In Your Dreams-Kristan Higgins

In Your Dreams

Kristan Higgins

Harlequin HQN, Sep 30 2014, $7.99

ISBN: 9780373779314

In Manningsport, New York, Blue Heron head winemaker Jack Holland rescues four teenagers from drowning after they wrecked their car.  The townsfolk rightfully consider the kindhearted Jack the hero of the Midwinter Miracle; but he remains traumatized over the boy in that accident still in a coma.

Police Officer Emmaline Neal needs a date for her former fiancé Kevin Bates’s wedding in Malibu.  Friends suggest she ask Jack to be her guest, which he agrees.  In California, Emma feels overwhelmed and not just because she is the groom’s ex; as her family resides nearby and she believes she is the lone failure of Dr. and Dr. Neal.  When she and Jack share a wonderful evening of love, Emma doubts it is more than just a one-night tryst; as a cop can’t compare to his former wife Hadley who demands a second chance with him.  However she doesn’t know Jack; as well as she thought as he wants much more than a SOCAL fling.

The fourth Blue Heron romance (see Waiting On You, The Perfect Match and The Best Man) is a charming contemporary starring two amiable protagonists and ably supported by their families and other bicoastal locals.  Kristan Higgins authors a warm droll drama as the self-doubter buries her trepidations in Skittles and chocolate cake, and the PTSD sufferer struggles with the accolades from his heroic act; neither know how to deal with falling in love.

Harriet Klausner

Jilted-Rachael Johns

Jilted

Rachael Johns

Harlequin HQN, Sep 30 2014, $7.99

ISBN: 9780373779369

A decade ago in Hope Junction, Australia, Elenora Hughes jilted Flynn Quartermaine at the altar to pursue an acting career.  When her godmother Matilda breaks her ankle, Ellie returns home after remaining in the big city as a successful soap opera star for years to care for her beloved injured senior citizen.

Ellie and Flynn share in common two things: each fears a second chance and each remains in love with the other.  The tabloids stalk the couple and other residents in the small western town; local nurse Lauren Simpson deploys a plan to finally win Flynn’s heart; and Ellie’s show producer pressures her to return to the set.  However, as Mat reveals a secret and Ellie finds joy in directing and teaching drama, she explains to the two people she cherishes with all her heart why she left Hope behind ten years ago.

Jilted is an engaging second chance Australian romance due to likable leads and a colorful local cast dealing with the big city invaders.  Although the storyline goes as expected, Rachel Johns provides her audience with a pleasant HEA Down Under contemporary.

Harriet Klausner

Done Return to Glory-Sara Arden

Done

Return to Glory

Sara Arden

Harlequin HQN, Aug 26 2014, $7.99

ISBN: 9780373779307

Former SEAL Jack McConnell returns home to Glory, Kansas a broken man.  He sits in his dress whites and pulls the trigger of a gun pointed at his head.  The click disappoints Jack as the chamber was empty.  Jack’s BFF, GPD police officer Caleb Lewis, arrives before the PTSD veteran continues with his Russian Roulette.

When Caleb’s sister Betsy was a tweener, Jack saved her life.  Since then he has been her beloved hero.  Whereas he assumes he no longer is her idol, Betsy knows she still loves him damaged goods and all; and will do anything to help Jack heal from his emotional injuries.  Though he doubts she can reach through his darkness, Jack doesn’t know Betsy; as she remains determined to save her hero from himself.

Return to Glory is an insightful contemporary romance that provides a stunned audience with a timely realistic look at a suicidal vet struggling with mental and physical war wounds, and the beloved woman (and townsfolk) giving her all to rescue him.  Character-driven by traumatized Jack, this is not an easy read starting with the opening haunting sequence.  As readers wonder if love will prove enough to save a life, Sara Arden brings needed attention on the much higher rate than the civilian population of suicides among returning veterans.

Harriet Klausner

Gutenberg’s Apprentice-Alix Christie

Gutenberg’s Apprentice

Alix Christie

Harper, Sep 23 2014, $27.99

ISBN 9780062336019

In 1450, merchant Johann Fust orders his adopted son Peter Schoeffer to come home from Paris immediately.  Though he prefers to stay in France as his work as a scribe has been thriving, Peter obeys and takes the three day journey to Mainz, Germany.  Johan explains to Peter that he has invested in Johann Gensfleisch’s project.  He wants the lad to become Johann’s apprentice in order to help him succeed and to learn a new trade that will leave scribes obsolete.  Filled with doubts and misgivings Peter works with Johann on printing the Bible with equipment that fails more than it works.  He fixes several of the bugs although his mentor proves difficult to work for; the Church and the scribe guild oppose the devil’s creation; while their family warns father and son of the danger to all of them from this heresy.  Still they persevere until they eventually create the Gutenberg Bible, which is further condemned as not anywhere near the art of the scribes.

This remarkable historical fiction describes the obstacles in developing the movable type printing press.  Like A & E’s Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium naming Gutenberg number one after five and half centuries of major impact (until the digital print ended its influence), Alix Christie pays homage to the invention that changed information flow to the masses.  Peter’s mixed feelings whether to print or not to print anchor the detailed fifteenth century drama with a human impact.  Although a romance feels unnecessary and even well written family dynamics that add understanding of the lead trio come across as intrusive; the audience will be enthralled with the fascinating printing press invention main storyline.

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Harriet Klausner

Wicked Nights-Anne Marsh

Wicked Nights

Anne Marsh

Harlequin Blaze, Sep 16 2014, $5.50

ISBN: 9780373798193

On Discovery Island, California (see Wicked Sexy) SEAL rescue swimmer Cal Brennan struggles mentally to dive into the water after his last mission; which he knows is not good for a person co-running Deep Dive.  Piper Clark has driven Cal crazy for two decades as an “enemy combatant”.  Now the thirty years old naval instructor struggles with his desire for the nutty former internationally ranked diver, whose injured knee cost her, the Olympics.

He knows he must think with his upper head, as his rescue and diving school, and her Dream Big And Dive shop, along with several others, compete for the lucrative Fiesta Cruise Line contract.  Knowing he still haunts her as he did when he was older than her growing up, Piper taunts Cal into a bet in which the one who wins the bid owns the loser for a night.

The latest Uniformly Hot! Romance (see A SEAL’s Kiss by Tawny Weber) is a lighthearted, but heated Blaze as two childhood adversaries with traumas to overcome fall in love bidding for the same contract.  Although Piper’s behavior is over the top of the Sierras, she and Cal make a fine couple as opposites attracted in the water, on the land and especially in the bedroom.

Harriet Klausner

Some Like It Hotter-Isabel Sharpe

Some Like It Hotter

Isabel Sharpe

Harlequin Blaze, Sep 16 2014, $5.50

ISBN: 9780373798209

While enjoying her blend of orange chamomile tea on Aura Beach, California, Slow Pour coffee shop owner Eva Meyer is bored after three years of living in nearby Carmia.  In Manhattan, Eva’s twin Chris, owner of the NYEspresso coffee shop, realizes after three years in the Big Apple she is exhausted.  The sisters chat and agree to switch places for a month.

In New York persistent customer Ames Cooke has been attracted to quiet Chris.  However, eccentric Eva likes him and unlike her somewhat reticent sibling, charges head first into his life.  He knows she is wrong for him, but also is addicted to her taste.  As the days go by, Ames belief he can handle one month of lovemaking with the wrong sister turns into needing a lifetime with this right twin, but to persuade her may prove impossible.

Some Like it Hotter is a wonderful heated romance due to the delightful opposite coastal pairing of two people falling in love over tea and coffee.  The pleasant blending of the lead couple sets a high bar for Chris’ mellow meltdown.

Harriet Klausner

Scene Of The Crime: Baton Rouge-Carla Cassidy

Scene Of The Crime: Baton Rouge

Carla Cassidy

Harlequin Intrigue, Sep 16 2014, $5.50

ISBN: 9780373697915

Three days ago FBI Agents Revennaugh and Clinton (see … Return to Mystic Lake) went missing; before them two other agents, a sheriff, a wife and a child vanished from their homes in the last couple of months.  FBI Baton Rouge Office Director Miller assigns Agent Alexander Harkins to lead a team of eight Feds including his former wife Georgina Beaumont to capture a diabolical taunting “FBI trained serial killer”.

Alexander feels good about heading the task force, but also has trepidations as his last lead role went bad and soon after his marriage ended.  His hidden agenda is to learn Georgina’s dark secrets she concealed from him so that he can break down the barriers they caused in hopes of a do-over.  When the psychopath targets Georgina, Alexander risks his life to keep her safe.

The latest Scene of the Crime thriller (see … Deadman’s Bluff; … Return to Bachelor Moon; and … Bachelor Moon) is an exciting second chance police procedural.  Although a taunting serial killer is an overused villain; filled with plenty of action and viable suspects especially two with FBI credentials; … Baton Rouge is an adrenalin-pumping romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner

Cali-Deborah Frazier

Cali

Deborah Frazier

Deborah Frazier, Aug 22 2013, $9.00

ISBN: 9780578128795

Rita and Mike Evans are the perfect who fell in love in high school.  Both are excited with the birth of their first child; but especially the marine, a former quarterback, who looks forward to playing sports with his son.  However, Dr. Martin informs them their newborn has abnormalities in the genitals and recommends surgery to change the boy into a girl.  Reluctantly, Mike accepts the doctor’s recommendation and persuades his wife that their son is better off as a girl.

Over the next few years Cali is raised as a girl mostly by her loving mother; her dad, filled with guilt and doubt, kept reenlisting and volunteering for deployments.  Cali prefers competing against the guys and proves a better athlete than them.  She begins receiving hormone shots, but unaware what they are; as her mom refuses to tell her the big secret and her dad abandoned his family.  Cali also feels suicidal as she hates feelings of being a boy trapped in a girl’s body.  Meghan remains her only friend and anchor even after Cali confesses to her that her brain screams male.  Becoming a psychologist to help others with similar haunting issues as hers, twentyish Cali meets and marries kind Lance but she still feels trapped in the wrong gender.

Cali is a powerful psychological thriller that cautions parents to think of the long-term consequences on their newborn before agreeing to a sex change medical procedure.  Character-driven by the protagonist’s inner turmoil of a freak in the wrong body, Cali reminds readers that even loving decisions have second order effects and that doctors are people not gods; but mostly consider the future as much as the present.

Harriet Klausner

Cali-Deborah Frazier

Cali

Deborah Frazier

Deborah Frazier, Aug 22 2013, $9.00

ISBN: 9780578128795

Rita and Mike Evans are the perfect who fell in love in high school.  Both are excited with the birth of their first child; but especially the marine, a former quarterback, who looks forward to playing sports with his son.  However, Dr. Martin informs them their newborn has abnormalities in the genitals and recommends surgery to change the boy into a girl.  Reluctantly, Mike accepts the doctor’s recommendation and persuades his wife that their son is better off as a girl.

Over the next few years Cali is raised as a girl mostly by her loving mother; her dad, filled with guilt and doubt, kept reenlisting and volunteering for deployments.  Cali prefers competing against the guys and proves a better athlete than them.  She begins receiving hormone shots, but unaware what they are; as her mom refuses to tell her the big secret and her dad abandoned his family.  Cali also feels suicidal as she hates feelings of being a boy trapped in a girl’s body.  Meghan remains her only friend and anchor even after Cali confesses to her that her brain screams male.  Becoming a psychologist to help others with similar haunting issues as hers, twentyish Cali meets and marries kind Lance but she still feels trapped in the wrong gender.

Cali is a powerful psychological thriller that cautions parents to think of the long-term consequences on their newborn before agreeing to a sex change medical procedure.  Character-driven by the protagonist’s inner turmoil of a freak in the wrong body, Cali reminds readers that even loving decisions have second order effects and that doctors are people not gods; but mostly consider the future as much as the present.

Harriet Klausner

Christmas At Thunder Horse Ranch- Elle James

Christmas At Thunder Horse Ranch

Elle James

Harlequin Intrigue, Sep 16 2014, $5.50

ISBN: 9780373697922

In North Dakota U.S. Customs and Border Protection interdiction agent Dante Thunder Horse flies his copter to check out a farmer’s report that a snowmobile illegally crossed from Canada.  While flying solo because his copilot has the flu, Dante knows this is the third anniversary of the worst day in his life; his late fiancée Captain Samantha Olson died on this date in Afghanistan.  He spots the snowmobile and watches in astonishment a man launch a rocket propelled grenade at the helicopter.  Dante survives the fiery crash but his assassin fires shots at him.

University of North Dakota Paleontology Professor Emma Jennings is near the crash area searching for the skull of a T-Rex when she sees the inferno.  Emma rushes to the scene only to witness a person on a snowmobile firing at recumbent man wearing only thermal underwear.  Heroically she crashes into the shooter’s vehicle knocking away his gun.  The assassin flees so Emma checks on the wounded person who she recognizes.  Dante and Emma head to his Thunder Horse Ranch knowing her intervention places her in peril.

This is an entertaining romantic suspense with some gender bending action as the academic saves their butts several times.  Fast-paced throughout, Christmas At Thunder Horse Ranch is a fun thriller.

Harriet Klausner