Hello, and welcome back! If our weather here in the northeast could be like this all summer, I wouldn't mind summer nearly as much. And now it's nearly fall, which I do love, far more than summer.

While I'm waiting for a delivery, I've been reading. And thinking about the fall romances coming in the next month or two that I really, really want to read. Like Nora Roberts's books in October and November, which seems a long way off at the moment.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon very fortunately comes out later this month, so I'll have something to tide me over in the meantime--and which gives me time to reread the first books in the series and fall in love with Jamie all over again. I can hardly wait!

The Next Mrs. Blackthorne (Pocket Star) is out now, though, and for fans who've been waiting for the next installment in the Blackthorne/Grayhawk series, your wait is over. If you haven't read the previous books in the series, you'd better get them before you start this one, or you'll be very confused by the large cast of characters. I'd read the book just previous to this one and I still needed a list to keep track of who's who. Clay Blackthorne's family heritage is being threatened by North Grayhawk. So his fiancee selflessly offers herself in exchange for North giving up his plans at gaining control of Bitter Creek. Yeah, right. Selflessly, my eye. But Jocelyn and North's relationship isn't the only one you'll track through this book; you also get Clay and his teenage love Libby, and even an interest for Clay and Libby's daughter Kate. If you're looking for a real saga, start at the beginning of the series before picking this one up. You'll be doing yourself a real favor. Otherwise not only will you not be able to keep track of the tangled relationships in this book, you might not even care to.

As well as digging into the September releases, I'm also working on compiling the figures from the readers' survey responses I've gotten. There are some interesting comments from readers and writers of all sorts among them, and I'm really looking forward to sharing the results with you.

Until next time, happy reading!