Hello, and welcome back. A new trophy is sitting in the living room right now, from the youngest's championship win at his level in Little League over the weekend. And now the post-season all-star tournaments begin. Even my husband has commented that it's never going to end this year. At least I have more reading material for these continued practices, and I have two of them to share with you already.

First Kiss: Book Two of the Bridesmaid Chronicles (Signet) by Kylie Adams is first. Kiki Sonntag is unhappy about all the weddings she's having to participate in. What a whiner. From the first page of this one, I found nothing at all sympathetic about this woman, and I still hadn't when I put it down two-thirds of the way through. I didn't believe Fabrizio did either, let alone that he could find her at all attractive on anything but a shallow, appearances-only level. To me, this looks like another volume of chick lit disguised as romance. Definitely not a keeper.

Someone like You (Berkley) by Barbara Bretton is next. Joely Doyle isn't happy when her older sister calls in an old promise, but she packs up her live-in-lover's daughter and flies home to Maine from Scotland to deal with her mother's accident. Little does she know the depth of what she's getting into. I've been a fan of Ms. Bretton's for some time now, and, while I really enjoyed this book, it's not a romance, per se. Yes, there's a love story here, but the main focus of the book isn't that romance, but the sisters and what they're dealing with from their past. As in all of her previous books, the characters are well-drawn and believable, facing problems many of her readers are facing. But I'm afraid she's going the way of so many other authors--Barbara Delinsky and Kristin Hannah come to mind--and leaving romance for other areas of fiction. A shame, really, when the other choices for romance fans are poorly-written chick lit or the glut of vampires on the market right now. This one will go on my keeper shelf, simply because it's a great story. Unfortunately, it is not a romance, so I cannot rate it as one.

Until next time, happy reading!