Hello, and welcome back! Hopefully everyone who was affected by last week's hurricane has made it through safely. We had The Great Stick Pick-up going on here over the weekend, to gather all the branches knocked down by the wind, but that was really the extent of our damages, so we survived quite well.

Just a quick note to let you all know there is currently a book giveaway happening in the forum right now. I have an autographed copy of Richard Paul Evans's new hardcover novel
A Perfect Day. Not really a romance, but it does have a romantic element in the story--about a man who finds all the fame and fortune he could hope for but at a high price. It's told partly in first person, which turns me off a story pretty quickly. But for someone looking for a different, more mainstream read, it might be just what you want. Also, while I'm on the subject of book giveaways, I have two more books I'll be giving away, one next week and one the following week, also over in the forum, so hurry on over and get registered if you're not yet.

Now, on to the romances. First up is Cheryl Holt's
Complete Abandon (St. Martin's Press). I had really high hopes for this one--there's been buzz about her erotic historicals for some time now, and you all know I love a good erotic romance. Trouble is, there are some other things in this book that make any possible erotic scene just so-so at best, and downright annoying most of the time. The premise is that parson's daughter Emma Fitzgerald is going to confront landlord Viscount Wakefield, John Clayton about his eviction notices to some of his tenants and strikes a deal with him to keep him from booting some of these people. When she arrives, however, she catches him with his current mistress, going at it in front of a window. I find Emma's behavior completely unbelieveable from page one, and John is appalling and nasty and certainly not heroic in my eyes, sleeping with his mistress and seducing Emma at the same time. Ick. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any better as the story goes on, so I'm only borrowing one of Cupid's five arrows for this one, and I won't be hurrying out to pick up any of Ms. Holt's other books, which I'd been looking forward to doing.

Next up is Susan Krinard's
To Catch a Wolf (Berkley). Athena Munroe is unable to do many things, confined to her wheelchair as she is, but, because she has the funds and connections necessary, she does her best to try to help others even less fortunate than she is. Werewolf Morgan Holt has had a tough life, made even tougher by the recent years he spent in prison for killing his father. He's only traveling with French's Fantastic Family Circus to repay a debt he feels he owes some members of the group for saving him. But when the troupe is hired by Athena's brother to perform for the children in her orphanage, Morgan might have another reason to stick around, if he's willing to admit he might have feelings for another person. Ms. Krinard's wolves are some of the few I truly enjoy reading about, and Morgan is no exception, with his tortured past and his rigid code of honor, and Athena is definitely his match, though she has more than a few obstacles to overcome in order to reach her own happy ending. I'm giving this one four arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!