Hello, and welcome back! It's rather grey out here today, though the steady rain hasn't yet arrived. It will soon, and when it does, it's going to get very chilly out. That is why my planned herb-planting for this week has been postponed. Hopefully it'll be warmer next week when I'm off so I can get the new herbs into the flower beds. I'm ready for fresh herbs in the kitchen, rather than the dried stuff we use all winter long.

This time out, I have the latest from Linda Howard and Linda Jones, Blood Born (Ballantine), the first in a new paranormal series. Luca Ambrus was born of vampire parents, which makes him very rare in his world. The Council he works for keeps the secret of their very existence from all the world, but someone among them wants a war, and they'll stop at nothing to take power. Chloe Fallon never realized her inborn ability until after Luca saves her life. One of the things he relies on is that no one remembers him. Until Chloe. But Chloe is in danger, and Luca takes on the task of protecting her from the creatures of his world who want her dead, along with every other human who can bring protective warriors into their world. Howard fans will recall the 'Raintree' series she participated in a few years back, which was one of her few forays into the paranormal romance realm. This one, written with Jones, seems to lead her deeper into that subgenre. Luca is very appealing, sure of himself in most areas, until Chloe tips him off-balance when she doesn't forget him as everyone else does. And when she learns the truth about him, she doesn't run away screaming, which makes her appeal to him even more than she already did. There is a bit of scene-setting here that will carry readers into the next installment of this series next year, as well as secondary characters you know you'll be seeing more of as the series progresses. I enjoyed Luca and Chloe very much, and all of our regular readers know I'm not a huge vampire fan. This one has its own lore for the vampires within, and it's a bit different, which is probably why I liked it. I'm borrowing four of Cupid's five arrows for this one. Now we just have to wait until the end of July for Ms. Howard's next romantic suspense....

Until next time, happy reading!