Love In A Bottle (Leisure) by Zoe Archer is up first. Sophie Andrews's excursions for plants have always netted her interesting specimens, but none so interesting as Ian Blackpool, the traveling peddler she encounters in the midst of the woods. Aside from her uncle, he is the first person to take her interest in botany seriously, as well as taking her breath away. Of course, he's completely unsuitable, but she can't help admiring him, especially after he effects the rescue of her uncle from a vicious group of thugs. Despite his lying, Sophie still finds herself longing for him, even after she discovers his biggest problem. And even that is preferable to the man her mother has chosen for her husband. This one is fun, a nice, uncomplicated read with a sexy hero and a smart heroine who'll make you cheer for her. This one has earned three and a half of Cupid's arrows.
A Lady's Pleasure (Pocket) by Renee Bernard is next with a late November arrival. Merriam Everett has planned very carefully how to make Julian Clay regret not looking more closely at her, and now the night of her revenge is here. Too bad she's just seduced the wrong man. And Drake Sotherton isn't about to let her tempt him and walk away. He tracks her down, figuring to use her in his own revenge plot. Merriam gives up much to be with Drake, while remaining in the dark as to his true purposes. That was the one sticking point for me: the conflict here is not all that believable. One would hope that he could do a better job finding her motives than to just believe the tiny snippets he hears or sees that, shockingly, match right up with his own misconceptions. Aside from that, this one has plenty of steam, so fans of a good hot romance will enjoy that. If you can ignore the conflict issues, you'll like this one a lot. If you can't, well, it's still an okay read. It's earned three arrows.
I Only Have Fangs for You (Brava) by Kathy Love finishes up our 2006 romances with vampire Sebastian Young meeting his match in the anti-vampire Wilhelmina Weiss. Mina's a vampire, too, but she belongs to a group dedicated to stopping other vampires from endangering humans, and the Society has deemed Sebastian the third most dangerous vampire. Sebastian just wants to have fun, but something about Mina piques his interest longer than normal. And the longer she spends in his company, the harder it is to believe he's as bad as she's been told. This one ie cute and funny, not a bad way to end the year's reading. It has also earned three arrows.
Until next time, happy reading!
