heir to the Earl
of Moreland, is
one of London’s
most well-known rakes
until his father
orders him to
settle down.
The earl expects
him to woo
Lady Lavinia
Hobbs, eldest daughter of the Duke of
Huntley, a woman who, though beautiful,
has a reputation for being somewhat of a
shrew. Lady Alexandra, Lavinia’s younger
sister, has been in love with Owen for
years and fears that he will be forced to
wed her sister. In an effort to spend more
time with Owen, she asks him to help
make her a success in London’s ballrooms,
and in exchange, she will help him win
Lavinia’s heart. But some of the suggestions she gives to Owen will cause Lavinia
to dislike him more, and Alexandra hopes
that he will turn to her instead. The cleverly executed reappearance of characters
from earlier installments adds allure to
the innocent romance and carefully
orchestrated seduction. Readers will be
especially drawn to Alexandra, a refreshingly open and honest woman. Agent:
Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (May)
The Earl Takes All
Lorraine Heath. Avon, $7.99 mass market
(382p) ISBN 978-0-06-239103-2
Heath draws together a couple whose
genuine passion and love are hard to resist
in her second Hellions of Havisham
Regency (after Falling into Bed with a
Duke). Edward Alcott is shocked to
become the new Earl of Greyling after his
identical twin is killed on the safari that
was to be their last big adventure together
before the birth of the earl’s heir.
Worrying that the news of the earl’s death
would cause his wife, Lady Julia, to mis-
carry—a concern in keeping with the era’s
limited understanding of maternal medi-
cine—Edward keeps it secret that the earl
has died, announces his own death
instead, and poses as his brother until the
baby is born. Heath delicately allows Julia
to mourn her brother-in-law while giving
her enough intuition to realize that the
husband who has returned from Africa
seems somehow changed—and she quite
personal reconnection increases as their
investigation reveals more about Riley’s
past and the titular villain, a man who
makes his opponents in card games ante
up young girls whom they must kill if
they lose. Burton throws in a number of
twists and a nice variety of characters,
including Riley’s foster daughter, Hanna;
Shield’s eponymous founder; and Duke,
Riley’s father figure, who helped her get
her life back together. This romantic
thriller is tense, sexy, and pleasingly complex. Agent: Karen Solem, Spencerhill
Associates. (May)
Outlaw Cowboy
Nicole Helm. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $7.99
mass market (352p) ISBN 978-1-4926-2127-0
A man looking to keep his ranch finds
love in an unlikely place in Helm’s second
Big Sky Cowboys contemporary (after Rebel
Cowboy). In the town of Blue Valley, Mont.,
Caleb Shaw is determined to become a
better man by making his ranch successful
and quitting drinking. Caleb finds Delia
Rogers holed up in a cabin on the ranch,
looking scared and skinny and more
determined than ever, though she won’t
tell him what she’s up to. Caleb has always
admired Delia’s pluck in difficult circumstances—her father abused both her and
her sister—but he knows that he shouldn’t
associate with her and break the terms of a
deal he signed with Tyler Parker, who has
agreed to lease some of his land on the
condition that Caleb avoid everyone in his
old crowd of troublemakers. Still, Caleb
is drawn to the wounded yet strong Delia.
She’s afraid to share a difficult secret,
fearing that it would disrupt her fragile
happiness with Caleb. And soon their
mutual lust leads to love, creating additional complications in both their lives.
The sex is sizzling, and readers will savor
the realism of the characters who are faced
with tough decisions in a harsh world.
Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Sanford J.
Greenburger Associates. (May)
The Untamed Earl
Valerie Bowman. St. Martin’s, $7.99 mass
market (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-07258-0
Bowman’s Playful Brides Regency series
(after The Irresistible Rogue) is inspired by
classic works of literature; this charming
fifth episode draws on Shakespeare’s The
Taming of the Shrew. Lord Owen Monroe,
Danger, Sweetheart
MaryJanice Davidson. St. Martin’s Griffin,
$15.99 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-
05315-2
Bestselling author Davidson (Undead
and Unforgiven) mashes together romance
tropes in hilarious fashion, poking good-
natured fun at her genre while leaving the
reader with a satisfying story. Shannah
Banaan’s one-
night stand
resulted in
twins. The boys’
father wanted
nothing to do
with them, so
she raised Blake
and Rake on her
own in Las
Vegas on wait-
ress wages until
their father died and left millions to the
boys in a trust she controlled. When she
inherits land in declining Sweetheart,
N.D., she cuts off city slicker Blake’s
access to money until he makes
Heartbreak Farm a success. He lusts after
Natalie Lane, foreman at the farm. A rene-
gade pony, an evil mastermind coveting
the land, and a terrible grandfather add to
the rollicking good read. Davidson’s
author’s note explains her plan, and at the
back of the book she includes a list of the
clichés she employs, such as a heroine pre-
tending to be someone else; knowing the
gimmick in advance doesn’t at all detract
from the fun of the book. Agent: Ethan
Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Agency. (May)
The Shark
Mary Burton. Amazon/Montlake Romance,
$12.95 trade paper (395p) ISBN 978-1-5039-
3447-4
Burton’s launches her Forgotten Files
series with the dark tale of Riley Tatum, a
Virginia state trooper who is still struggling to remember what happened when
she was kidnapped in New Orleans as a
teen. When she discovers a body that
resembles her physically and has the same
high-quality playing cards on it that were
found on Riley years ago, she realizes that
she might have escaped a worse fate than
she imagined. The case also brings in Clay
Bowman, formerly both an FBI agent and
Riley’s lover, who is now working for the
private contractor Shield Security. Their
