Hello, and welcome back! The weather here is warming up just a little, but as I write this, it's snowing again--big, fat, fluffy snowflakes drifting down onto ground that still had a thin covering of snow from the last go-round. Still reading season, but in another month...well, who knows? In the meantime, I'm working my way through the first of the February releases to share with you and hoping to find something truly wonderful.

This week, our first book is one I've been waiting anxiously for--so anxiously that when I didn't get it with the rest of the January releases, I hurried out to the bookstore for a copy; naturally, the next day, I got a review copy. Oh well. It was worth it. This time out, Sue-Ellen Welfonder brings us Bride of the Beast (Warner Forever). You met Sir Marmaduke Strongbow in "Devil in a Kilt" the summer before last, but this time out, he gets his own Scottish lass, one who's not happy to have a champion forced on her, and most definitely not happy about an English one. Lady Caterine Keith wants only to keep her stepson's legacy safe, but without the champion her sister has sent, her chances are slim. She has little choice but to acquiesce--though she has no intention of wedding with the scarred Englishman, no matter how persuasive he may be. Caterine and Marmaduke are quite sweet, though their romance is sizzling hot. As usual, Ms. Welfonder sweeps you away to Scotland, with a setting so real it made me wish I was back in the Highlands. Of Cupid's five arrows, I'm giving this one four and a half. A definite keeper.

The other book I have this week is Dorothy Garlock's Place Called Rainwater (Warner). The story opens with a prologue of a young girl being thrown out of the house where she's recently given birth to a baby boy to a man who's not her husband--and forced to leave her child behind. That beginning intrigued me. Then once the main story begins, we're with Jill Jones on the porch of her aunt's hotel in a growing oil town. From there, things get a lot more involved, and I wasn't as intrigued. There are a lot of secondary characters in this tale, and if you're not paying attention, you might get lost--or maybe that was just me. If you like early 1900's settings, and stories that involve lots of folks, you should enjoy this one. I'm giving this one only three arrows.

Next time, I've got the first of the February releases to share with you, and I'm looking forward to several of them, very much. In the meantime, pop over to the forum and chat with other romance readers about your fave authors or books you've read recently. We're a friendly bunch there.

Until next time, happy reading!