Hello, and welcome back! We're in the midst of Little League play-offs, with all-star practices set to start later in the week as well, but at least the flowerbeds are mostly done now. I just need to get the mulch trucked in and then I'll be done with the real work there for the summer. Then I can enjoy the flowers and herbs with a good book. I hope. This time out, I have two current releases to share with you.

Days of Summer (Atria) by Jill Barnett is up first, with several generations of Bannings and Peytons crossing paths after a first, disastrous encounter. I'll say right up front, this one is complicated and, being a saga, doesn't read to me as a romance, but women's fiction. That said, the line that published it is known for women's fiction rather than romance. However, the bookstore buyers who're getting this into their stores are the romance buyers, so guess which section of the stores it's going into? If you're looking for some heavy reading, stretching over fifty years, this might be just the ticket. If you're looking for straight romance, you may be disappointed.

Ghost Hunter (Jove) by Jayne Castle is next, with her latest Harmony novel. This one features botanist Elly St. Clair and Guild boss Cooper Boone, her former fiance. Six months ago, Elly ended their engagement when she realized how into his job Cooper was, feeling she couldn't compete with it, not to mention how unemotional he was with her. So she left Aurora Springs with her broken heart and moved to Cadence City to start fresh. Now she needs Cooper's help to find a friend, and Cooper has other plans, secret plans for his trip to Cadence to deal with as well. As usual in a Castle/Krentz romance, you get plenty of steam, gripping emotion and characters who come alive as you're reading. While this one is technically part of a series, you don't have to have read the previous books to understand what's going on in this one. But hey, why not read the whole series and enjoy every story? This one's earned four of Cupid's five arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!