Hello, and welcome back! I keep hoping our weather will improve, but while it's cooler, it's also more humid, so it's no improvement unfortunately. So I'm staying inside again and have both review reading material and personal reading material to keep me busy, not to mention all the normal household and office duties and reading the latter portion of the latest Harry Potter to the boys.

Dangerous Passions (Signet Eclipse) by Lynn Kerstan leads things off today. Lord Marcus Cordell's mission is complicated by his working partner, Lady Eve Halliday, but there are definite perks to the sham engagement. Eve has her own plans for Marcus, and they don't include any happy future together, but you all know that saying about the best-laid plans, right? This one was well-told, though a little less steamy than I'd have hoped, with convincing characters and a complicated, intriguing thread of suspense holding it all together. Cupid's lent three and a half of his five arrows for this one.

Wicked Fantasy (Ballantine) by Nicole Jordan is next, with Antonia Maitland still daydreaming about Trey Deverill years later, despite her unofficial engagement to another man. As usual, this one is filled with the expected heat between Antonia and Trey, though I was disappointed the rest of the story wasn't a little more involved and complex--the bad guy is no secret, which isn't really a problem; the problem for me lies in how stereotypical the villain was. That said, fans of Ms. Jordan should be pleased with this one on the whole. It's just not a keeper for me, so I'm giving it three arrows.

If you haven't yet, check out our reader survey and make your opinion on the state of romance known. You have until August 31, 2005 to get your responses back to me.

And, until next time, happy reading!