Hello, and welcome back! Our snow is nearly gone already and we haven't even hit the very un-March-like high temperatures we're supposed to have the next two days yet. I suppose I should be happy with the little bit of snow we finally did get for the winter. But I'm still going to hope winter isn't actually over yet. After all, spring doesn't start for a couple more weeks, right?

This time out, I have a new author, Eileen Carr, and her first romantic suspense, Hold Back the Dark (Pocket). Psychologist Aimee Gannon knows when the police call and get her out of bed in the wee hours to come to the hospital with one of her patients, it's probably not a good thing, but she had no idea Taylor Dawkin would be in such bad shape. Worse, Aimee and Taylor had finally been making some progress in their therapy sessions, and the murder of Taylor's parents now has the girl nearly catatonic. That's far more than a setback. But Aimee and the sexy detective on the case, Josh Wolf, share a case of lust at first sight. Aimee tries to help with the investigation as best she can, but her priority is Taylor's well-being. Josh's is solving the murders, even if it means finding out that the daughter did it. But between Aimee and Josh, they stir up a hornet's nest, forcing the murderer to take further action. I thought this one had promise. The story sounded intriguing, and how can you not love a sexy detective? Unfortunately, the real focus of this one is the mystery (though if you're really paying attention, you'll know whodunit well before the end, despite the 'clues' tossed in your way), rather than the potential romance between Josh and Aimee. I can buy the lust simmering between them, but they don't spend enough time together for me to believe they've fallen in love by the end of this one, I'm afraid. Rather a shame, I thought. This one's only earned two and a half of Cupid's five arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!