Hannah Jayne
Under Suspicion
Kensington / May 1, 2012 / $7.99 print, $6.01 digital

She’s the new head of the Underworld Detection Agency’s strangest division. What a nightmare…

Being a human immune to magic helped Sophie Lawson get promoted. It’s also made her a major, very reluctant player in a game that stretches beyond even the Underworld. Having handsome buttoned-down Englishman Will as her new guardian is one tempting blessing, especially since sexy fallen angel Alex is mysteriously MIA lately. But as a frightening number of demons start disappearing around the city, Sophie suspects that an Armageddon-level prophecy is about to become everyone’s nightmare. And her investigation is testing her bravery — and Will’s unexpected vulnerability — in ways neither could predict. Now Sophie and Will are fast running out of time as an unstoppable evil prepares to lay waste to demons and humans alike…

Hannah Jayne really needs to put a warning on all her novels declaring that you should not eat or drink while reading them, as it is a choking hazard. This novel is so full of humor, one liners and snarky comments, it must have looked like I was practicing spit-takes for an upcoming movie role.

[Funny you say that!...]

After finishing Season 2 of AMC’s The Walking Dead, I found myself obsessing about what might happen in Season 3—not about next season’s anticipated prison backdrop or how the death of Dale or Shane will ultimately effect the group, but what I presumed was my own flight of fancy, romanticizing the relationship between Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier. As evidenced by the clip above, I am not the only one who is anticipating this new love amongst the gore.

[Love conquers all...]

Sara Humphreys
Untouched
Sourcebooks Casablanca/April 3, 2012/
$6.99 print, $5.99 digital

The Amoveo are shape-shifting animal clans who live secretly among humans and must find their pre-destined soul mate while avoiding the enemy that seeks to destroy them all.

Kerry Smithson’s modeling career ensures that she will be admired from afar, which is essential since mere human touch sparks blinding pain and terrifying visions.

Dante Coltari is hired to protect Kerry from those who know who she is—or more importantly what she is—and want her dead because of it. Nothing could have prepared him for the challenge of keeping her safe. But, strangely, his lightest touch brings her exquisite pleasure rather than pain, and Dante and Kerry have an otherwordly connection that might just pull them through.

Imagine if touching another person brought you great pain, and even worse, each brush against your skin gave you a taste of the darkness that is hidden in a person’s soul. In Sara Humphrey’s Untouched, supermodel Kerry Smithson lives in fear of the touch of another person. Everyone believes that she is a germaphobe and she lets them, because the real reason she refuses to touch people—her “curse”— makes her feel like a freak. Kerry is an empath and every time someone touches her skin, she is gripped with a crippling pain and a view of the darkness which lurks within someone’s soul.

[I have a feeling our hero is going to change all that...]

Kerrelyn Sparks
Wanted: Undead or Alive 
Avon, $7.99/digital $4.99, Mar. 27, 2012

Phineas McKinney thought New York City was tough, until he was attacked by Malcontents—evil vampires who consider mortals to be snacks. Saved by the good vampires, Phin swore to devote his now undead life to stopping the Malcontents. He’s got his job cut out for him when word comes that their enemy may be hiding in Wyoming. What does a city boy like him know about horses and campfires? Good thing he’s got Brynley Jones with him . . . if only she didn’t hate every vampire on earth.

Bryn believes vampires are seductive and charming, and that makes them dangerous. So she’s more than a little annoyed about teaming up with Phin, even if he is the only bloodsucker able to make her inner wolf purr. But as they hunt down the new leader of the Malcontents, danger threatens . . . and Phineas and Brynley discover a passion that will rock the foundation of their supernatural world.

In Wanted: Undead or Alive, the latest addition to the Love At Stake series, Kerrelyn Sparks gives us the story of Phineas McKinney a.k.a. The Love Doctor in a charming and funny fish-out-of-water story.

[Glub, glub!...]

As most, if not all, romance readers know, it isn’t the grand adventure that makes the story, it’s the interesting and well-written characters who make you feel and who earn your affections. But lately, it seems, I’ve been bombarded by characters who simply lack…character, and I would like to take this opportunity to let authors know that I have had more than enough of:

1. Widowed Heroines who have been mourning their lost soulmates for years, and the loss of his love has destroyed her. So much so that she spends most of the first chapters teary-eyed...at least until the moment they notice the Hero, and suddenly its “look at the ass on that guy!”

2. Those Heroes who are not interested in getting involved with the Heroine of the story. He’s sworn off women, or she’s too good for him, or he’s too damaged or too poor or too jaded. Buuuut he’s okay with jumping her at every opportunity, at least until he get’s her safely back home…or to her new husband...or any other guy but him.

[Enough is enough!...]

Joan Swan
Fever
Brava/Feb. 28, 2012/$14.00 ($9.59 digital)

When Dr. Alyssa Foster is taken hostage by a prison inmate, she knows she’s in deep trouble. Not just because Teague Creek is desperate for freedom, but because the moment his fingers brush against her skin, Alyssa feels a razor-sharp pang of need.

A man with a life sentence has nothing to lose. At least Teague doesn’t, until his escape plan develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run from both the law and deadly undercover operatives, he can only give her lies, but every heated kiss tells him the fire between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him forever.

Teague Creek was a fireman, a hero, a father, and a husband—but he wasn’t a murderer. He has spent three years in prison already, and he’s out of appeals.  Someone set him up for murder to get him out of the way. He knows that something happened during that fire five years ago—something was in that warehouse that changed him.  That changed them all.  Someone is now doing everything they can to keep him locked away and quiet. Breaking out of prison and a lifetime on the run isn’t what he wanted, but this is his last chance to get out, and he has to take it, no matter what.

[Do not pass Go! Do not collect $200!...]

J.D. Robb
Celebrity in Death (In Death #34)
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $27.95/digital $14.99, Feb. 21, 2012

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody—drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. Talented but rude, and widely disliked, K. T. Harris had made an embarrassing scene during dinner. Now she’s at the center of a crime scene—and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster, to step into the role she was born to play: cop.

It’s disconcerting to watch your life played out before your eyes—while Lt. Eve Dallas stands on the set of The Icove Agenda, she’s overwhelmed by the feeling of déjà vu standing outside of herself and seeming to watch her own cloned copy and that of her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, reenact their murder investigation of a year ago.

[All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again...]

For those fans of romance, we know that most romance novels jump between the hero and the heroine’s point of view (POV) throughout each story.  There are many very popular series, including Harry Potter, the Twilight novels and The Hunger Games, which give us the limited first-person POV, and yet still manages to successfully tell the story. But are more character POVs better or worse for good storytelling? 

In the crime drama The Perfect Death by James Andrus, we follow the police investigation of a missing teenager which crosses with the investigation of a woman found murdered. The course of the investigation is shown not only through the thoughts of the lead missing person’s Det. John Stallings and his partner, Patty Levine, but also the lead homicide Det. Tony Mazzettia; the squad Sergeant; the killer; and even occasionally the soon-to-be victims. Although the storyline itself was interesting, the constantly changing POV was dizzying, with many scenes only lasting a page and half. At times, it added to the drama, building small cliffhangers, but for the majority of the book, these mini acts worked more like speed bumps on a highway.

[Sometimes less is more...]

Anne Marsh
His Dark Bond
Brava, $14.00/$8.69 digital, January 31, 2012

Zer is no angel—well, not anymore. He’s explored every flavour of sin imaginable, drinking in the pleasures of humanity. But now he must find the woman who carries his salvation in her very blood...a woman like Nessa St. James. Nessa has considered the bargain the Fallen offer. Anything she wants in exchange for accepting Zer’s bond? No way. Not her. Not when she finds out about the mind-blowing ritual involved and the marks of surrender that will ink her skin. But with a serial killer to stop and centuries of experience on his side, Zer will do whatever it takes to change her mind.

What would you be willing to give to have your greatest dream come true? In Anne Marsh’s world of His Dark Bond, Fallen Angels will grant your every wish—for the cost of only your body and your soul.

[What if we have a coupon? Can we skip the soul part?...]

Each reader has her own our favorite genre, but what if you read in two or more genres? What if you could have one book that would satisfy all your genre tastes? That’s the question I had after seeing last summer’s Cowboys and Aliens, a mash-up that combines a few well-loved genres.

Theresa Meyers’s recent release of The Hunter blends cowboys and demons with steampunk in a very Indiana Jones-type adventure. Colt Jackson needs the help of a demon to retrieve his father’s portion of The Book so he can close the gates of Hell which seemed to have cracked open. What he gets when he summons a demon is more than he bargained for: Lilly is a beautiful succubus and Colt needs to keep his wits about him, or he’ll end up losing his soul. Although Lilly is sent by the Archdemon Rathe to seduce Colt and claim The Book, Lilly would rather take her chances with Colt and hope that he will help her reclaim her soul if she helps him reclaim his Book.

[A soul for a book? Sounds like an awfully lop-sided tradeoff...]

Kresley Cole’s latest book, Lothaire, hit the shelves on Tuesday. If you are like me, nothing improves the reading experience more than finding just the right actor or actress to fill the role of the book’s main characters to truly bring them to life. With now twelve stories to this series, I think it is time to start filming.

Kiss of a Demon King

Rydstrom Woede – Jason Momoa
Sabine, Queen of Illusion – Lana Parrilla

[Would you cast the roles the same way?...]

Kresley Cole’s latest book, Lothaire, hit the shelves on Tuesday. If you are like me, nothing improves the reading experience more than finding just the right actor or actress to fill the role of the book’s main characters to truly bring them to life. With now twelve stories to this series, I think it is time to start filming.

The Warlord Wants Forever

Nicolai Wroth – Joe Manganiello
Myst, the Coveted – Rachel McAdams

Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.

[Who do you see in the roles?...]

E.S. Moore
To Walk the Night
Kensington Books, $7.99/$5.59 digital, Jan. 3, 2012

Kat Redding is the very thing she hunts: a vampire, thirsting for blood, capable of killing any creature unlucky enough to get in her path. The difference is, Kat kills her own kind in order to protect human Purebloods. She’s good at what she does. Good enough to earn the nickname Lady Death - and the enmity of every bloodthirsty being around. But now a vampire, Count, is intent on merging his House with a werewolf cult to create a force of terrifying power. Kat can’t allow that to happen. Even if it means taking on a den of weres and a vampire more ruthless than any she’s encountered before. She has the weapons, the skill, and a few allies. But that may not be enough to eliminate the Count before her own dark nature rises to the surface - and costs her whatever is left of her humanity.

[How much does humanity cost, anyway?...]

Maya Banks
Whispers in the Dark
Berkley Sensation, $7.99, Jan. 3, 2012
 
Nathan is being held captive and is in agony. His saving grace is the voice of an angel who eases his pain and helps him regain enough strength to escape. When he does, she leaves him with a void that he can barely stand. When he escapes and returns to the KGI, he hears her again-now she needs him.

Her name is Shae, and she’s on the run with her sister. A government group wants to harness their abilities to heal. The KGI wants to help- but can Nathan quiet his soulmate’s doubts and convince her that they are meant to face these dangers together?

[Together forever and never to part!...]

Dani Harper
Changeling Dawn
Brava, $14.00/$9.59 digital, Dec. 27, 2011

Kenzie Macleod has spent her whole life hiding the fact that she’s a werewolf. She’s not about to open up to any man, even one as powerfully attractive as wildlife expert Josh Talarkoteen. But legend says that a Changeling cannot escape the call of her true mate, even in the wilderness of backcountry Alaska. An isolated archaeological site, a terrified Changeling cub, a shadowy research facility—as Kenzie and Josh face the ultimate betrayal, his obsidian eyes promise untold pleasure and hint at dark secrets of his own...

[The pleasure is always untold, isn’t it?]

With shows such as The Walking Dead drawing everyone’s attention, the most pressing question on everyone’s mind is “Will I be able to find love during the Zombie Apocalypse?”

I am here to assure you that it is absolutely possible to find your greatest love in the midst of the zombie terror.

In Bianca D’Arc’s Darker Shade of Dead, Dr. Sandra McCormick was part of the scientific team trying to create a formula to enhance the healing abilities of soldiers. When they test their formula on deceased soldiers they make an army of zombies. Now Sandy is working with a military task force to create a serum that will give people immunity to the zombie bite. Commander Matthew Sykes is the leader of the task force, and from the moment Sandy enters Fort Bragg sparks start to fly. Now Commander Sykes needs to fight off the zombies while wooing the beautiful doctor.

[Now that’s what I call multitasking...]

Cynthia Eden
Angel of Darkness (The Fallen)
Kensington, $14.oo/$9.59 digital, Nov. 29, 2011

As an angel of death, Keenan’s job is to collect the souls on his list. He’s carried out his duty for two thousand years and never faltered once. Until he meets Nicole St. James. When the moment of death comes, Keenan hesitates, and instead of taking Nicole, Keenan touches the vampire who’s attacking her. Cast out of heaven for disobedience, Keenan plummets to earth. Six months later, he finally manages to track Nicole to a bar in Mexico. He’s stunned to discover that the woman he remembers has undergone a dramatic change - she’s become a vampire. And when he realizes that she’s the target of all manner of enemies - other vampires, demons, even shifters - he’ll do whatever it takes to protect her, even if all hell breaks loose...

[Hell usually does break loose at the worst possible times, doesn’t it?...]

Nalini Singh
Lord of the Abyss (Royal House of Shadows–Book #4)
Harlequin Nocturne, $5.50, Nov. 22, 2011

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…

As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.

Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who’d cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.

[It’s the final countdown...]

Laurie London, Michele Hauf, Caridad Pineiro, and Alexis Morgan
A Vampire for Christmas
Harlequin, $7.99, Nov. 1, 2011

All they want for Christmas is you...

It’s the time of year for twinkling lights on trees and kisses under the mistletoe. Yet the passing of another year means nothing to the stunning immortals who lurk in the shadows of the new-fallen snow.

And they don’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice.

Let four fanged lovers open your eyes to a passion you never dared to imagine. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays—and these dazzling vampires can’t wait for an invitation.

[Please, come in...]