Hello, and welcome back! It is absolutely gorgeous here again. Not too warm, no humidity. If the weather could be like this all year, I'd be thrilled. I realized last week the leaves on my neighbor's backyard tree are already changing colors and dropping off. I wonder if that means we might have a real winter this year?

This time out, I have the first of our September romances, G. A. Aiken, aka Shelly Laurenston's What a Dragon Should Know (Zebra). This time, Gwenvael the Handsome meets his match in Dagmar Reinholdt, aka the Beast. He's gone to the Northlands to try to make a deal with this fearsome creature, and he's shocked when Dagmar turns out to be the scary, frightening person he's supposed to be negotiating with. The only daughter in a family of warriors, Dagmar has developed her own ways of coping with the testosterone overload always around her, so dealing with Gwenvael should be a piece of cake. Or not. Gwenvael has a tendency to say exactly what he's thinking, even when he shouldn't, and the things he says to her have her responding in completely inappropriate ways. Gwenvael is used to women falling over themselves to get to him, and when Dagmar is resistant, well, it just means he has to try a little harder to persuade her to his way of thinking. And Gwenvael's persuasion guarantees that things are going to be hot with a capital H. Aiken/Laurenston is an absolute master at combining laugh out loud humor with scorching sexual tension in her stories, making a reader wish the story would never end, although there is always the added pleasure in her dragon stories of getting to revisit characters from the previous tales. Gwenvael is sexy and naughty, and a fantastic hero with his need to protect his lady, even though she's perfectly capable of protecting herself. And Dagmar is absolutely his equal, sturdy enough to stand up to him when he needs it, and woman enough to admit when her heart is his. Like many of the romance readers who shop in the store where I work, I'd been waiting anxiously for this one, and it was worth the wait. The only bad thing is now we have to wait again for the next one. This one's earned four and a half of Cupid's five arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!