Hello, and welcome back! I'm planning to take my current read outdoors a little later to enjoy; the sun is out, but the humidity is gone (for now), and, while I should be weeding, I'm going to savor the lovely weather instead while the house is still quiet and school is in session. In just another week or so, school will be out for the summer, and my days off won't really be my own for a while.

In the meantime, I have a new anthology this week: Weddings From Hell (Harper) with stories from Maggie Shayne, Jeaniene Frost, Terri Garey, and Kathryn Smith, all centered around weddings. Shayne's 'Till Death' has Kira McLellan discovering that she has family she never knew, and that the curse her dying mother spoke of is true. When an unknown aunt dies and leaves her property and money, Kira has to head to Scotland and meets up with family attorney Ian Stewart, who makes Kira hope the curse on the brides of her family aren't true. This one is fun, with a strong heroine, a sexy hero, and an angry spirit determined not to let there be a happily ever after. 'Happily Never After' by Frost has Isabella engaged to a mobster to save her brother, but vampire Chance has come to town to save her. Only Isa doesn't believe in vampires. Still, she can't help being attracted to the sexy Chance. Garey's 'Ghouls Night Out' has 'ghost whisperer' Nicki heading home to participate in a cousin's wedding, but the bridesmaid she's replacing happens to be dead and still hanging around. Finally, 'The Wedding Knight' from Smith has Violet set to marry a perfectly nice man, but then vampire Payen Carr comes back, claiming the man isn't as nice as she thinks. But Payen doesn't plan to stick around. Again. My favorite story here is Shayne's, but that doesn't surprise me; I love her stuff. I also enjoyed Frost's, with the strong heroine set on helping her brother any way she can. I didn't enjoy the Garey or Smith as much. The Garey is told in first person, and some of the humor there felt rather forced to me. Just not my cup of tea. And the Smith felt like there was info missing, as if it's part of a series (and I'm sure it is), but for readers like me who haven't read the other stories, well, not so good. With the first two stories balancing out the last two, this one's earned three of Cupid's five arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!