We’re reading our way across America…one romance at a time.

Minnesota: The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer

Once perhaps best known to generations of young women as the frigid state from whence Brandon and Brenda Walsh migrated to warmer, 90210-ian climes, Minnesota—thirty-second state to join the Union—actually has much else to recommend it. There are its fabled Twin Cities: Minneapolis and St. Paul. Its valiant sporting teams: the Timberwolves, Vikings, Wild and Twins (not to mention the Mighty Ducks). And its colorful elected representatives: a pro wrestler as Governor and a comedian in Congress. Plus, being so far north, it’s a great home for vampires, or so suggest MaryJanice Davidson and Tate Hallaway, among others. People of renown hailing from the North Star State (apart from the aforementioned Davidson and Hallaway) include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jessica Biel, Terry Gilliam, the Coen Brothers, Bob Dylan, Charles M. Schultz and Marshall from How I Met Your Mother. It is also home—for the more geekily inclined amongst you—to MST3K, and that is certainly worth a hell of a lot of Something.

But here we deal with a geek of an entirely different—or at least, mostly different—kind, in Louise Plummer’s truly excellent 1995 Young Adult novel, The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman.

[What makes it so great?...]

Alpha heroes in romance novels have major appeal to readers. They are often overprotective, in total control and as a result, bossy. It is their way or the highway. One doesn’t have to look hard to find examples of these types of characters, and I admit that I actively search these heroes out. I enjoy their tendency to take charge, but love watching them meet their matches.  Here is a peek at five of the bossiest heroes that I’ve had the good fortune to come across.

Colt, from Teresa Mummert’s Safe Word, is an ex-cop who did time for actions while on the force. He is making his way up the criminal ladder. But one night, the woman he loved in high school walks back into his life and becomes ensnared in this unsavory activities. While together, Colt firmly asserts his control. He is after all keeping her hostage. But there is much more going on between the two. When their situation grows dangerous, Colt reveals that “I’m fucking selfish Rose, I wanted you. You and I belong together. That prick can’t keep you safe. They wanted you dead and there is nothing that fucking lawyer could have done to stop them.” And by the way, Colt is just as bossy in bed.

[Read more. Now....]

The New York Times recently ran an article about how Daily Deals are affecting books and publishing, and in it, the vice president for e-books at Barnes & Noble’s Nook unit, said “sales generally peak on Wednesday and Thursday, when customers start planning for the weekend and thinking about which books they are going to read.”

What day do you purchase the most books?

Rhyannon Byrd
Take Me Under 
Berkley / June 4, 2013 / $15.00 print, $9.99 digital

Ben Hudson had a thing for shy, sexy Reese Monroe from the moment he first saw her three years ago. Back then, she was married and living in Boston—two very good reasons for the Miami detective with a bad-boy reputation to stay away.

But that was then…

Now Reese is divorced and moving to Florida, where her mother has rented her a small beach house—one that happens to be owned by Ben. Living right next door, he can’t get Reese’s soft curves out of his mind. He has waited three long years to touch her in all the ways he’s been dreaming about, and this time he won’t let anything get in his way.

For Reese, Ben’s sudden advances are thrilling but leave her stunned. With her limited experience in the bedroom, she never expected a man with such a wicked reputation to go after her. She knows she should be on guard, but he’s a temptation she can’t resist. And when trouble follows her down from Boston, threatening her life, Ben may be the only one who can help her.

There's something perfect about the mix of erotic romance and romantic suspense—that nail-biting rush of adrenaline with the pitch-perfect, high-intensity love scenes makes for a potent combination. Add in a big, sexy detective with commitment issues and a girl-next-door with a fighting spirit who's coming out of a bad divorce, and the beginning of Rhyannon Byrd's Dangerous Tides series promises an addicting plunge into summer reading.

[Go ahead, dive in...]

Virginia Kantra
Carolina Girl
Berkley / June 4, 2013 / $7.99 print & digital

Meet the Fletchers of Dare Island: ambitious Meg, the daughter who never looked back; steady Matt, the son who stayed; and rebel Luke, the Marine who thought he’d never return

Meg Fletcher spent her childhood dreaming of escaping Dare Island—her family’s home for generations. So after she landed a high-powered job in New York City, she left and never looked back. But when she loses both her job and the support of her long-term, live-in boyfriend, she returns home to lick her wounds and reevaluate her life.

Helping out her parents at the family inn, she can’t avoid the reminders of the past she’d rather forget—especially charming and successful Sam Grady, her brother's best friend. Their one disastrous night of teenage passion should have forever killed their childhood attraction, but Sam seems determined to reignite those long-buried embers. As Meg discovers the man he’s become, she’s tempted to open her vulnerable heart to him. But she has no intention of staying on Dare Island—no matter how seductive Sam’s embrace might be.

Three things converged to make Carolina Girl, the second book in the Dare Island series, one of my highly anticipated books of 2013: (1) it is written by Virginia Kantra. I truly enjoy Ms. Kantra’s voice. Her characters are well-fleshed out, multi-dimensional and believable. Her conflicts are genuine and realistic, and her writing is as smooth as silk. (2) the characters introduced in Carolina Dare captured my imagination so I was looking forward to revisiting them; and (3) books about competent heroines attract me like bees to honey.

[And then there's the hero...]

Nalini Singh's Heart of Obsidian is out today, revealing the identity of the Ghost, the romance between Kaleb and [HEROINE'S NAME REDACTED], and other significant events in the Psy-Changeling world.

So—what do you think of Heart of Obsidian?

Please ***SPOIL*** us in comments!

Mary Kay Andrews
Ladies' Night
St. Martin's Press / June 4, 2013 / $26.99 print, $10.99 digital

Grace Stanton’s life as a rising media star and beloved lifestyle blogger takes a surprising turn when she catches her husband cheating and torpedoes his pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool.  Grace suddenly finds herself locked out of her palatial home, checking account, and even the blog she has worked so hard to develop in her signature style.  Moving in with her widowed mother, who owns and lives above a rundown beach bar called The Sandbox, is less than ideal.  So is attending court-mandated weekly “divorce recovery” therapy sessions with three other women and one man for whom betrayal seems to be the only commonality.  When their “divorce coach” starts to act suspiciously, they decide to start having their own Wednesday “Ladies' Night” sessions at The Sandbox, and the unanticipated bonds that develop lead the members of the group to try and find closure in ways they never imagined.  Can Grace figure out a new way home and discover how strong she needs to be to get there? 

Heartache, humor, and a little bit of mystery come together in a story about life’s unpredictable twists and turns.  Mary Kay Andrews' Ladies' Night will have you raising a glass and cheering these characters on. 

Big blockbuster movies love to take an against all odds story to a happy ending for good reason. We can’t get enough of them. Ladies’ Night, the new release by Mary Kay Andrews, explores this premise to great advantage. With an authentic Florida backdrop—I definitely know now to avoid a Brazilian pepper tree—Ms. Andrews mixes women’s fiction and mystery with dollops of whimsy and wisdom.

[Mystery and whimsy and wisdom, oh my!...]

Just last week, author S.U. Pacat announced her Captive Prince novels will be published by Penguin. Pacat notes that this will be the publisher's “first m/m romance paperback release.” The final book in the trilogy will be published in both trade paperback and e-book.

Long before this development, Mandi from Smexybooks was championing the series. Here's why:

I don’t normally seek out fantasy books, but when I received several recommendations for Pacat’s Captive Prince series, I decided to try it out. A planned trilogy, Captive Prince: Volume One and Volume Two are already out, with Volume Three eagerly anticipated as the second book ends on a cliffhanger. Pacat not only writes and builds an amazing world, but she gives us two heroes who start as such great enemies and eventually will have a happily ever after. It’s really quite amazing how she writes this story.

Damen, a prince and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos, gets drugged, kidnapped, and sent into enemy territory as a slave. He gets sent to the court in Vere, and is now owned by Prince Laurent. Laurent is an ice-cold, frigid twenty-year-old, and in less than a year, will rise to become King. No one in Vere knows Damen’s true identity, thinking he is just another slave, or that Damen killed Laurent’s brother on the battlefield years ago. This death devastated Laurent, and he has vowed revenge against Damen. If he only knew he now owned him.

[Keeps gettin' better...]

Sylvia Day's third Crossfire novel, Entwined with You, is finally out! Have you read it? What did you think? Were you pleased with the ending—and looking forward to the rest of the series? Where will Gideon and Eva go from here? Let's discuss!

***SPOILERS*** in COMMENTS!

Remember that potential TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series we mentioned in July? Well, according to Hollywood news site Deadline, it's been picked up by Starz for 16 episodes, with production set to begin in October in Scotland!

The show, which assumably will follow time-traveling Sassenach Claire Randall and Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser as they meet and fall in love, is being developed by Ronald D. Moore, the mind behind Battlestar Galactica 2003 and the female Starbuck we know and love.

We'll share more news as we get it, but in the meantime, what say you? Think you'll watch? We've talked about fantasy casting Outlander before, but any guesses on who might get cast as Jamie and Claire for this series? 

Kristen Ashley
Fire Inside (a Chaos novel)
Hachette / June 4, 2013 / $3.79 digital

Lanie Heron isn't looking for love-no surprise, considering her last serious relationship nearly got her killed. So when Lanie propositions Hop Kincaid, all she wants is one wild night with the hot-as-hell biker who patrols with the Chaos Motorcycle Club . . .

For Hop, Lanie has always been untouchable. She's too polished and too classy for his taste. But when she gives Hop the once-over with her bedroom eyes and offers him a night in paradise, he can't say no. And he doesn't regret it when he finds that Lanie is the best thing that's ever happened to him-in or out of bed. Now the trick will be to convince her of that.

Kristen Ashley fans have had June 4th circled on their calendar for months, panting for more than the tantalizing glimpse we got of Lanie and Hop in Own the Wind. So many questions sprang to mind: Wasn’t Hop, even by MC standards, somewhat of a “man-hoor”? How would Chaos president Tack, married to Lanie’s best friend Tyra, react to his top lieutenant carrying on with a member of his wife’s extended family? The Connecticut princess and the Chaos biker…oh the drama, could it possibly live up to expectations and hype? Readers, worry not, Fire Inside is adolescent, fiery, sprawling, and over-the-top, a fabulous roller-coaster of a read in the best Kristen Ashley Motorcycle Man tradition.

[Annnnd SOLD!...]

One of our bloggers, Chelsea Mueller, was tweeting recently about a traveling dilemma: knowing that she would have to power down her e-reader in 15 minutes, should she start a new book?

What do you do when you travel? Do you amuse yourself with the in-flight catalog while you aren't able to e-read, or do you prepare by bringing a paperback and an e-reader, so you're never out of reading material?

Photo courtesy of Lin Pernille Photography

This post contains spoilers for the first season of Orphan Black, including minor spoilers for Saturday's Season 1 finale, “Endless Forms Most Beautiful.”

Saturday night was the Season 1 finale of the amazing Orphan Black on BBC America. After a bit of a slow if steady start, all the pieces shifted into place, the last five episodes raced viewers breathlessly toward Saturday’s season finale with excellent writing, brilliant acting, and an ever-more complex mystery that continues to boggle the mind.

Orphan Black begins when punk Brit Sarah Manning returns to her hometown after 10 months on the run. She wants to find a quick way to finally cut loose of her drug dealing ex-boyfriend and reclaim custody of her young daughter, Kira. But before she can do more than claim her baggage, a weeping woman catches her eye. As Sarah moves across the platform to investigate, the woman turns… she is the spitting image of Sarah. Before Sarah can say “doppelganger much?” the woman steps off the platform and straight into the path of a speeding train right before Sarah’s eyes. Shocked and horrified, Sarah steals the dead woman’s purse and discovers the she is Detective Beth Childs. Unable to resist, and in need of a fast score to fund her plans for Kira, Sarah switches identities to fake her own death, enters Beth’s home, and takes over her life.

[And Beth's life takes her over right back...]

Michele Sinclair
Seducing the Highlander
Kensington / June 4, 2013 / $7.99 print, $6.99 digital

Of the seven McTiernay brothers to protect their Scottish Highlands, Craig is most willing to place duty before love—until he's enchanted by the last woman he expects...

Meriel Schellden knows that marrying Craig McTiernay will strengthen the ties between their clans. She insists she is motivated by duty and responsibility, nothing more. But when a mere formality becomes a kiss far from platonic, Meriel must question where her true intentions lie...

Though Meriel entices him far more than she realizes, Craig's commitments have always kept his passions restrained. But no sense of duty to his clan can make Craig forget the way Meriel's touch left him teased, tantalized, and desperate for more. Now as a surprising rival contents for Meriel's affections, there has never been a better time to listen to what his heart has desired all along...

Michele Sinclair's Seducing the Highlander is the fifth book in the McTiernay Brothers series set in the early 14th century Scottish Highlands. Its hero, Craig McTiernay, is the middle brother of the seven the series focuses on.

The wives of the McTiernay brothers want to prove that the feelings Meriel Schelldene has for Craig McTiernay go much deeper than friendship. But years ago, Meriel had decided she wasn’t interested in marriage and her best friend, Craig, was of the same mind. Her twin sister (married to Craig's brother) has other ideas.

[A matchmaking sister? Look out!...]

Today we're pleased to welcome author Amanda Hocking here to talk about her wishes for the fourth season of Downton Abbey. The third book in Amanda's Watersong series, Tidal, releases this week, and also might include some unlikely pairings, similar the one she's suggesting below. Thanks for being here, Amanda!

I am a huge Downton Abbey fan. I’m British (by way of my grandparents on both sides of my family, not by birthplace), so I think that I finally understand the way some Italian Americans feel about The Sopranos.

Not only is the show brilliantly written, exquisitely designed and costumed, but it has Maggie Smith. Really, everything else could be terrible, and Dowager Countess of Grantham’s wit could still carry the whole thing. Fortunately, though, the show is amazing and insanely addictive. Who knew the goings on of the household staff in a turn-of-the-century manor could be so exciting?

But onto the heart of the matter—I am totally shipping Mary Crawley and Tom Branson for the next season of Downton Abbey.

Before Season 3 of Downton started, I was looking up a few things about the show, and I accidentally made a grisly discovery. Namely that two beloved characters weren’t going to survive onto the next season (though, no SPOILERS can actually prepare you for the abrupt devastation of either of their deaths, or the onslaught of tears).

[Oh yes, that season...SPOILERS inbound]

Game of Thrones Season 3 is here! Need to catch up? Don't miss Regina Thorne's Season 2 refresher or her recap of episode 3.01, episode 3.02, episode 3.03, episode 3.04, episode 3.05, episode 3.06, episode 3.07, and episode 3.08.

And now, onto last night's episode 3.09, “The Rains of Castamere."

***MAJOR SPOILERS FOR LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE***

In last night’s episode of Game of Thrones, the Freys hired Dothraki wedding planners (Motto: at least three deaths or your money back!) and threw a party at the Twins that no one in Westeros will ever forget. We focused on the Starks (and Dany), though the Lannisters certainly made their presence known. And we also found out that Roose Bolton likes fat girls, killer one-liners and sobriety at weddings.

We open with Robb asking Catelyn’s advice about his plans to attack Casterly Rock, the seat of House Lannister. Considering how rocky their relationship has been since Cat released Jaime Lannister, she’s a bit surprised that Robb is even talking to her, let alone asking her what she thinks. He tells her that her advice about not sending Theon back to the Greyjoys was absolutely correct and that because he ignored her, Winterfell, Bran and Rickon are lost. Cat nobly refrains from saying “I told you so!” and instead says that Robb’s plan is dangerous, though he thinks he can succeed with the help of the Freys. If the Lannisters catch Robb’s forces between Casterly Rock and the sea, “we’ll lose the war and die the way Father died. Or worse,” Robb says somberly, in a chilling bit of foreshadowing. Catelyn tells Robb that she wants the Lannisters to suffer by losing what they love.

[If wishes were horses...]

Today we're pleased to reveal the cover for Christina Brooke's provocatively titled The Greatest Lover Ever. Find out what happens when spirited meets stubborn—it's nothing short of scandalous!

Here's the official description:

THE SWEETEST SCANDAL

Beautiful, exuberant, and stubborn Georgiana Black has more spirit than sense—which she learns when an ultimatum to the Earl of Beckenham ends their engagement. Six years later, Georgie is less concerned with impending spinsterhood than with making sure her young sister doesn’t make the same mistakes she did. But soon Georgie stumbles into a scandalous encounter with none other than her former fiancé. Beckenham is still breathtakingly desirable—and as iron-willed as ever...

THE TRUEST TEMPTATION

Beckenham’s brief engagement to Georgie taught him one thing—when it comes to a wife, he wants a woman who will do her duty and cause no trouble. When the fiery Georgie falls unexpectedly into his arms, Beckenham remembers just how lushly delectable she is. Suddenly, the idea of actually marrying Georgie is irresistible. Convincing her will take more than a simple proposal, however. In a battle of wills, can passion conquer pride?

The Greatest Lover Ever will be out on December 31, 2013. Which seems like forever, but! Check back with H&H soon, because very soon we'll be sharing an exclusive excerpt of Christina Brooke's London's Last True Scandal, which releases in a few short weeks, on June 25.

We’re reading our way across America…one romance at a time.

California: Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner (Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, Book 1)

Ah, California. The Golden State, the land of opportunity, the realm of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. From its glorious beaches to its verdant farmland and from its fabulous mansions to its hippy communes (plus, Disneyland!), California—Cali, to its friends—is a tangled pop culture web of photogenic and promiscuous teens, ruthless studio execs, strident feminists/animal rights activists/marriage equality revolutionaries and gangsta rappers straight outta Compton. Plus there’s, like, Valley Speak and people who are famous for being famous and health nuts preaching the dubious benefits of the Paleo diet/healing crystals/açai. There is delicious local wine and Ghiradelli chocolate and the world headquarters of Google, and it’s even where Barbie built her first dream house. Also, there’s pot. From stately San Francisco to surfie San Diego, from the purple mountains majesty of Yosemite to the aquamarine, uh, marine delights of Monterey Bay, and from the...well, whatever is further inland and yet is still pretty in this second-largest mainland state (thirty-first to join the Union, by the by), perhaps nowhere in the world is as well documented in story and song, and certainly not on film.

[California Dreamin'...]