Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

It's been home repair and fix up month at the homestead, and the blog has languished, unupdated. I'm so sorry. So there are lots of little things to catch you up on.

-If you don't want to talk back to Harlequin, maybe you like to talk to other romance reader and authors at the Romance Novels Forum.

- The RITA awards were announced by the Romance Writers of America. Some of our favorites are on this year's list. Kristan Higgins, Catch of the Day, won best Contemporary Single Title Romance, while Julia Quinn's The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheevers, won for best Regency Romance, and Best Romantic Suspence was captured by Anne Stuart's Ice Blue. For teens, one of my favorites, Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr took the prize.

-Finally, more new Romances keep rolling in, including Suzanne Enoch's, Before the Scandal, Christine Feehan's, Turbulent Sea and Stephanie Laurens', The Edge of Desire. There's always something new in the Romance aisle!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

Have you ever wanted to talk back to a book? You know that, "What were they thinking?" feeling. Well, Harlequin wants to know what you were thinking, and has started a website to find out. At http://www.tellharlequin.com/, they will be contacting you from time to time by email and/or mail, to ask you to…

• Read Harlequin® books and give your opinions (the books will be sent to you free of charge and are yours to keep with no obligation to purchase anything!)

• Share your opinions on book covers

• Give your opinions on new book ideas

I've signed up to give it a try and I'll let you know what I think of it. A chance to speak my mind, what's not to like?

Tori Carrington's newest is here!

Were you able to attend last year's Writer's Live? The Toledo, Ohio husband and wife writing team of Lori and Tony Karayianni came to Medina County to talk about their books written under the name of Tori Carrington. This busy couple, with over 40 published titles to their names, has released their newest title in the Sofia Metropolis series, Working Stiff. The ever efficient Book Reporter has already posted her blurb about it and it sounds great!

"In charge" while her uncle/boss is in Greece, Sophie finds she's coming to enjoy the "boss" status for herself. Assigning lesser tasks to the other employees, she concentrates on a case with the most serious consequence potential so far. Her client is facing life in prison for murdering his girlfriend whose body was never found. It's Sophie's job to find the real killer. As she hits the streets and continues to work the tedious, difficult or dangerous details of the case, Sophie wonders if even as the boss, she's not still just a Working Stiff.

For years I've fed my addiction to mystery novels with long-time series mystery writers such as Margaret Maron, Joan Hess, Sharyn McCrumb, Gillian Roberts, etc. With suspense, humor and romance, these have made me put my thinking cap on while enjoying each absorbing chapter, which just whets my appetite for the next installment. This 4th story in the fresh bright Sophie Metropolis series puts Tori Carrington in with these other terrific authors, and I'll be impatiently waiting for more. Posted by Barbara Vey on www.PublishersWeekly.com/BeyondHerBook blog 08/29/08

Fall Favorites

The leaves on my trees are falling due to lack of rain, rather than cooler temperatures, but falling they are, so it's time to harvest the latest crop of good books. Some of our most popular authors showed up this week with new and new to paperback Romances. So check out these on the shelves:

Christy Award finalist Susan May Warren's third book in her series about Josey, Get Cozy Josey!, has Josey and her new husband heading off for to the frozen tundra of Siberia.

In slightly warmer climes, pick up the second book in Amanda Scott's Border trilogy, Border Lass, providing intrigue and romance in the Scottish court.

Amanda Ashley unites a world-weary vampire with a beautiful witch to fight a deadly new threat in her newest, Night's Kiss.

Chastity O'Neill is ready to fall love in love and tired of being Just One of the Guys, in Kristan Higgins latest.

The choice between woman and country must be made in Rosemary Rodger's Scandalous Deception.

Brenda Jackson returns with the third in her "The Three Mrs. Fosters" series, with Just Deserts.

And of course, there are always many more waiting for you in the Romance aisle. Happy harvesting!

Coincidence is a Wonderful Thing

Going through our newly delivered Romances for the week, I spotted Eve Silver's newest His Wicked Sins. Just the day before I'd spotted our own Book Reporter's blurb on the book in Barbara Vey's blog, Beyond Her Book. Just in case you haven't checked out Barbara's blog, it's a great way to keep up to date on the world of romance and romance writers. My favorite day to check it out is Your Turn Fridays, which feature blurbs on the latest in romance fiction. Check it out; a link to Beyond Her Book is listed on the left in the links.

Anyway, back to Book Report's blurb; thanks, Joyce!

In 1828 Elizabeth Canham has taken a position as a teacher at Burndale Academy in Yorkshire, a girl's boarding school, and having travelled from London where she's lived most of her life, she feels a little out of her element. She knew she was taking the place of a teacher who recently died, but hadn't known till she got there that the teacher had been the second to have been horribly brutalized and murdered, and is told she bears a similarity to them. Griffin Fairfax is local gentry, and the father of a disturbingly silent and remote student. While his demeanor is charming, he is also shrouded in darkness and mystery. Elizabeth is given to suspect him when she discovers the disfigured body of another woman in the forest. Since he has expressed an interest in her, she begins to wonder if she might become the next victim. Gothic Romance is what I got into after my Nancy Drew days, and before Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov took me out of this world. I've forgotten how the frightening mysteries of ancient castles, impenetrable forests and sinister villains can still captivate me. I found Eve Silver's dark romance to be mysterious and thrilling, reminding me that there are good grown-up Gothic novels being written, and I can still enjoy them. Posted by Barbara Vey @ www.PublishersWeekly.com/BeyondHerBook blog (08/08/08)”

End of Summer Windfall

We have an embarressment of riches in the Romance aisle this week. If you are a Regency romance reader, (try saying that five times fast!), Barbara Metzger's newest, The Scandalous Life of a True Lady, arrived along with a new author, Olivia Parker's At the Bride Hunt Ball. Or for a little further back in history, you might want to try Scottish historicals like Rivals for the Crown, by Kathleen Givens or the latest in Hannah Howell's Highland series, Highland Fire. For something more contemporary, Christine Ridgeway has a new book, How to Knit a Wild Bikini, or the next installment in Patti O'Shea's paranormal series, In Twilight's Shadow. So enjoy the dog days of summer in style; grab your lounge chair, a cold drink and a good book. Happy reading!

Vacation and Other Pleasures

I have to apologize for my long silence between posts. I was on vacation to cloudy and chilly San Francisco, and hot and steamy Memphis. Of course I had to take a book with the me, so I read the third Katie Chandler book by Shanna Swendson Damsel Under Stress. This series, which follows an average small town girl in New York City who works for a company that produces spells for the magical community, is funny, light-hearted chick-lit. For something a little bit steamier, check out some of our newest titles, like Jacquelyn Frank's latest in her Nightwalkers series, Damien, or another paranormal by Jeaniene Frost, One Foot in the Grave, the second in her Night Huntress series.