before the stakes can be raised. Those who
want a smooth ride and a happy ending
will be happy with this May-December
love story, but those who want their dark
moments harrowing and their happy endings hard-earned should look elsewhere.
(Dec.)
The Wicked Vampire
Kate Baxter. St. Martin’s, $7.99 mass market
(384p) ISBN 978-1-250-12543-9
Baxter’s solid sixth Last True Vampire
paranormal (after The Lost Vampire)
employs a supernatural star-crossed lovers
scenario. Berserker Ewan Brún spent hundreds of years killing vampires, compelled
by his clan’s leader and the Sortiari, a
fanatic bent on the destruction of the
vampire and dhampir races. Now the
berserkers have broken free of the
Sortiari’s bond. Ewan wants to further
separate from the clan, tired of living
hand-to-mouth and without control over
his future. He’s taken by surprise when
he meets Sasha Ivanov, a recently turned
vampire, and manages to resist his
ingrained urge to kill her. Sasha is in distress because the vampire she admired and
loved for years turned out not to be her
soul mate. Seeking excitement and mental
escape, she hooks up with Ewan. As they
meet on the sly, their connection becomes
evident, leading them to find a way to live
together. Plenty of hot sex scenes will
encourage readers to overlook a middling
plot. Agent: Natanya Wheeler, Nancy Yost
Literary. (Dec.)
Cowboy’s Legacy
B. J. Daniels. HQN, $7.99 mass market (384p)
ISBN 978-0-373-80370-5
This complex, action-filled continuation
of Daniel’s Cahill Ranch series (after Cowboy’s
Reckoning) is pure thriller with barely a
gloss of romance. Sheriff Flint Cahill plans
to propose to Maggie Thompson, but she’s
vanished, and he suspects foul play. Thanks
to Flint’s wealthy, troublemaking ex-wife
and Maggie’s dangerous past, there’s a
long list of possible contributors to her
disappearance. And with the harsh winter
threatening Gilt Edge, Mont., it’s impera-
tive they find her quickly. Flint’s boyfriend
status not only removes him from the
investigation but puts him under suspi-
cion, since it’s common for the significant
other to be the culprit in cases like this. But
his best friend, Jack Riley, shot by drug
runners. But instead of kidnapping Maria,
he grabs Melina, her innocent twin, who is
done with bailing her sister out of trouble.
Melina is supposed to be gutsy and strong,
but every encounter emphasizes her fra-
gility and powerlessness. She needs con-
stant rescuing, and her defiance just
inflames Luc’s lust rather than empowering
her. The sex is raunchy with a hint of vio-
lence and some references to rape that
emphasize Melina’s victimhood (and do
nothing for Luc’s
appeal). The
second novella
takes Jack Riley
to Ireland, where
Angel Manning
is scoffing at the
family legend
of an heirloom
that holds druid
magic for finding
soulmates. When
Jack buys the
heirloom, Angel follows him to Texas to
steal it back. The plot makes no sense but
it gets them in the same house for steamy
encounters. Both couples are constantly
tearing each other’s clothes off or about to,
which can be plenty hot, but Leigh doesn’t
deliver on either story line. Agent: Robin
Rue, Writers House. (Dec.)
New Hand
L.A. Witt. Riptide, $18.99 trade paper (408p)
ISBN 978-1-62649-695-8
Witt’s contribution to Riptide’s multi-author Bluewater Bay contemporary series
is sweet without much substance. When
Garrett Blaine is widowed in his early
40s, a small town in the Pacific Northwest
seems like the perfect place to recover
from watching his husband’s agonizingly
slow death from cancer. He gets a job as a
bartender and soon—maybe sooner than
his bruised heart would like—he swoons
for 20-something comics shop clerk Jesse
Brooks, who’s just been rejected by his
latest would-be hookup for being HIV-positive. Jesse and Garrett begin to navigate toward each other, sliding sweetly
and fairly easily into a tender relationship.
Though their patience for each other and
lack of conflict are admirable, they make
the story fairly bland; whatever misunder-
standings the men have are resolved
and learning to live without his wife when
a childhood friend returns to town with
her hockey-obsessed daughter. Brainy,
unlucky-in-love Cat McGuire is making
do with grants while trying to land a uni-
versity teaching job. She’s raising 12-year-
old Amy, who insists on joining the boys’
hockey team. Cat’s always been the awk-
ward bookworm, and Gilroy’s skillful
characterization makes readers ache in
sympathy. Cat’s made major mistakes in
love, and Luc believes the brain aneurysm
that killed his wife was due to her preg-
nancy, making it indirectly his fault. But
when these two broken souls come
together, magic happens. Cherished char-
acters from earlier books appear, and the
author also dishes up two surprises toward
the end that readers will adore. (Dec.)
An Amish Courtship on Ice
Mountain
Kelly Long. Zebra, $7.99 mass market (288p)
ISBN 978-1-4201-4125-2
Long’s fourth Ice Mountain 1950s
Amish romance (after The Amish Heart of
Ice Mountain) has a touch of the supernatural. Twenty-year-old Joel Umble and
19-year-old Martha Yoder are part of the
Amish community living on Ice Mountain
in northern Pennsylvania. When a chance
encounter at a creek turns into their first
kiss, Joel begins courting Martha; the
innocence and simplicity of their courtship
is heartwarming, and its depth is revealed
in their small kindnesses toward each
other. But there are complications: Joel’s
brother Judah claims that Martha hexed
him (seemingly due to his association with
the evil Bishop Loftus), and Joel’s second
sight causes him to try to distance himself
from Martha for fear that she may come to
harm if his visions are true. Long brings
insight into the lives of a young Amish
couple and their moving, intense romance.
Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary.
(Dec.)
Rugged Texas Cowboy
Lora Leigh. St. Martin’s, $7.99 mass market
(304p) ISBN 978-1-250-15087-5
In this pair of erotic novellas, Leigh
delivers the trademark mix of sex and
violence that powers her novels, but she
skimps on characterization and plot. In
the first story, Texas cowboy Lucas Jardin
wants to punish Maria Angeles for getting
