Hello, and welcome back! I hope you all had a great Valentine´s Day, with plenty of real romance. The weather here is still undecided, though not really warm enough yet to do any outside work on the gardens, so I´m still getting plenty of reading time in. I´d like to remind all of you that you can sign up for our weekly newsletter, Love Notes. I try to include as much news as I can find on authors, romance market info, etc.

And now, I´ve got three new romances to share with you this week, so let´s get started.

First up is Mary Jane Meier´s second romance,
Hometown Girl (Onyx). If you recall, we had her very first book here last year, and it was wonderful. I have to admit liking the first book more. This time out, we have Lauren Van Horn returning to her small hometown to help her sister out. She doesn´t expect to find Gabe Randolph, her secret teenage crush, back in town, too. Nor does she expect that they´ll be on opposite sides of the environmental issue dividing the town. I like Lauren a lot. She´s very real--has all the same female thoughts and issues we all do. Gabe, well, he´s sexy. But he´s kind of a jerk. At least, in my opinion. Of course, he´s going to reform, but he wasn´t very appealing to me through the first half of the book. The secondary characters in the story are woven through the story very well, particulary Lauren´s sister Becca. I´m going to give this one three and a half of Cupid´s five arrows, and I´m looking forward again to Ms. Meier´s next book.

Next up is Kim Cox´s "Suspicious Minds" (RFI West). Ryan Donatelli is on a mission to get the guys who killed his sister. Natalie Southard wants her father to stop working with a known mobster. Little does she know that her new boyfriend, "Tom," is really Ryan working undercover to find evidence on that same mobster. The plot idea here is good, but the execution of it wasn´t as good. I felt like there were plenty of opportunities for Ryan to reveal his true identity to Nat before he was forced to do so, and the secondary characters in this story are a bit difficult to keep track of. As a first book, it´s not bad, but not a keeper for me. I´m giving it two and a half arrows.

Finally, we have Ana Seymour´s
Rose in the Mist (Jove´s Irish Eyes). Lady Catriona Sherwood, aka Cat O´Malley, is working undercover in Queen Elizabeth´s court. But when she´s caught out, she´s sentenced to wed Niall Riordan rather than be put to death. Cat and Niall have a long road to travel before they reach their happy ever after, and it´s a rather delightful trip. Cat´s a bit stubborn, and Niall a bit doubting, and of course, they´re perfect for one another. I´m giving this one four arrows.

Until next week, happy reading!