Hello, and welcome back! I hope Santa brought you lots of great romances to keep you warm during the wintry weather ahead. As I write this, I don´t know what Santa´s brought me yet, but I´m sure there´ll be at least a book or two. And if not, then I´ll have to get my own. But for now, let´s take a look back at our year in romance.

We have had several wonderful new books by Nora Roberts, including a couple I didn´t get to review here. But best of all were the three in her Irish trilogy, most recently with "Heart of the Sea." Another wonderful trilogy this year was by May McGoldrick, and their Highland Treasure series. I loved both these families and hated to see their stories end. Hopefully both authors will find a way to revisit them in future books.

We´ve had some market changes--no more Bouquets from Kensington, but they´ve announced the addition the new Brava line of more erotic romance. I can´t wait until February when the first book, by Bertrice Small, is released! And the next one in March...well, you get the idea. The new Blaze line from Harlequin will be launching in the second half of 2001, and their City Girl line very late in the year. Every year, lines fold, but new ones arrive to take their place. Something for us to be thankful for at the end of one year in romance.

We had the chance to chat with Silhouette author Susan Meier about her books and her writing life. I hope to be able to bring you more author interviews in the next year, as well as more special guests in our chats. There are several books coming out in the first half of the year I´m very excited about, and later in the year, I plan to introduce you to a wonderful new author of Scottish romance.

We talked about several reader events during the year, though I didn´t get a chance to meet all of you at the Romantic Times convention last month. I´m looking forward to getting to meet more of you at next year´s convention--more details about that coming in a couple weeks; I will tell you that Kathryn Falk, Lady Barrow, and I are working on plans for a special Scottish event during the convention and when I have concrete dates and plans, I´ll let you know.

In this fast-paced, ever-changing industry, I am most thankful for the authors and their books. These books are what take us away to another world for a little while, whether it´s to escape dirty dishes and laundry or more severe conditions. They remind us that all things are possible, not the least of which is love. And on that note, I´ll toss in one more thing I´m thankful for: my own personal romance hero, my husband and father of my two wonderful boys. May you all have or find one so great for yourselves. And may you also be lucky enough to enjoy plenty more truly spectacular romance novels next year!

Happy reading!