a nonworking farm in Wyoming. His father is engaged to Rhonda the younger woman cliche right out of a novel. The other member of Griffin's extended family is his younger five year old brother. Everyone assumes Griffin has adjusted to separated parents living in two states, but he has not as they are too busy with their own troubles and rationalizations to truly care about him or realize he lives a "secret life". Thus he disciplines himself quite harshly when he believes he has done something wrong like getting drunk. Now Griffin is heading to California to attend college. Dad insists on a road show consisting of Griffin, dad, the cliche, the younger brother Cole, and the best friend Colby. All Griffin wants is to fly to Lewis College to meet his cross country teammates and his pen pal the Carrot, but instead will receive five life lessons while on this bad idea road show from his traveling companions who one turns out to be a Judah, his estranged mom, and most of all the angry coyote he ran over. BAD IDEA is a terrific coming of age tale starring an interesting teen who has big issues but neither of his parents seem aware that he has any problems. Griffin tells the tale of his escapades as he heads west and gains five lessons he will use as solace for the rest of his life starting with the coyote. Readers will empathize with him as he struggles with life and learns from his adventures. The story line is well written, often amusing, but always gripping, as Todd & Jedd Hafer provide deep messages inside a poignant tale of a troubled offspring of divorcees.

Germ
Robert Liparulo
WestBow/Thomas Nelson
0785261788 $22.99

The creator customizes his creation so that this strand of the Ebola virus will give a cold to some, but those individuals, whose DNA contain specific readings, will die a painful bloody death; for those the virus seeks will find their insides turn to liquid in a few days. The terrorists who plan to use this new weapon of mass destruction anticipate ten thousand deaths that represent all types of the population as religion, age, gender, or social status mean nothing; DNA decides a minor inconvenience or a painful death. Near CDC Headquarters in Atlanta, FBI Agents Goodwin "Goody" Donnelly and Julia Matheson are meeting Despesorio Vero who has seen first hand what the disease can do. The two men in one car on the interstate are attacked and separated from Julie. She obtains the help of physician Dr. Allen Parker, as they try to track back the virus to ground zero so as to prevent a terrorist attack that will surpass 9/11 in its body count and geography. The technical background data makes the exhilarating story line seem plausible in this action-packed thriller that starts off with a gory death, goes through several surprising twists, and never slows down until the final confrontation. Julia's desperation as she knows the clock is ticking adds to the feel that this could easily happen. Readers who appreciate plenty of confrontation with blood, guts and death everywhere on top of a tense premise will want to read GERM though the tale can prove difficult to follow as there are numerous subplots to follow.

In Pursuit of Anna
Natasha Rostova
Black Lace
0352340606 $7.99

In San Jose, Jump Start Computers CEO Richard Maxwell has his daughter Anna arrested for stealing money from the company's Los Angeles office. His other daughter Erin makes bond for Anna, but hides what she did from her dad and her stepmother Cassandra. Erin should have known better as her bad girl sister Anna jumps bail leaving her to hold the bag. Bail bondsman Gus Walker offers Bail Enforcement Agent Derek Rowland twenty percent if he brings in Anna. He accepts the job even as his protege Freddie James works another case. Derek easily finds the nymphet by following her known sexual habitats. However, Anna persuades Derek that she is innocent and he agrees to help her even as Freddie believes he is using his wrong head. Freddie also has a new lover Gavin who knows how to please her, but her true desire remains hidden as she lusts after Derek who she assumes sees her as a kid sister; that is far from the truth as he is jealous of her new stud. The heat is on and never cools down as seemingly everyone's libido comes into play with this delightfully torrid erotic romantic suspense thriller. Sex is the key relational ingredient to this scorcher, but the bounty hunter (make that bail enforcement agent) chase subplots provide a strong support story line as well as the impetus for the trysts. Fans who appreciate an ultra hot intrigue will vibrate with excitement from the foreplay to the climax.

The Master of Shilden
Lucinda Carrington
Black Lace
c/o Powers Promotion
24165 IH 10 West, # 217-424, San Antonio, Texas, 78257
0352331402 $7.99 www.amazon.com

In London interior designer Elise St. John changes her mind about seeing her parents; instead she visits her boyfriend Ralph Burnes, who is not happy to see her even when she offers to striptease and make love all weekend with him. He insists that he is attending a stag party, but she orders him on the bed and starts to roughly seduce him when Jemma Harrisford arrives. She informs Elise that he only used her to get a modeling contract before dominating submissive Ralph around as a hurt Elise leaves. Needing to get away from the city, Elise answers an ad in Plays and Players theatric magazine to design erotic rooms for guests at remote Shilden castle in Northumberland. When the job is offered she accepts. As she designs the rooms that turn her on, she finds two local hunks wanting to share her creations with her. She desires riding instructor Blair Devlin and the Master of Shilden Max Lannsen. Rather sooner than she is ready, as Elise fully enjoys the trysts with both men, she knows she must make up her mind and choose one leaving the other behind though loving the spoonfuls of orgasmic bliss each provides her. This is an exhilarating erotic romance that will not be for everyone as Lucinda Carrington provides an ultra heated tale that grips readers from the onset when Jemma grabs Ralph's erection forcing him to submit to her dominatrix control and never cools down as Elise finds her fantasies fulfilled. With all the erotica going on, surprisingly Elise is three dimensional and her two Northumberland lovers are full blooded developed characters who bring more than just their lower head to the tale. Sub-genre fans will want to read THE MASTER OF SHILDEN while wondering who will Elise end up stripping for, if either (perhaps old George instead), permanently.

The Hidden Assassins
Robert Wilson
Harcourt
0151012393 $25.00

In Seville, Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon investigates the brutal murder of a naked male, whose mutilated corpse was uncovered at the city's dump. The victim's face was removed by acid and his wrists surgically carved off. Falcon in spite of his mantra to stay distant struggles with the images. However, this makes him realize his not exclusive relationship with Laura must end because he wants restaurateur Consuelo Jiminez back in his life. At the same time the cop deals poorly with the homicide and his personal life, an explosion rocks the city. An apartment building and an adjacent kindergarten lay in ruins. Many die as first responders try to rescue those they can. The residents of Seville are in a state of panic when it is learned that in the basement of the rubble is a mosque. While the local and national law enforcement and media assume Islamic terrorism, Falcon begins to see a different venue that connects the bombing with the defaced corpse. Though alone, he soon begins peeling one layer at a time a monstrous conspiracy that if executed could devastate the west leaving many dead, but the clock is running out on him. In his third appearance (see THE SILENT AND THE DAMNED and THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE), Falcon is at his best as he struggles with the gruesome murder, the explosion, and has no time to repair his personal life. The investigation is top rate as the Inspector begins to slowly connect the dots that soon make him doubt the prevalent theory on the bombing and leads him towards a more horrific conclusion that something bigger is coming. Readers will appreciate his efforts to prevent a monstrous disaster in this tense conspiratorial thriller.

Glass Tiger
Joe Gores
Harcourt
01501011214 $24.00

The CIA and the FBI deem the threat real. Apparently legendary American assassin Hal Corwin, though dead for years, has resurfaced with the election of Gustave Wallberg to the Presidency. Hal sent a congratulatory note to his former best friend, the president elect, by simply mailing a note: "Congratulations to a dead president. Corwin." The FBI decides the best man for the job of stopping Corwin is retired Ranger and former CIA assassin Brendan Thorne, who swore he would do no more violence though he was selected from a special top secret data base because of his feral skills that match that of Corwin. Reluctantly, Thorne leaves his Kenyan home to hunt his elder but equal predator in order to prevent the murder of the next president, but as he seeks his prey nothing is quite like the way the Feds insist it is. Fans of action-packed thrillers that grip the audience from the onset and never let go until the final confrontation though throughout the readers knows that there are questionable plausibility gaps will appreciate Joe Gores' fast-paced tale. The story line never slows down as Corwin surfaces with his threat from Truckee, California. Mr. Gores' readers will enjoy the battle between two highly skilled killers (sort of like the first Ali-Frazier fight) not knowing what will happen next and who will remain standing.

The Good Nearby
Nancy Moser
Tyndale Press
1414301626 $12.99

Margery has two desires in life; she wants to be considered a loving equal by her spouse and she desperately wants a child. Angie loves her spouse, but his obsessive need to control her every action is driving her crazy; she just wants his love and trust. Gladys has been so independent and strong, no one has ever gotten close to her; now she is going blind and fears the darkness, her lost freedom, and no one to love her. Gennifer is so ashamed of her health problem she cannot tell her loved ones what ails her; instead her behavior is driving her spouse to another woman and her daughter seeking solace elsewhere. A bone weary Talia feels like Job had it made as her husband is dying unless he obtains a heart transplant; she needs to be there for him and their baby while also bringing in money and by the way is pregnant. Gigi feels all alone since the only person who loved her, Grammy died years ago; she ponders about being with the Lord and her Grammy as death seems her only salvation unless she learns her Grammy's message that all lives are sacred to the Lord who is always THE GOOD NEARBY. The beauty of this terific inspirational tale is in spite of the woes facing this ensemble crew, the story line never turns maudlin or soap operish although Nancy Moser goes deep into the fragile psyche of her female cast. Each of the key six characters are unique and fully developed so that even with so many players (including extended family members), the audience knows who's who. The message summarized by Grammy (when she was alive) to her beloved granddaughter is even in the darkest moment God is the GOOD NEARBY to help you.

Shinigami
Django Wexler
Medallion
1020 Cedar Ave #2N, St. Charles, IL 60174
1932815716 $14.99

Sixteen years Lina was driving the car with her fourteen year old sister Sylph sitting in the passenger seat when the old man stepped in front of their vehicle. Lina tried to avoid him, but the car crashed leaving both Walker sisters dead. However, instead of going on to heaven, they end up in a cave of sorts. Frightened, the siblings step out of the hole in the ground into this strange landscape. Lina picks up a glowing sword and soon fights a female warrior. Word spreads that a woman has a magical sword and soon the ruling Archmagi, who dominate Omega, demand she provide it to them her or else. Sylph and Lina flee for their lives though they do not understand what that means having died once when they lived on earth. With no recourse, the siblings join the rebel Circle Breakers with the group insisting that Lina is their Liberator, who will free them. At about the same time fourteen earth years old Sylph, with no military or any fighting experience except sisterly squabbles, is named warleader and put in charge of the rebel forces just before they are to bring the war to the Archmagi. Losses on both sides will only "feed" the Lightbringer yet confrontation is imminent and neither sister feels confident they can do the job. SHINIGAMI (A Japanese legend somewhat equivalent to the Grim Reaper) is a fascinating fantasy that takes quite a sardonic view on the afterlife. The story line in some ways is a coming of age tale as the two siblings have to grow up fast when their deaths lead incongruously to life threatening situations on a world in which magic not science dominates. Readers will appreciate this complex ironic look at life after death on Omega.

Tolteca
K. Michael Wright
Medallion
1020 Cedar Ave #2N, St. Charles, IL 60174
1932815465 $26.95

Known as the Blue Prince of Tollan, Topiltzin is asked by his subjects to take up the mantle of kingship since it is believed that his father Sky Dragon is dead. He has no desire to rule and instead goes south to learn how to play rubberball; over time he becomes a champion. He never thought he would become a warrior or participate in a war, but that is what happens when the Sorcerer King Smoking Mirror and his horde invade the Tolteca Empire. Smoking Mirror and his minion are cannibals who eat their victims in order to gain more dark magical power. The Sorcerer believes that the Tolteca people have turned away from the one God and according to the prophecy his horde will defeat his opponents. Topiltzin is fighting Smoking Mirror when he is mortally injured, but he is rescued by a shipload of women. For years they live together in Paradise raising a family until he knows it is time to return home to defeat evil and restore the empire. This is a complex historical fantasy epic filled with action and intrigue. The story occurs between 421 and 576 AD in South America where atrocities rival that of Pol Pot, Amin, and Hitler. The antagonists are imbued with supernatural abilities that make them very formidable while Tollen is a dilettante and idealist turned into pragmatic warrior by their horrible actions. K. Michael Wright gets the reader to believe they are in danger because they are there.

Finding Noel
Richard Paul Evans
Simon & Schuster
0743287037 $19.95

Mark Smart is extremely depressed. First he made all "A"s in his first year at the University of Utah, but due to cutbacks at the school his scholarship is dropped, his job at the Registrar terminated, and he cannot afford to remain there. His Alabama hometown girlfriend of four years sent him a Dear John letter informing him she is engaged to someone else. At work cleaning toilets at West High School, he is accused of stealing a CD player. These are minor nuisances that add to his anguish. Eleven days ago his beloved mom Alice died. Now driving at night in November, he plans to join her. In Salt Lake City during an early snowstorm, Mark's sixteen years old car dies. He enters The Java Hut coffee shop as they are closing the place down for the night. There he meets kind hearted Macy Wood, who lets him cry on her shoulders. They quickly become friends, and soon afterward Mark knows his feelings are more than just gratitude; he is in love. He proposes, but Macy says no. As he returns to Alabama to mend things with his estranged stepfather Stuart, another waitress Joette, who raised a teenage Macy, knows Macy loves Mark and plans to bring them back together even as his stepfather insists he go fight for what he loves. FINDING NOEL is a terrific allegorical tale that provides readers with encouragement to go after what you cherish and as a reminder that it is not the biological but the nurturing that makes love. Like Joseph raised someone else's child, Stuart and Joette were there to bring up a person not related to them by blood. Well written with a strong cast, Richard Paul Evans provides a wonderful life holiday tale.

Seeking Whom He May Devour
Fred Vargas
Simon & Schuster
074328402X $14.00

In the Southern Alps-Maritimes section of France, four sheep are killed at Ventebrune; nine at Pierrefort. The locals insist it is the brutal work of a feral pack of wolves led by a gigantic beast like none ever seen before. They believe this beast will turn to devouring humans soon. At Les Ecart five sheep belonging to Suzanne Rosselin are killed and three others badly wounded. Canadian Lawrence Johnstone works with wolves at the Mercantour National Park; he investigates the sheep killings and knows Suzanne through his live-in lover Camille. Suzanne accuses hermit-like Monsieur Massart of being a werewolf, but she dies when the giant beast attacks her. Johnstone thinks Suzanne was close to the truth, but Massart is not a supernatural creature, but has trained a wolf to do his killings. The local police still believe a large wolf is the culprit while everyone else concurs with the late Suzanne's theory of a werewolf on the prowl. As other people die, Commisaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg begins his inquiry though he is unhappy that his former lover Camille is here with the Canadian. He scans the police reports until he finds a clue that makes him believe he knows exactly what is happening. SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR is a fantastic French police procedural starring an intelligent eccentric commissaire and a delightful support cast though support is a loose term in this superior thriller as Jean-Baptiste enters the fray later than usual for a hero. That will not matter as readers will join the locals debating who or what is the killer, wolves, werewolf, or human predator. Fred Vargas provides a tense gripping tale that readers will fully appreciate from start to finish.

Act of Treason
Vince Flynn
Atria
0743270371 $25.95

In Georgetown the motorcade carrying Democratic presidential candidate, Georgia Governor Josh Alexander and his running mate Senator Mark Ross is attacked by a daring plan that smells of al-Qaeda with bombs exploding and death seemingly everywhere starting with the potential First Lady. The country is outraged and filled with sympathy so two weeks later, Alexander and Ross win the election in a landslide; exit polling showed a strong feeling that a message was sent to the terrorists as much as grieving the loss of the First Lady. While the media and the FBI seek Middle Eastern terrorists, CIA Director Irene Kennedy and Agent in Charge Skip McMahon find evidence that leads to an alternative inside the Beltway scenario. Agent Mitch Rapp is assigned to uncover the truth though the CIA leadership fears where they think it will end up as they know that if their hunch is right it will take profiles in courage to insure justice occurs. Though some important secondary subplots seem implausible, fans will appreciate this action-packed political thriller reminiscent of the best of Clancy. The story line starts off with an explosive lethal onset and never slows down until the final drink of water. Vince Flynn is at his best with this exhilarating whodunit as everyone assumes t is foreign terrorists who did the deed except the CIA brass whose theory seem as far fetched as planes crashing the Twin Towers yet they still wonder if someone committed an ACT OF TREASON.

Embracing the Moonlight
Wayne Jordan
Kimani/Harlequin
1583147810 $5.99

While recovering in the hospital from shots that nearly killed him, forty years old Bureau Agent Mason Sinclair feels survivor guilt as his partner for over a decade died in the case that went ugly. He knows his career is over as he is just beginning to relearn to walk. His jet setting mom fifty-six years old Carolyn comes to see her offspring to tell him the truth. His biological dad is not the late loving John, but instead his father is Joshua Buchanan who just died and that Mason has three half-brothers. Mason decides to visit his paternal family on Barbados once he is fully mobile on his own feet. Several months later as Mason begins plans to meet his siblings, Lianne Thomas is assigned to go undercover as a nanny to the son of Jason Clarkson, the star witness in the murder of Philip McMaster. Her job is to keep Jason safe so he can testify against the powerful Cordoni. When Mason and Lianne meet, sparks fly. However, as they fall in love in the Caribbean, she knows the mission comes first while he sees signs of a professional that make him wonder who she really is. The lead couple is a fabulous pairing as readers will like both these law enforcement officials while realizing right away they are soulmates. The setting is terrific as Wayne Jordan brings out the flavor beyond the tourist section of Barbados so that the audience obtains a real taste of the island. Though there is too many subplots to keep track of (several of which could easily be the basis for future novels), EMBRACING THE MOONLIGHT is a superb contemporary romantic suspense that sub-genre fans will enjoy and like not subtle Harriet want more Barbados tales.

More than Words, Volume Three
Susan Wiggs, Karen Harper, Kasey Michaels, Catherine Mann & Tori Carrington
Harlequin
0373836589 $13.95

"Homecoming Season" by Susan Wiggs. Miranda survived breast cancer partially due to the help of her family; now she needs to repay them by living life to the fullest. "Find the Way" by Karen Harper. The mugger left Miranda blind and feeling helpless. To regain some of the freedom she once had, she decides to obtain a seeing eye dog, who becomes more than an aide. "Here Comes The Heroes" by Kasey Michaels. Librarian Anna sees Forest carrying an upset blind little boy to her. The child teaches Anna how to open her eyes to the world. "Touched By Love" by Catherine Mann. Laura is so proud of her young teenage son who not only survived a liver transplant, but he tries out for a baseball team. However, when the coach out of fear for the kid's safety cuts him, Laura decides to pitch a new concept so he can swing the bat. "A Stitch in Time" by Tori Carrington. "But Mom" works long hours and loves her children, but feels empty until the handsome doctor teaches her there is more to life than a job. This anthology is as always one of the best inspiration collections on the market as the tales are well written heartwarming life stories while the intro to each is based on a real support organization. This year's worthy groups are Cottage Dreams (www.cottagedreams.org), Puppies Behind Bars (www.puppiesbehindbars.com), Team Activities for Special Kids � TASK (www.tasksports.org), Seedling Braille Books for Children (www.seedlings.org), and Stitches from the Heart (www.stitchesfromtheheart.org).

Sheer Dynamite
Jennifer Skully
HQN
0373771320 $5.99

Her family is known for their psychic skills yet Opal Smith and Grandma Blue are the only who have no talent. Her brother has a TV show and is internationally renowned, a chip off the old paternal block. Her mother is the choice psychic of the rich and famous; she cares for her golden son, but detests her daughters for their minimal or no talent. Opal and her sister Pearl co-own Bedazzled where Pearl reads tarot cards to satisfied customers. Opal handles the finances insuring the two siblings turn a profit. However, Opal wishes she had some talent so that she can feels like a real Smith. When Opal sees a phantom fall from an overpass, she excitedly hits her breaks causing the guy behind her Jack Davis to plow into her vehicle. She explains why and he assumes she is a lunatic. When she also says she will stalk the bridge to prevent someone form leaping, he thinks she is certifiable, but he cannot believe he has the need to keep her safe. As Grandma Blue matchmakes her granddaughter with Jack, who she claims is the late race car driver Dynamite Davis, they fall in love. SHEER DYNAMITE is a beguiling lighthearted romantic romp starring a horde of psychics and one bewildered "abnormal" (only in a Jennifer Skully tale could a regular person be considered abnormal) The escapade filled tale grips the audience from the dynamite moment when Opal slams on her breaks and never takes a respite until the final climax. The story line is an amusing satirical look at the sub-genre with several fine subplots such as the on and off and on romance between Pearl and the kinetic psychic Nile; all of which enhance the prime plot. The eccentric cast whimsically enchants contemporary readers with a charming romantic fantasy.

Liberty
Kimberly Iverson
HQN
0373771347 $13.95

Just turned eighteen, Rhyddes ferch Rudd realizes that her father loathes her though she has always been obedient and hard working. When raiders arrive, he calls the names of seven of his children to help him defend their home; he leaves out only Rhyddes. Not longer after successfully defeating the Picts, her dad sells Rhyddes into slavery where eventually Gladiator Master Jamal buys her and renames her Liberty. She proves to be one of the best gladiators inside the ring as no one matches her ferocity and prowess. However, she remains a slave craving freedom and the love of the son of the Roman Governor of Britannia Marcus Calpurnius Aquila. They met because he also fights inside the ring as a gladiator though he volunteers unlike the woman he loves, a taboo for a Roman politician. LIBERTY is a more a historical tale than a romance as the deep tidbits bring to life the ancient Roman occupation of Britain. The story line focuses on the forbidden love between the female Celt and the male Roman, but that takes a back seat to the era. Based on a real archeological find, Kimberly Iverson provides an intriguing tale starring a woman warrior (now if Hollywood can find a female to Crowe about).

One More Time
Claire Cross
HQN
0425211983 $14.00

Leslie Coxwell is stunned to wake up and find her spouse Matt's side of their bed not slept in. She knows tongue twisting his tonsils will not solve what is bothering him though that has worked for the eighteen years they have been together. When she finds Matt he is drunk. Yesterday he lost the Laforini case to his brother James the prosecutor while his disappointed father committed suicide. Matt tells her she is no longer there for him and takes one last kiss before leaving. Stunned Leslie has to get their rebelling teen Annette off to school, save her job from Dinkleman the hot shot barracuda, and find a way to get back the man she loves, who left for New Orleans. Matt has two goals; neither involves competent Leslie though he admits he still loves her. He plans to appeal and get freed his client and he will fulfill his dream that he tabled to please his father by going to law school instead of becoming an author and writing a book. What Matt never factored into his giving up on his current life is Leslie who has not given up on the man she loves even if he is with his former fiancee. Though there is a legal procedural subplot, ONE MORE TIME is a relationship drama starring a middle aged man no longer willing to settle for anything less than his dreams even though he assumes that means giving up on the woman he has loved for almost two decades and still loves. Readers will empathize with Matt who cannot take it anymore, but also frown on his fleeing responsibilities as everyone cannot just walk away. Still they will root for him to regain his compassion for life while also hoping for a second chance at love for him and Leslie.

Never Kiss a Stranger
Madeleine Ker; art by Mayu Kasumi
Harlequin Pink
0373180039 $7.99

Popular but lonely romance writer Mamie Pendergast and her assistant Laura Golightly are in Nice, France where the author plans to write her next book. However, due to a hotel mix-up, the room she always uses has been given to a Mr. Ivan Actopal leaving an irate Mamie next door. Not long afterward Laura catches a thief wearing a mask in their room. She goes into protective mode, but the felon leaves. The next night at a reception, Mamie introduces Laura to her friend Caesar Labertov, CEO and chief designer of Aeromed Airplane manufacturing. Laura recognizes him from his eyes and voice as the thief who took nothing except a kiss. Laura and Caesar are attracted to one another and she shows her intelligence when she realizes he was seeking something from Actopal not Mamie. He explains that someone stole a CD with design data for the Churchill plane model and sold it to Actopal who plans to sell it to Caesar's rival Cyrus. As Laura and Caesar fall in love, she not only trusts him she risks her life to try to get back the CD. This is a cute tale that targets twelve to thirteen years old girls as Manga art is combined with a fun wholesome romantic suspense with less of a message than the previous Harlequin Pink tales contain. The art and text of this graphic book is excellent though readers will have to adjust to the right to left story line even with an instruction page included. As with NO COMPETITION and JINXED, a paradigm is needed to accept manga in romance instead of the usual fantasy, but worth the time as NEVER KISS A STRANGER is a well written and well drawn thriller.

Prince Needs a Princess
Barbara McMahon; art by Reiko Kishida
Harlequin Pink
0373180020 $7.99

King Gilliam III of Marik sends his loyal subject Clarissa Dubonet to bring home the heir to the kingdom, American Jack Brown. To her shock Jack refuses to meet his royal grandfather and rejects the crown. He explains that his grandfather disowned his father when he came from the small Pyrenees Kingdom to America where he died. She says he is the only hope to continue the centuries old line as his cousin and uncle died in a motorboat accident. When he learns his cousin was her fiance, Jack insults her by saying she just wants to use him to enable her to become queen. He feels bad about his comment and agrees to visit the kingdom to tell his grandpa no thanks. In Marik, Jack begins to see that the country needs economic development to help the people. He and Clarissa fall in love, but she refuses to leave her home and he wants nothing to do with his estranged grandfather. It appears there is no chance that Jack and his grandfather can find a way to end their estrangement or Jack and Clarissa can find a way to allow love to blossom. This is a cute tale that targets twelve to thirteen years old girls as Manga art is combined with a fun wholesome romance with the subtle message to respect all people regardless of one's lot in life. The art and text of this graphic book is excellent though readers will have to adjust to the right to left story line even with an instruction page included. As with NO COMPETITION and JINXED, a paradigm is needed to accept manga in romance instead of the usual fantasy; those who do will enjoy this fun somewhat too simplistic well written and well drawn tale.

Jinxed
Day LeClaire; art by Akemi Maki
Harlequin Pink
0373180012 $7.99

Industrial Toy Company President Steve Sinclair is upset with the unsafe practices of his R&D section. He informs his R&D Director Kit Mallory this will change or else. When an incident occurs involving his mother he accuses her of sabotage. She is hurt because she cares about the firm and loves her job. The next day he apologizes as his mother said she caused the problem and that he realizes Kit is valuable to the company. He persuades her to let him accompany her when she visits her family. They kiss and soon become engaged as both confess their love for one another. However, he demands she quit working especially after a child is born while she feels she can do both. His childhood with a workaholic mother leaves no room for compromise; Kit breaks off from Steve and quits the company. This is a cute tale that targets twelve to thirteen years old girls as Manga art is combined with a fun wholesome romance with the subtle message to treat people as individuals and not stereotypes though recognizing that the childhood experiences shapes the adult. The art and text of this graphic book is excellent though readers will have to adjust to the right to left story line even with an instruction page included. As with NO COMPETITION, a paradigm is needed to accept manga in romance instead of the usual fantasy. JINXED is a fun, amusing, well written and well drawn tale.

True Confessions of the Stratford Park PTA
Nancy Robards Thompson
Harlequin Next
0373881126 $5.50

Aunt Barbara invites her depressed widowed niece Maggie to move into the family home in Villa Magnolia, Florida. Needing a change and worried about her young daughter Maggie accepts the offer and does. Barbara hopes that having relatives will help her with her late in life Downs Syndrome child as her spouse is too busy chasing women to care about either of them. Their neighbor Elizabeth is a supermom and super wife, but her perfect life imploded when she learns she is pregnant. These three women have secrets that they hide from everyone. Slowly as they bond as sisters with their link being their daughters, this trio of mothers reveals to one another their biggest fears and strongest desires which does not include joining the Stratford Park PTA. This is a well written character study that rotates the first person point of view between the three females. The key to the tale is that the trio seems real with their secrets, their concerns and fears, and their relationships especially with one anther and their daughters, yet each has differing personalities. Nancy Robards Thompson provides a solid look at motherhood.

Once in a Blue Moon
Lenora Worth
Harlequin Next
0373881142 $5.50

In Shreveport, Louisiana, her friends assume that Lola Nelson has moved on since the death of her spouse because she seems so together. However, at night Lola feels alone and wonders if life is worth it. She needs a change to bring back the passion of life that died with her husband. So she decides to fulfill a childhood dream by buying a blue beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lola is accompanied by her beach bunnies pals the still married Shelby Harold, now single Emma Strickland, and Chloe Simons, whose mother is unable to take care of herself. The weary four over drinks share their disappointments in relationships when the horde that of three them left behind descend on them in need; for Lola the neighbor begins to fulfill her need. The tale starts off as a serious character study starring a lonely woman, but quickly turns into a deep amusing look at relationships as the four females escape the horde only to be invaded not long afterward. This is reminiscent of Groucho's cabin scene in A Night at the Opera. The humorous invasion adds to the glimpse of living not just surviving after a loved one dies as Lola sees the differences first hand. ONCE IN A BLUE MOON is well worth reading.

Which End Is Up?
Patricia Kay
Harlequin Next
0373881118 $5.50

Cleary her father's daughter, attorney Grace Campisi has always been a responsible person while setting goals for herself including earning money by doing hard work, dedication, and success at getting a partnership at her law form. Her sister Perry is more of a live life for today as she is more like their mother with no cares in the world as they let others deal with problems. Now Perry arrives at Grace's apartment nine months pregnant, pleading poverty and no father, her reluctant sister takes her in. Perry gives birth, but six weeks later she is acting as always: selfishly without a look back; Perry deserts her child leaving Grace to clean up more than just excrement. Grace must decide between her plan for success which means giving up her niece for adoption as her sister cannot be trusted to take care of anyone but herself or raising the baby. The comparison between the sisters make for an interesting tale as the audience wonders how the Campisi siblings came form the same house. The story line is filled with angst as Grace must decide what to do when Perry decamps. Though the ending is to ribbon tied happily ever after, readers will appreciate this superb tale of two sisters.

No Competition
Debbie Macomber; manga art by Yukino Hara
Harlequin Pink
0373180004 $7.99

Carrie the artists has always felt like a pale imitation of her twin sister beauty consultant Camille. When she does a portrait of the beautiful Carrie, critics think it is a masterpiece as it hangs in San Francisco's Daupe Gallery. However, no one seems to know that the model is her twin. Architect Shane wants to buy the painting and meet the artist. When they do meet, they begin to date until Carrie falls in love with Shane. However, when she sees him dancing with Camille, she knows another boyfriend has fallen for the beauty of her sibling, but this is the first time her heart has broken. This is a cute tale that targets twelve to thirteen years old girls as Manga art is combined with a fun wholesome romance with a bit of a message to believe in yourself and not waste time being jealous of others. Adults will appreciate both the art and text of this graphic book though we have to adjust to the right to left (probably take 3 or 4 pages) boxes while young adults will smoothly handle the transition. Though a paradigm is needed to accept manga in romance instead of the usual fantasy, NO COMPETITION is a fine well written and well drawn tale.

Secrets Between Them
C.J. Carmichael
Harlequin SuperRomance
0373713746 $5.50

Biographer Nick Lancaster has conducted intense research on his next subject, jazz singer Simone DeRosier, who was murdered at the height of her fame. He feels he has more than enough to complete the book if he can learn one more thing that bothers him. Who is the "one true friend" that Simone seemed to always turn to? Nick travels from New York to Summer Island near Vancouver to determine whether B&B owner Jennifer March is the elusive one. However, he finds himself attracted to the woman he is deceiving and believes she reciprocates. That is until she learns what a rat he is. Now he must convince her that his feelings for her have nothing to do with his work. This is an interesting contemporary romance in which the lead couple learns that even love may not prove strong enough to overcome deception. Nick knows that he owes Jennifer the truth, but fears what will happen to their relationship when he does. Jennifer is stunned that he "used" her to obtain information. Readers will appreciate this fine tale as Nick must find a way to persuade his beloved that he is a saint not a sinner.

Out of Control
Janice Macdonald
Harlequin SuperRomance
0373713789 $5.50

English biographer Nicholas Wynne crosses the ocean and the continent to write a book on renowned painter Frank Truman. The writer hoped that Fran's daughter Daisy would cooperate, but she wants nothing to do with any work involving her late father; besides which she has trust problems with males starting with her late dad and ending with her ex spouse. Her childhood was a roller coaster ride of great excitement in between vast moments of isolated loneliness. Nick's persistence begins to convert Daisy and soon she agrees to assist him. As their attraction grows, Nick uncovers a traumatic childhood secret of Daisy that he feels rounds out the complete picture of her dad, but could cost him the love of his life, who already believes that men lie. The key to this drama is the lead couple as readers see up front Daisy's vulnerability and Nick's driving ambition. When they fall in love, she expects him to fail her and he internally wars with the complete bio vs. love. Fans will enjoy this fine contemporary romantic tale in which a dead person serves as matchmaker and heartbreaker.

The Bad Son
Linda Warren
Harlequin SuperRomance
0373713754 $5.50

Waco family lawyer Beau McCain loves Macy Randall, but he has little hope of gaining her trust as she was burned badly in her first marriage. Adding to his unhappiness is that he believes she sees him as her big brother, someone's strong shoulder available when she needs one. When her troubled pregnant sister Delia comes home to give birth, Macy turns to Beau for strength as she knows that her sibling is incapable of nurturing a child. However, when her sibling abandons her newborn Zoe, Macy needs Beau even more so. He finally tells her he loves her and she says she cares too much to tie him down with a woman who cannot bear children. However, Beau has a new incentive to persuade his beloved that they can raise a loving family together staring with the baby left behind. THE BAD SON is an interesting contemporary romance starring two likable lead characters who readers know early on love one another, but seem doomed to never forging a relationship beyond friendship though the baby obviously serves as a matchmaker. In some ways Delia is the more fascinating character as the audience observes her destructive behavior and even after she leaves begins to learn about her legal issues on top of her behavioral problems. The fourth McCain brother tale is an interesting family drama.

Bourbon Street Blues
Maureen Child
Harlequin Hotel Marchand
0373389426 $4.99

At the bar in the Hotel Marchand, jazz singer Holly Carlisle recognizes Mr. Misery as she sang at his wedding. She goes over to say hello to businessman's Parker James, who at first does not recognize her until she mentions the wedding that he never should have said yes to ten years ago; now the messy divorce is all over the local papers as Frannie accuses him of sabotaging the import division of the family company that he gave his share to her as part of the settlement. He admits he came to the bar in the middle of the afternoon to hear her perform and ask her if she would be interested in playing in his new club Parker's Place. She accepts his offer, but soon Holly and Parker become lovers while Frannie makes life miserable for everyone associated with her ex. She goes so far as to sabotage his new endeavor interfering with shipments and continues her hate campaign to destroy Parker. However, when she turns her venom on Holly, she chose someone with claws willing to strike back unlike Parker who is ready to surrender. BOURBON STREET BLUES is an interesting character study inside of a contemporary romance. Frannie the mean queen is a fascinating manipulator who plays Holly and Parker like a virtuoso violinist. Courageous Holly is an ethical person who refuses to allow threats, extortion or bribes to stop her from achieving her life dreams. However, Parker seems shallow next to the dynamic females as he is ready the throw in the towel (or at least raise the white towel high) at every setback. Still fans will enjoy the latest New Orleans Hotel Marchand tale.

The Night We Met
Pamela Morsi, Karen Kendall & Colleen Collins
Harlequin
0373837283 $5.99

"The Panty Reid" by Pamela Morsi. In the 1950s, high school and college staff discouraged girls from studying advanced science curriculum. Dot knows that first hand, but loves science and is taking organic chemistry in spite of the scorn. During a panty raid fellow student Hank joins his male peers on lingerie larceny, but is caught by campus police. Attracted to one another, Hank wants the real Dorothy while Dot wonders if the man she loves means costing her dream of becoming a scientist. "Frame by Frame" by Karen Kendall. World Sophisticate Travel and Lifestyle Magazine Editor Addison warns super talented photographer Pete that he must stop terrorizing those involved with his on site shoots; to keep him in line she sends her assistant Natalie. To his shock, he is attracted to his "guard" while she reciprocates as the big bad wolf's bite is tender. "Three Wishes" by Colleen Collins. In 1971 San Francisco Chronicle junior reporter Christie is undercover working on an assignment on how it feels to be an antiwar activist. At the military recruiting station, she tries to get military recruits to sign her petition. Air Force Captain Mac demands she leave, but she refuses so he has arrested, but not before he kisses her. That night he bails her out so that she can spend Thanksgiving with loved ones, which turns out to be him. The three couples are on a tour in Thailand when they exchange the tales of their first meeting with their life mate. The authors provide solid contributions, but especially fascinating are the feels for the 1950s and 1971 as we've come a long way baby.

The Rake's Proposal
Sarah Elliott
Harlequin
0373294204 $5.50

In 1817 England, twenty-four years old Katherine Sutcliff does not want to marry as she prefers spending her time at the family shipyard than serving tea to suitors. However, she knows she has no choice but to find a spouse who will stay out of the way while she runs her late father's business, as his will demands that she marry or lose her inheritance. Her plan is simple: find some easy to control throwaway preferably smaller than her tall size and make him sign a legally binding prenuptial agreement. She turns to her brother Robert to find this paragon for her. However, instead she changes her mind and decides his best friend, rakish Benjamin Sinclair is perfect though he physically and emotionally does not fit her prototype. Since he wants no wife to interfere with his womanizing he is ideal except for one problem; she wants him. Ben avoids Kate like she is a shrew until questionable incidents occur as someone tries to abduct the spirited female. Now Ben feels obligated as a matter of honor to keep kissable Kate safe though marrying her was not his plan. THE RAKE'S PROPOSAL is an amusing regency romantic suspense thriller headlined by two likable protagonists who have successfully shunned marriage until now. Readers will enjoy the chick lit like asides from Kate and Ben that enable the audience to observe up front and personal their transformation to love. The intrigue not only plays a matchmaking role, but augments a fun historical that sub-genre fans will want to read.

The Goodbye Groom
Ellen James
Harlequin American
0373751400 $4.99

In New Mexico, Jamie Williams is at the altar waiting to say I do but the groom, Shawn Sinclair fails to show up. Her mother insists that he is like all men worthless, but Jamie cannot accept her explanation. Her answering machine has a simple apology from Shawn. Jamie demands an explanation so she travels to Shawn's hometown, Saint Anne Island, a Washington State barrier island. However, her groom is not there; instead she meets his brother Eric and his daughter seven years old daughter Kaitlin. Eric has no idea where his sibling has gone to hide, but has no interest in helping him this time as he has done too many times in the past. Jamie wants to wait a while assuming Shawn will show up here so Eric offers her a deal. He will assist her and even lodge her if she in turn brings smiles to his solemn little girl. Eric realizes he was a terrible father until Leah divorced him and left him with their offspring, but though he tries Kaitlin can cut him up with little things like making an appointment to see him. Though a distraction for him, he hopes Jamie can help him reach his believed little girl. Soon Jamie is thankful that Shawn jilted her as she has fallen in love with Eric and Kaitlin. Readers hearts will go out to the solemn little girl who steals the show with her reactions to the as "big as" theories on life and love. The story line is character driven as Jamie is sort of like a Mary Poppins with the magic of love as her enchantment. Ellen James writes a delightful tale in which three believable individuals begin to develop strong relationships that touch the hearts of the audience.

The Rebel
Jan Hudson
Harlequin American
0373751397 $4.99

On her way home after quitting the FBI and divorcing her cheating spouse Matt, Belle Starr Outlaw takes sick near the New Mexico-Texas border. She stops at a motel where she calls her brother Sam telling him to come get her as she is dying. Sam and his friend Gabe Burrell arrive to find Belle very ill. They take her to the nearest hospital where she is diagnosed with pneumonia. Upon release from the hospital, Belle needs a place to finish healing, but does not want her parents hovering over her. Gabe takes her to his home in Wimberley where his mother and sister reside as chaperones. As she considers her future while recuperating from her illness, she finds herself falling in love with Gabe, but though he feels the same way, both remain wary as he like her just got a divorce. THE REBEL is a congenial contemporary small-town romance starring two nice protagonists and a diverse somewhat eccentric support cast. The "conflict" between Gabe and Belle is caused by both having just recently become victims of the divorce wars so that both are wary to go for anything beyond the immediate moment. Fans of gentle modern day Texas romances will want to read Jan Hudson's warm second chance at love.

Asking for Trouble
Leslie Kelly
Harlequin Blaze
0373792840 $4.75

In Chicago, her five overly protective older brothers and her Italian parents are driving Lottie Santori crazy as they leave her with no breathing room. Being the only female and the youngest, she enjoys any opportunity to escape from their constant vigil. Thus she looks forward to her out of town work in Trouble, Pennsylvania to conduct on site research into a serial killer who owned Seaton House though she doubts she will find any sexual relief in the small town. At Seaton House, Lottie meets new owner Simon Lebeaux, who inherited the old hotel from his late uncle. She immediately revises her thoughts that Trouble means abstinence. However, several accidents occur including some near fatal ones as if someone wants to prevent Lottie from completing her assignment. Simon thinks the hotel is haunted, but Lottie believes a mortal person wants her stopped. The sequel to the amusing contemporary HERE COMES TROUBLE is a delightful investigative romance in which the lead couple explores the haunting of the hotel and their hearts. The story line contains plenty of action, but it is the lead couple who keeps it focused and entertaining as she knows what she wants (sex not a lasting love) and he knows she is trouble (he has enough tsuris without her). The trouble with this novel is that Leslie Kelly will keep her audience up late reading in one sitting.

The Pleasure Chest
Jule McBride
Harlequin Blaze
0373792859 $4.75

Eighteenth century artist and pirate Stede O'Flannery is cursed to live inside one of his paintings. Every once in while, Stede escapes his prison to live a week as a mortal. If he falls in love during one of his hiatus, the curse will end. New York artist Tanya Taylor finds an O'Flannery painting in a junk shop and buys it though she is not sure why or even if she likes the work. She takes it home only to have Stede step out of the painting and into her bedroom. Stede is attracted to the doubting female hostess, but Tanya who likes the hunk's built doubts his story as being to incredulously over the top. As she begins to fall in love with Stede, Tanya begins to believe him. She vows to help him find a way to overcome the curse while he realizes this week is all the magic he needs. The key to this fun time travel romance is Stede struggling to adjust to a twenty-first century technological world of convenience. Readers will appreciate his fumbling amusing efforts with modern gizmos, but also cherish his adeptness while making love. Tanya is a fine counterpoint though perhaps some will say she accepts a semi nude hunk showing up out of nowhere too easily even if this is New York. Jule McBride provides a delightful romantic fantasy in which the star-crossed lovers know if they conquer the curse, he still may return to his time.

Lord of the Beasts
Susan Krinard
HQN
0373771398 $5.99

In 1847 England, Donal Fleming can easily talk with the animals, but struggles to communicate in any way with humans. Donal understands what animals say and has used his talent by becoming a veterinarian to ease their aches, pains, and somewhat concerns. This need to ease the burden of the beasts places Donal in consistent trouble especially with those mortals who mistreat animals. Cousins Theodora and Cordelia Hardcastle tour the new Zoological gardens in Regent's Park along with other Zoological Society fellows. While most visitors including Theodora are in awe, Cordelia is concerned as she has seen the animals in their natural habitat. When Cordelia calms down a rogue elephant at the same time that Donal also soothes the maligned beast, they meet for the first time. The attraction is obvious, but it their mutual love and respect for the animal kingdom that brings them together. Now Donal must choose between human love and his destiny as the LORD OF THE BEASTS. The sequel to THE FOREST LORD, LORD OF THE BEASTS is a superb Victorian romance with some fantasy elements that delightfully enhance the prime story line of two animal lovers falling in love. Donal and Cordelia are wonderful protagonists but ironically as their love grows it brings out the beast in him forcing the hero to choose between his "powers" and his desires. Susan Krinard provides an enchanting historical with a touch of the whimsical to the delight of readers.

The Stolen Bride
Brenda Joyce
HQN
0373771843 $6.99

In 1818 Ireland, Eleanor de Warenne is about to marry Peter Sinclair, but instead of her fiance she thinks of her love Sean O'Neill, who vanished four years ago just after she kissed him. He was the boy she grew up with when their widowed parents married. Though she told her father that he should make her a proper match, which he did, Eleanor wonders if she made an error as she needs to know whether Sean is dead as most people assume. Still three hundred people have arrived in the towns of Adare and nearby Limerick for the ceremony so in spite of her misgivings she will not dishonor her family. As if by magic Sean appears out of thin air. He pleads with Eleanor to hide him, which she does as he explains he has been incarcerated and just escaped prison with his enemy in hot pursuit. Rested, Sean plans to leave, but Eleanor in her wedding dress forces him to take her with him. As the hardened Sean finds his heart melting for the former tomboy he has always loved, he knows he must prove his innocence if they are to share a life together as he thought when he first met the infant female brat he knew somehow was his destiny. The latest de Warenne Regency era romance (see THE MASQUERADE and THE PRIZE) is a wonderful suspense thriller starring an alpha female and a mentally battered male who suffers from a form of battle fatigue syndrome. The story line is loaded with non-stop action (a trademark of Ms. Joyce), but belongs to the lead couple especially the courageous heroine. THE STOLEN BRIDE grips the audience from the onset when a doubting Eleanor finds the reason for her misgivings alive, but not well and in need of help.

Girls Guide to Witchcraft
Mindy Klasky
Red Dress/Harlequin
0373896077 $13.95

In the Washington DC area, librarian Jane Madison dreams of a boyfriend who is committed to her; none have surfaced since her long time boyfriend Scott Randall dumped her nine months ago. Now she has a fantasy beau Professor Jason Templeton, her Imaginary Boyfriend. She even dreams of applying magic, as she tells her beloved Gran; perhaps with a wand or an instruction book Magic for Idiots she can change things like making Imaginary Boyfriend real. Her boss tells Jane that they will change the Peabridge into a colonial America interactive library by wearing costumes. Jane is appalled with the heresy as this facility contains the world's leading book and related paraphernalia collection on life in eighteenth century America. At the Peabridge, Jane finds a secret room filled with books including a tome Compendium Magicarum. She applies a spell to make her more attractive to men and a few others that come to the attention of Warder David who must stop her from getting out of control though he finds himself desiring her as much as she wants him when he is not a grouch. In some ways this is a terrific coming of age tale as the heroine goes from self pity to confidence in her skills though she believes the magic enabled her to do so. The story line is fast-paced as Jane balances her normal life as a librarian and family member with her bewitching new life that attracts males like Pooh Bear to honey. Mindy Klasky provides a beguiling enchanting chick lit tale a refreshing story line that casts a spell on readers.

Lucky Girl
Fiona Gibson
Red Dress/Harlequin
0373896069 $13.95

Paul Street Primary music teacher Stella Moon feels her world is collapsing when her boyfriend Alex dumps her and her dad Frankie the chef, once the star of TV show Frankie's Favorites has become a tabloid favorite for his embarrassing behavior. Even Robert stands her up on a lunch date. Although she feels like hiding, Stella's new neighbors Diane and her two young daughters Midge and JoJo who eat sugar on sugar for breakfast will not allow that` as they assault her yard and house at almost any hour. As the girls need Stella, she begins to feel wanted. However, the stranger that seems to show up all the time frightens her not because he will harm her physically, but because she is attracted to this Ed. This quartet encourages Stella to dive into life with the euphoria and chaos she had as a child when Frankie was renowned and famous instead of a clown even as she reassesses her father who wants to give her stability at the cost of his needs. Though Stella's sadness can become overwhelming at times, her self deprecating humor makes for an overall terrific character study of an introvert encouraged to come out of the dark by precocious people who care about her. Stella is the story as her neighbors will not allow her to hide from them and the stranger demands much more of her, which leads to her realizing how much her father has tried to protect her out of love for her. LUCKY GIRL is a fine English chick lit coming of age tale.

Eyes of Crow
Jeri Smith-Ready
Luna/Harlequin
0373802587 $17.95

At an early age Rhia almost died but she fought to live and was touched by the Crow Spirit Guide. As she got older, she knew when someone was going to live or die from injury or illness and she saw when death would finally take them. The first time she saw death it frightened her so much she wouldn't participate in the Bestowing, a ceremony when the spirit guide manifests itself to the person in the ceremony. When she sees her mother's death she finally accepts the Bestowing and the Crow welcomes her as the Crow spirit guide. She is sent to Kalindos to apprentice with Coranna. There she meets Marak a man with a wolf spirit guide whose guilt at the death of his wife and child causes him to become invisible during the day. Her new home is more pastoral and primitive than her hamlet of Asmeros but Rhia feels right at home in the tree houses and in Marek's arms. Armies from the south are on their way to conquer the people of the north and it will take magic and guile to defeat such a superior though magic-less foe. Rhia works behind the scenes of the battlefield, helping the dead move on, knowing who will live but when her enemies strike at her personally, she and a few friends fight back. This is a charming spellbinding fantasy where small hamlets and the people who live in them are close to the spirits and magic is considered common place. Much of the book is a coming of age tale but there is enough action to keep readers totally absorbed to the story. This is the first book in a new series and this reviewer can hardly want for the next one coming out in 2007

Second Hand Smoke
Karen E. Olson
Mysterious Press
0892960256 $22.95

In New Haven, reporter Annie Seymour is shocked to see the inferno engulf her favorite Italian restaurant Prego. Arson is suspected especially when a charred corpse is found in the wreckage. The police assume that the missing owner, Sal Amato, has been located or that is what is left of him. However, they quickly learn their error as the victim turns out to be the restaurant's hostess, LeeAnn Hayward. Annie wonders if the local mob is involved as LeeAnn had some connections to them or perhaps the deceased's violent prone boyfriend, Prego's chef, Mickey, who the police arrest for the homicide. Annie is confused as her father Sal who has come to town from Vegas and the FBI is investigating the arson murder for no apparent reason by either her dad or the Feds. Soon her father becomes the prime suspect so Annie joins already hired by Sal's wife private detective Vinny DeLucia to investigate the crime only to learn that the Prego owner ran a chicken tic-tac-toe gambling operation with no pay offs to the mob. In her second appearance (see SACRED COWS), Annie retains the same impish impudence that makes her a fun investigative reporter. Though some might balk at how often Vinny comes to her rescue, she is an intrepid person who daringly follows clues. The story line is action-packed as the audience begins to learn what really happened at Prego, to and by whom. This is one time that SECONDHAND SMOKE is fun to inhale.

Second Hand Smoke
Karen E. Olson
Mysterious Press
0892960256 $22.95

In New Haven, reporter Annie Seymour is shocked to see the inferno engulf her favorite Italian restaurant Prego. Arson is suspected especially when a charred corpse is found in the wreckage. The police assume that the missing owner, Sal Amato, has been located or that is what is left of him. However, they quickly learn their error as the victim turns out to be the restaurant's hostess, LeeAnn Hayward. Annie wonders if the local mob is involved as LeeAnn had some connections to them or perhaps the deceased's violent prone boyfriend, Prego's chef, Mickey, who the police arrest for the homicide. Annie is confused as her father Sal who has come to town from Vegas and the FBI is investigating the arson murder for no apparent reason by either her dad or the Feds. Soon her father becomes the prime suspect so Annie joins already hired by Sal's wife private detective Vinny DeLucia to investigate the crime only to learn that the Prego owner ran a chicken tic-tac-toe gambling operation with no pay offs to the mob. In her second appearance (see SACRED COWS), Annie retains the same impish impudence that makes her a fun investigative reporter. Though some might balk at how often Vinny comes to her rescue, she is an intrepid person who daringly follows clues. The story line is action-packed as the audience begins to learn what really happened at Prego, to and by whom. This is one time that SECONDHAND SMOKE is fun to inhale.

The Sinful Nights of a Nobleman
Jillian Hunter
Ivy
0345487613 $6.99

Lord Alton Fernshaw hosts country parties that bring a who's who because they tend to turn into orgies. One of the guests Lord Devon Boscastle arrives with the notorious widow Mrs. Lily Cranleigh on his arm. He sees Lady Jocelyn Lydbury is also there so he assumes her brother escorted her. Unable to resist Devon greets Jocylyn though he knows she probably hates him. Four years ago her father invited Devon to dine with them as considered him husband material; Jocylyn was excited by the prospect. However, he not only failed to show up, he never declined the invitation. He rationalizes his poor behavior then due to the fact he was about to go to war and expected to die. Though he detests her womanizing father, he admits to himself that he admires Jocylyn's courage. He mischievously decides he wants Jocylyn to truly forgive him and not just say it though she is being courted by Adam Chiswick. He is determined that she really mean it so he begins THE WICKED GAMES OF A GENTLEMAN, never expecting to fall in love; Jocylyn has loved him even before he humiliated her four years ago. The latest Boscastle regency romance is a delightful historical tale starring a likable female who feels under siege as Devon begins his quest that abruptly changes into something much more ardent, loving, and lasting. Fans will enjoy following THE SINFUL NIGHTS OF A NOBLEMAN, at least the exploits of this lead male as he mounts his campaign winning battle after battle only to lose the gender war when he realizes he surrendered his heart.

Duty and Desire
Pamela Aidan
Touchstone
0743291360 $14.00

Fitzwilliam Darcy hides in London to be away from his obsession, Elizabeth Bennet. Still out of sight does not mean out of mind as he constantly thinks of her even as he decides he must find a lady suited to his lofty station. He spends the Yuletide holiday with his younger sister Georgiana who seems to be finally overcoming her long bout of melancholy caused by her poor relationship with Wickham. Darcy also feels good that Bingley has ended his courtship of Elizabeth's sister Jane though he thinks that his friend loves the girl and he ponders why there is something about these Bennet women.In his quest to find a wife equal to him, Darcy attends a country-house party hosted by his Cambridge classmate Lord Sayre. However, he finds rusticating with the Ton depressing as the males behave poorly and the women conspire to find either husbands or if not, married lovers. His host's half-sister turns Darcy on as he finds himself attracted to her, but Lady Sylvanie has her own woes and dark secrets.The second "Pride and Prejudice" offshoot, DUTY AND DESIRE is more Pamela Aidan's tale than the first book (see AN ASSEMBLY SUCH AS THIS) as the author takes Darcy on new adventures in his quest to get over his infatuation. Elizabeth for the most part never appears except in Darcy's mind. The story line brings to life the Regency era with its pompous caste system so that fans of the period will appreciate the country party at Norwycke Castle and Georgiana's turn to charity to lift her broken heart out of melancholia. Well written and fun to follow, however like many readers, this reviewer knows Jane Austen, Ms. Aidan is good, but she's not Jane Austen.

Trouble Magnet
Alan Dean Foster
Del Rey
0345485041 $23.95

The assignment is simple after all things he has gone through since his origin as a eugenics experiment gone bad. All Philip "Flinx" Lynx has to do is search the humongous uninhabited Sagittarius sector to find a planet sized ancient weapons platform built by the alleged extinct Tar-Ayim and then persuade it to help save the galaxy from the Great Emptiness. In exchange for finding and convincing the needle in this haystack, Flinx's injured beloved Clarity Held will remain on New Riviera healing amidst friends Bran Tse-Mallory and Eint Truzenzuzex.
Accompanied by Pip the mini dragon, Flinx begins his mission even as he wonders with friends like he has sending him on a fool's errand whether he should be wasting his time. He decides a detour is in order so that he can decide whether to to do the quest or not. He and Pip stop in the hoodlum controlled city of Malandere on Visaria. There he intervenes when a gang of thugs mug an insect looking alien. One of the young punks Subar sort of reminds Flinx of himself so he tries to help the lad until the gang robs mob leader Piegal Shaeb. Undecided whether to help the kid as this means battling with Shaeb's lethal lizard mercenaries, Flinx instead is sidetracked as he finds some information on himself. This is a terrific stand alone Flinx adventure however, the prime theme of the series, is the battle against the evil Emptiness remains at the status quo. Flinx is at his best as he dishes out his brand of ethical justice inside a fine story line. However, once again, his fans will be disappointed that he took another R&R side trip.

Star Wars:Darth Bane Path of Destruction
Drew Karpyshyn
Del Rey
0345477367 $25.95

On the planet Apatros, cortosis miner Hurst hated his son Dessel and raised the lad with his iron fist after the kid's mother died. Des survives six hours of constant cramping every day by dreaming of escape though he knows that will never occur. However, everything changes during high a stakes game with Republic soldiers. Des wins, but one of the losers takes exception and attacks him. Des, who has the untrained ability to use the Force, kills his adversary.
Forced to flee as no one escapes punishment for killing a soldier, Des enlists with the Sith's Brotherhood of Darkness that is at war with the Jedi Army of Light over control of the Force. He shows great skill that is honed amidst the Sith who send him to their Academy on Korriban as Lord Bane. Bane wants to be the best so he accepts special secret training from former Jedi Githany, but she betrays him. Her duplicity cements his final lesson to trust no one not even his allies as he rises to the top of the Sith Brotherhood. This is a terrific character study entry in the Star wars saga that will elate fans of the series. The action occurs about one millennium before the Emperor Palpatine's Galactic Empire with the Light (Jedi Knights) and the Dark (Brotherhood of the Sith) battling for supremacy of the Force and consequently the Old Republic. George Lucas will appreciate this delightful early in the timeline tale.

The Meaning of Night: A Confession
Michael Cox
W.W. Norton & Company
0393062031 $25.95

In 1854 London, Edward Glyver knows he needs to train before he conducts his assassination of Phoebus Daunt, the man who destroyed his life starting with the humiliation of being ejected from school to where he is at now, as a loser in a law factotum. To insure success, Edward kills the red-haired stranger before dining on oyster and pondering how easy the homicide was. However, his moment of euphoria turns ugly when he thinks of what Daunt has done to him and that he recently learned of his rightful inheritance stolen from him. He feels strongly that once Daunt is dead, he will gain all that he deserves starting with his inheritance, societal accolades and the lovely Emily Carteret. Yet somehow someone has seen his rehearsal. E.G. knows he must dispose of this insidious individual trying to take the little he owns and slowing down his quest to murder his real adversary. This is a fascinating "confession" told for the most part by the seemingly deranged E.G. The story line grips the audience from the onset when the lead character nonchalantly confesses that he has just killed a man for purposes of practice so that the reader senses of how insane E.G. really is. The story line never falters until the anticipated confrontation that will turn readers into fans of Michael Cox. Readers who want something different in their historical thrillers will need to read Mr. Cox's eerie "biographical" Victorian first hand account of a maniac on the loose in London.

Havoc
Jack DuBrul
Dutton
0525948821 $24.95

In 1937 Chester Bowie makes a startling discovery about how Alexander the Great conquered the world. He realizes the emperor had a weapon of mass destruction millennia before anyone heard of nuclear energy. However, on his trip from Europe to the United States to further his work, Chester dies on that fatal Hindenburg disaster, but he leaves clues about his discovery. In the present in the midst of the civil war that has caused death and destruction to the Central African Republic, Geologist Philip Mercer mourns the death of his girl friend. That is until he finds marooned CDC researcher nuclear energy expert Cali Stowe stranded in the middle of nowhere. She was on her way to the remote village of Kivu where apparently some unknown cause is deforming and killing newborns. He takes her to the village where she begins testing, but guerillas arrive and take the pair prisoners. However, warriors come out of nowhere to kill the guerillas, but European mercenary Poli escapes. As the couple flees to DC to follow clues left by Bowie, Poli comes after them. The plot may be implausible, but it sure is fun as the action never slows down whether it is 1937 or the present or in Africa or the United States. Philip (see HARON'S LANDING) seems a bit shallow as he goes in a nanosecond from grief to desire, but no one will care as the adventures and escapes never stop. Thriller fans will enjoy Jack DuBrul's HAVOC.

Baited
Crystal Green
Silhouette Bombshell
0373514263 $4.99

Unable to resist what seemed like a fun time, diver Katsu "Kat" Espinoza accepts the invitation of her wealthy mentor Duke to join him and his family on his yacht. Kat might have declined if she knew that her cheating former boyfriend Will Ashton is the captain and that Duke's family hates her because he named her as his heir. Still she vows to have a good time while avoiding Will and refusing to take crap from Duke's angry family members. However, when the vessel is shipwrecked, she, the crew, and much of the family make it to an apparently deserted island. There, as if out of a Christie novel in a Barrie setting, someone begins to kill the survivors one at a time. Taking And Then There Were None and placing it in a different milieu makes for a strong romantic suspense thriller that will have the audience along with the lead couple speculating just who the killer is. The action starts from the shipwreck and never lets up until the final confrontation. Will and Kat are a fine pairing though she has doubts because she believes he is a philanderer and thus untrustworthy at a time in which to survive they must depend and trust one another. Crystal green keeps the action and reader guessing throughout this strong fun tale.

Dressed to Slay
Harper Allen
Silhouette Bombshell
0373514239 $4.99

The oldest of triplets by a half hour Megan Crosse begins the walk down the aisle accompanied by her sisters Natashya and Katherine when her long lost thought dead grandfather interrupts the nuptials though she and her siblings agree their respective fiances fail to get their motors humming. Darkheart accompanied by shapeshifter Mikhail Vosteroff claims his triplet offspring are part of a family of vampire-slayers and are needed right now. He insists one of them is a slayer, another will become a healer, and the third will convert into a vampire. He returned to them because they are in peril from the same creature that killed their mother. The wedding is put off over the objections of the groom investment banker Dean as the triplets join their grandfather to fight a local nest of vampires. Meanwhile Megan finds Mikhail stirs her blood while he thinks she is his life mate. However, everyone fears that she is the one who will convert to a vampiress since as a child she was bit by one of the bloodsuckers. Supernatural romance readers will appreciate this action-packed romantic thriller starring a strong lead couples and fully developed support players. Readers will believe in vampires, werewolves, and oh my an assortment of other ilk; much of that reality suspension comes from the non stop escapes of the heroes, but also because of the amusing dialogue between the triplets and the sensual discourse between Megan and Mikhail. With Tash and Kat to follow, sub-genre fans have plenty to look forward to as Harper Allen provides a terrific opening tale.

Shadow Lines
Carol Stephenson
Silhouette Bombshell
0373514247 $4.99

From Damassine, Switzerland, her sister Yvette, a wealthy widow raising a child by herself, calls European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control epidemiologist Eve St. Giles claiming everyone in the town seems ill including her. When her sibling dies from a virus long dormant, Eve has no time to mourn as she thinks this was a man-made test. Eve begins her quest to locate the manufacturer before the deadly disease causes pandemic deaths. She uses her psychic skills and reluctantly accepts the help of her former lover, security expert Nick Petter. As the countdown nears the point of no return, Eve seeks the culprit as much as she searches for ancient healing practices that seem to have contained the lethal virus. The fascination in this paranormal thriller comes from the ease in which Carol Stephenson incorporates a historical subplot mostly through the research Eve does that takes her back to a thirteenth century victim of the French Inquisition. The story line is fast-paced from the moment a panicked Yvette calls Eve interrupting her field work on potential Mad Cow Disease and never slows down as the heroine and her beloved teammate Nick race against the clock. This is a one sitting romantic suspense tale.

Captive Dove
Judith Leon
Silhouette Bombshell
0373514255 $4.99

In Brazil, an apparent radical sect kidnaps ten American tourists. The CIA decide photographer Nova, code name Dove, Blair has the perfect cover to get close and hopefully rescue the hostages. They also assigns fellow agent Joseph Cardone to work closely with Dove as they have succeeded twice before on missions. Dove does not want to work with Joseph not because of any issues from their professional teaming. Her reasons are personal as they were lovers until she panicked over her feelings for him and left him without an apparent look back. Joseph wants to know why and whether she suffers regrets, but first they must complete the rescue mission that soon turns into something more conspiratorial and global before they can deal with their personal issues. CAPTIVE DOVE is a fast-paced romantic suspense thriller that takes off once Nova and Joseph head to Manaus, Brazil and never slows down as they soon switch from a local hostage rescue mission to a major potentially lethal global incident. The story line is filled with action in an area in which isolation is the norm as the only road in and out of the rainforest heads north to Venezuela. Though the spin into saving the world is a stretch, fans will appreciate Judith Leon's fun tale as they wonder whether the lead will survive and if so together.

House of Chains
Steven Erikson
Tor
0765315742 $14.95

In Northern Genabackis, the raiders leave the mountains to bring death and destruction to those lowlanders they hate residing in the southern flatlands. Amidst these brutal warriors is Karsa Orlong the Teblor who is unaware at this time he has just begun an odyssey that will spin into the middle of a future confrontation between the Malazan Empire and Sha'ik's Army of the Apocalypse. Meanwhile some time in the future, Tavore, the Adjunct to the Malazon Empress, arrives at the Seven Cities, the last Malazan stronghold of Seven Cities. Her assignment is to turn a force of twelve thousand inexperienced former civilians into a powerful fighting force prepared to battle with the overwhelming armies of her sister, Sha'ik. Tavore herself lacks leadership experience so fears she is not up to the job as the enemy is so much more powerful. However, she does have a few experienced survivors from Coltaine's march, who she depends on to shape her soldiers so that they stan

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