Hello, and welcome back! I'm enjoying our fall weather very much right now--the weather cooperated over the weekend so that I could get my spring bulbs planted, so there'll be even more flowers coloring the front and side beds in about 6 months, before the perennial herbs and flowers show themselves. I can hardly wait.

But since I do, it's a good thing I have so much reading material right now. I just got another shipment of November releases, and my normal shelf space for review books is seriously overflowing. Among the latest batch are a couple I've reviewed here previously, which means they will be giveaway books. Oh, by the way, if you haven't been over to the forum lately, we just closed our third October giveaway. And I'm putting together a tote filled with goodies for November, but we do still have a couple more books to go before then, and I don't know anyone who doesn't like a free book so get on over!

For vampire fans, Robin McKinley's
Sunshine (Berkley) is out. In a world where vampires and magick are not unknown, Sunshine has become a sort of bait for a vampire, totally against her will--captured by a band of vampires whose leader has captured another vampire, and it is Con she is supposed to tempt. This one hasn't converted me to a vampire fan, and it's told in first person, which turns me off a story right away in most cases. Definitely not a keeper for me, but I know there are a lot of you who love vampires.

I also have the latest anthology with stories from Nora Roberts, Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan and Marianne Willman,
Once upon a Midnight (Jove). The first story, "The Witching Hour" from Ms. Roberts, pits a young woman who finds out she's not who she's always believed, and now she must find her love to fight and reclaim the kingdom that belongs to her. Finding her love proves easy, but he isn't quite what she'd imagined. The second story, Ms. Gregory's "Mirror, Mirror," gives a magic mirror to a healer who suddenly finds herself caring for a knight who may or may not be her enemy and the enemy of the young boy she keeps safe. Next is Ms. Langan's "Dream Lover" with a little otherworldly assistance nudging a busy young career woman and a wealthy Scotsman into a romance. Finally, "The Midnight Country" from Ms. Willman sends an American woman bent on finding out what happened to her ancestors in their homeland to the secluded home of a man with many secrets. I loved the first two stories--great romance and engaging stories. The third story was likable, and it has the Scottish setting in its favor. The last story, though, I found harder to like, simply because I didn't buy into the heroine's sudden revelation at the end. I'm borrowing four of Cupid's five arrows for this one, though, because I liked it as a whole.

Until next time, happy reading!