Hello, and welcome back! Things are speeding up now, aren´t they? Heading into the holiday season, there are many more activities, more things to do, more people to deal with. And, unfortunately, less reading time. I´m trying to balance my reading time with all of the normal chores and all of the added holiday season chores adn somehow finding that the scale is definitely out of balance.

I hope that each of you makes a point to secure some time for yourself during this season, whether you read a new romance, or just relax from some of the holiday stresses like shopping and baking, or relatives visiting, or whatever your particular stress might be. Don´t feel selfish; think of it more as self-preservation. You´ll be glad later that you did.

While we´re on the subject of holidays, have you checked out the new Romantic Notions shop yet? One easy stop for gift ideas for other romance lovers in your life. Heck, even if you´re shopping for yourself, you´re bound to find something--books, flowers, chocolate, candles. There´s more, but I´ll let you explore for yourself.

My December books are thinning out now, but I´ve got a good one to share with you this week: Justine Dare´s High Stakes (Onyx). Shelby Wyatt is on the run for her life, and danger follows her, right into Aaron Montana´s casino. Shelby is a lean-on-no-one kind of woman, and Aaron has a tendency to bring strays home. Naturally, these two will end up together, right? Well, after a long and tense few days maybe. Shelby is one of the strongest heroines I´ve read recently. But the beginning of the book was slow reading for me. There were so many characters in the first couple chapters that I made a list to keep track. Nevertheless, once I figured out who was who, I really enjoyed this one for the most part. I´m giving it three of Cupid´s five arrows. Let me know what you think of it.

Until next week, happy reading!