to the nines by janet evanovich

Stephanie Plum is back yet again for a fast paced bounty hunter adventure.
This time she is after a guy who has a visa bond because he is a foreigner. Samuel Singh is from India and had jumped bail. so it is now Stephanie's job to bring hum back or her boss has to forfeit the money to the court and that would not put her in a favorable position.
Samuel was renting a room from another indian family and the mother wanted him and the daughter to get married. He did not like the idea of that so he took off with their job and for reasons of his own.
She questioned the other employees  from his job and came up with a guy named Howie who worked at McDonald's. She was able to track him down on his lunch break but unfortunately wasn't able to get much out of him on account of the fact that he got shot after their minimal conversation right there on the side walk.
After this she started to receive anonymous letters with red roses or white carnations. this was starting to freak her out. The killer even started sending her messages through email as well. She some how got caught up in something but was unable to pinpoint where it happened?
Samuel was finally located and she had to retrieve him from Vegas on account of Ranger was currently having problems with the state of Nevada in regards to firearms. Samuel was dumb enough to use Tribro, his previous employer on a job application in nevada. the boss tried to stall him but unfortuanely she wa sunable to locate him before he died. he had also taken Boo the indian family's dog so she returned him to the owners and took singh's laptop.
Turned out all the deaths were a result of a game. but who was behind it?
all the players were informed beforehand that it was a fight to the death and got clues for who they were suppose to go after. Singh was knocked off because he backed down after starting and that results in immediate assassination as per game rules.
All the other players were dead except her and the web master..
who was the logical solution? all the evidence pointed back to Tribro where Samuel had worked. Three brothers ran it. Bart who was all business, Andrew who was the people person family man and Clyde, who basically sat at the computer all day and played with his action figures and read comics...which of them is the likely suspect?
could she figure who it was before it was too late?  would ranger and joe come to save her?

or would she be living in a shallow grave for all eternity?

visions of sugar plums by janet evanovich

This is the first holiday novel and the first of the between the numbers series. Plenty of the same characters with a few new ones to add to the mix.
In this novel Stephanie needs to find her Failure To Appear before Christmas and she has not done any of her shopping  as of yet or bought her tree. she needs the money from this skip in order to pay for everything or she is going to be forced to put everything on the charge card which she can already just barely afford the minimum monthly payments .  She needs to Find Sandy Claws aka Sandor Clausen but seems to be having trouble. She went to the house he was sharing with Elaine but she hasn't seen him since that morning and she was too busy baking anyways.
What do you suppose she does with all the goods, if all she does is bake all day? 
She finally gets a lead from her parents house during dinner after having already checked his store and the small workshop behind it. Turns out there is an add in the paper for elves.
Now to make matters worse she has some hunky supernatural guy following her around . He is suppose to bring her Christmas cheer and has special talents that have yet to be seen beyond going poof in the blink of an eye and being able to open any lock by just turning the knob. She is telling everyone he is an alien.
After getting hung up on when calling about the ad. she enlist randy briggs, whom she had prior dealings with and is a little person. She offered to pay him if he would help and he agreed. When she shows up at the workshop after tailing him on the way to work when he won't disclose the locations, a riot starts with all the elves after her.
Still stumped as to her connection to what diesel is after, they start looking for a guy called ring. turns out the connection is the guy "ring" aka John Ring is her grandmother's new stud muffin as Grandma Mazur put it.
turns out her sister Valerie is pregnant again by her boyfriend who still lives with his mother and doesn't have much of an income unless you count the laundromat next door to his office.

In all this wacky mess it turns out to be a good Christmas, and Joe buys her a ring (non-engagement ).

who knows, maybe down the line she will get an upgrade to the real thing.

The duke's baby by rebecca winters

Andrea Fallon was recently widowed. he husband had only died three months prior and their marriage had been anything but perfect since he found out that she was unable to conceive. He was an only child and wanted a child born from his blood and did not want to even consider adoption. Had they know this before they probably would never have married in the first place. He died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 37 to her 28. she hadn't been feeling well but went to France in hopes of getting some pictures for the book he was unable to publish. She put off the feelings off sickness and weight loss to the depressing and mourning of her husband. Not Long after her Arrival she meets the son of the current duc du lac of the chateau where she is staying. Lancelot is everything his ancestor is said to be .

Lance has finally left the service after ten years of serving his country and is now home for good. his father is ill but is fast recovering . He has an instant attraction to Andrea but believes she is a prospective new wife for his father and with his current distrust for women he treats her badly. He then goes on to prove he isn't the blackguard she perceives him to be. When he learns of her pregnancy he is ecstatic and offers a marriage of convenience. He can not have a child of his own due to chemicals he was exposed to while in the service and this is the closest he could get to having a baby of his own. When he heard the first heart beat he felt as if he was the father or her baby and wanted to make that a permanent fact. The baby did not have a father so he wanted to step in and be a father for him or her in every way and Andrea could be the stay at home she longed to be since she lost her parents at the tender age of four. They would never want for anything as long as he was around.

they soon fell in love and were married but his stepsister Corrine tried to cause problems for them. She had designs on Lance since her mother married his father but Lance never returned the affections and told her so. She told him he could either call off the marriage and marry her or she would make him wish he had.

She took his horse without permission and did a jump that she knew would cause harm to her self and result in the animal being put to sleep. She filed false allegations against lance of rape. So he tried to  get his wife to a safe place . when he put her on the plane no long after the got off before take off. she wasn't goign to leave him here to face things alone.

Corrine finally had a psychotic breakdown and confessed the lies and all charges were dropped.

even marriages beginning with a purpose other than love can blossom into something much more

hard eight by janet evanovich

Another adventure in the life of Stephanie Plum. This time around she is low on FTA's at the time and is recruited in order to help track down Evelyn and Annie soder. they are the daughter and granddaughter of her parents next door neighbor, Mabel. The only current bail jumper is a reoccurring domestic violence. The guy is a constant drunk and know for beating his wife but was released after his last attempted. It took them several tries to arrest him. The first time he tried to shot them through the door with a shotgun so her and her sometimes partner in crime Lula took off. The second time she only got one cuff on before he broke loose from them and drove off in his car. The final time she thought she had him shelf had attached a pair of cuffs to the tow kit with a metal chain to the back of her car. She got him attached but he managed to get away and drove off in her car since the chain was long enough to reach the drivers due. He ultimately died of a high strain flu so she did not need to bring him in. Cant bring in a dead guy now can we. She was now helping Mable find Evelyn and Annie because they had a child bond placed on Annie during a custody battle and Mable's house was used as collateral. she tries to find Evelyn and is finally able to track her down though a child hood friend of hers but that doesn't last long. The friend the goes MIA with Evelyn. They are all running from Eddie Abruzzi who isn't someone you want to tangle with. Both Ranger and her on again off again fiance Joe Morelli suggest steering clear of him. Turns out Abruzzi now owns the bar the girls father owned due to money he borrowed from a friend during a card game. The friend was owned by Abruzzi and Mr soder couldn't pay it back so the bar became his. It turns out Abruzzi was looking for Evelyn due to war medal that was supposedly napoleon's and worth a lot of money. It was his good luck charm when he played his war games. Annie took it off his desk during a party and Evelyn fled with her thinking this was their way out. Abruzzi was constantly harassing Stephanie thinking she knew where the Medal was. He left snakes on her door in a bag and huge spiders in her car. He had one of his goons torch her car as well. In the ended they kidnapped her sister Valerie as leverage. She knew Evelyn had fled to Florida but she didn't know where. Abruzzi burned her through torture thinking she would confess if she had the right motivation but she didn't know any more than he did. Valerie saved her crashing through the window of the house she was begin held hostage. When they got back she went home with Joe and took Valerie Home. the next day Eddie Abruzzi was found dead in a car with a suicide note...

Did he really commit suicide?

seven up by janet evanovich

Another Grand adventure for Stephanie Plum. this time she is after Eddie DeCooch  who was arrested for trafficking contraband cigarettes in Trenton. With all her adventures she always seems to end up with the crazies. She is constantly chasing this guy. She finds him at his house to begin with but then he says he needed to change and went out the window while she was downstairs waiting for him.
They found a dead woman shot in his shed. Autopsy found that she was already dead when she was shot and died of a heart attack .
 She enlists the help of  Dougie and Mooner when they inadvertently get involved with Eddie. Not long after Dougie goes missing and Mooner ends up staying with her for a few days because he seems to need protection and they don't want him to go missing like Dougie . She finds Eddie on several occasions and he is driving a white Cadillac that he borrowed from Maggie Mary Mason. She let him borrow it on account of he is one of the three owners at the club where she works as a mud wrestler. DeCooch is running because he needs to find a heart that went missing. An acquaintance of his told him he needed to bring the body to him. Louie D had died of a heart attack down in Virginia where he was picking up the contraband cigarettes.
He misunderstood the acquaintance and cut out Louie D's heart and put it in a cooler for safe keeping. He left it at Dougie's house by mistake and it went missing. they needed to heart to put back into Louie D for his burial. Louie D's wife Sophia kidnapped both Dougie and Mooner and stuck them in a gutted room that only had a table with cuffs attached to it and dirt floor. Everyone thinks she is certifiable crazy. Eddie ends up kidnapping Grandma mazue in hope of a swap for the heart since Stepahnie has been tellign Eddie that she had it. She end up giving them a pigs heart since it turned out the next door neighbors dog ate the heart.  She Ended up finding mooner and dougie at pinwheel sorba house. He was one of the other partners that owned the club where maggie worked. Eddie fianlly turns himself in on the condition that ranger woudl bring him in because he didn't wanted to be brought in by a girl.

The Ladies Man by Susan Mallery

This book is the second in the positively pregnant series. i have read the others and find them all to be great stories. the three girls from the stories are friends in a knitting class....

Rachel Harper is an orphan and had lost all her family at a young age. Her parents and baby brother were victims in a fatal car accident. She decided she has hit a point in her life where she needs to spruce up her life. She had previously been engaged twice but they did not pan out. Maybe she should be more sophisticated and get out more. She is a kindergarten teacher and the only men she comes into contact with are the students and the fathers of those kids. A friend of hers from work asks her to accompany her to the blue dog bar where she is meeting her boyfriend for moral support. While waiting for her friend to have words with her boyfriend she meets Carter Brockett.

Carter Brockett is an undercover cop and a regular at the blue dog bar. He comes from a line of cops and has the close knit family Rachel wishes she still had. He spots her in the bar and decides it is his job to protect her from the others. The only women who usually come to the bar either work their or are looking for a fling. Rachel does not seem the time so he buys her a drink and they sit down to chat. They have some great conversation and he gives her a lift home when her friend leaves her stranded after running off in the heat of the moment.

He goes to kiss her good night and that one kiss turns into an explosion of passion.

They end up spending the night together and Carter leaves the next morning before she wakes and leaves her a note with his number and for her to call him.

Rachel decides not to call him because she is embarrassed at what she did. they both got swept up in the heat of the moment but she has never been with a man she wasn't in a serious relationship with. She figures she is just another girl and does not mean anything. So her not calling is not of any significance and he will soon forget her. but forget her he cant because in the heat of passion they didn't use any protection and she wound up pregnant....

She goes to Carter with the news after not seeing or calling him since their encounter after she had seen a lawyer. She had paperwork drawn up to forfeit his rights to the baby because she didn't want him to be saddled with a kid he did not want. The baby may not have been planned but he wanted his child. They agree to be friends and have a pretend relationship with pretense of dating when his family insists they marry for the sake of the child.

They spend time together and soon start to fall but Rachel is reluctant to love because of her past. She has learned to suppress her emotions because truly caring can result in loss and she doesn't even want to experience that again.

Can she open her heart and love carter?

Or will she lose the one great thing in her life that makes her life worth the risk?

the cowboy's baby by patricia thayer

I am always drawn to the cowboy books and this one was a cute tender romance about the obstacles life can throw at you.

the past....

Kira lost her parents at a young age and there wasn't any family left to take her so she was thrown into the care of the state. She spent her life going from home to home and being rejected once again. When she was younger it did not matter that she did not have a lot of friends but by the time she reached high school she was isolated and alone. No one wanted to be friends with her and was marked and outcast by her fellow peers. When she finally got the attention she craved she reached out to the life line. Finally, someone who cared for her only that wasn't the case. She thought the young man she fell in love with loved her back but he wanted nothing to do with her. She was heartbroken and kicked out of the home because she wound up pregnant. The baby's father was the nephew of her foster parents. She had to move to a group home and with no means of support was forced to give up her baby for adoption.

future....
Kira fell for Trace on first glance when she was having lunch with his brother and had to wait almost two whole weeks before he worked up the nerve to ask her out. they had a whirlwind romance and married after only two months. she knew he was the one she was going to marry, so why wait? She loved being with Trace and longed to give him a family. they tried everything with no success. The medical bills continued to stack up and they couldn't take the loss no longer so they decided to try adotion. Her iability to concieve was an endless reminder of the baby she had to give up and couldn't take care of. Would they be able to get a baby and complete their family?

Trace loved his wife and desperately wanted to have a child with her but he wanted Kira. He married her so she would share her life with him .He did not know of his wife's past .He wanted children but a baby was a bonus and he couldn't be without her. After the loss of not being able to concieve there were words said and he moved out of the house into the bunkhouse. He longed to be with his wife but they caused eachother so much pain he did not know if they could go back to how they used to be.

They had finally reached the list and were able to have a child. The birth mother wanted an open adoption. They couldn't believe this was finally happening. In five short weeks they woudl be parents to a baby girl.

Unfortunately the birth mother changered her mind and deterioated the foundation they had rebuilt.
Could they save their marriage and still have the child they always dreamed of?

hot six by janet evanovich

Another day in the life of Stephanie plum who got named by Trenton's newspaper "Bombshell Bounty Hunter." Has a nice ring to it if you ask me. In this adventure he boss and cousin Vinnie wants her to go and retrieve  Ricardo Carlos"Ranger" Manosa since he missed his court date. He is one of their own and no one can find  him if he does not want to be found. She passes it on to Joyce the bitch, in whom she found having sex on her dining room table with her now ex husband  Richard"Dickie" Orr. They have never liked each other and have had one confrontation after another since child hood.

Stephanie is now left to retrieve Morris Munson who rammed his wife with his car killing her and then proceeded to beat her to pulp with a tire iron and set her on fire. Thankfully, someone showed up on the scene before the fire was started. Vincent Plum Bail Bonds retrieved him from jail and has since jumped his bail and missed his court hearing. He is now an FTA and Miss Plum has the luxury of retrieving his psychotic ass. She gets ten percent of whatever the bond is and this one is on the larger scale since Ranger isn't around. First he tries to beat her up with a tire iron like he did his dead wife and then he sets her clothes on fire. When she is finally able to apprehend the suspect she makes the day for all the cops by bringing him in naked. she apprehended him while he was in the shower. Life certainly isn't dull on the jersey shore with her as a bounty hunter.

Ranger is still FTA for carrying concealed although every cop in Trenton knows he does and lets it go. Unfortunately, a young up and coming cop wasn't aware of the standards and arrested him. Ranger is in hiding because he is trying to find his man. Someone framed him for the murder of Homer Ramos, the youngest son of Alexander Ramos the drug runner.
Ranger was seen coming out of the building where Homer was found shot in the head on security cam and he was the only one seen in the building making him a prime suspect. He ask Stephanie to do some surveillance for him and watch the house of one of the other Ramos bothers.
She begins to have quite an adventure after that. She has two goons constantly following her in hopes that she will lead the to ranger. Their boss thinks ranger has something that is his although it turns out he doesn't and that it was thrown in the trash by Cynthia Lotte, Homer's ex and her ex-husbands secretary. In the process she is worrying about something happening to ranger and cause a whole lot of problems for him while he is trying to fix his current situation. On top of all this she is left to babysit a dog which she ends up being stuck with when she learns he was just trying to be pawned off and not babysat. She originally got the dog when she owed a cop a favor after he dropped the charges against a friend of hers. Bob is now hers but has preferred to live with morelli. Bob the dog looks like a cross between a golden retriever and chewbacca from star wars.

In addition her granny comes to live with her temporarily when she gets into a disagreement with her father after she tried out Stephanie's stun gun on him.

Who is behind ranger's set up and what is in store for him and stephanie?

Her and Joe are getting closer as well as her and ranger. Who will she choose? the ever faithful Morelli or ranger who is the man of mystery??

buffalo valley by debbie macomber

Vaughn Kyle was named after the son of Buffalo Valley's beloved pharmacist Hassie knight. Vaughn's mother was originally engaged to her son but he did not want to get married until her returned from the war. Unfortunately , he never returned and died during battle in Vietnam. His mother ended up marrying Vaughn's best friend Rick Kyle. They fell in love after spending time with each other in a time of need after losing someone they both dearly loved. In tribute to the man who died they named their first born son after Vaughn Knight and Vaughn Kyle was born.

Vaughn had recently been discharged from the army and had taken a job with the large company Value-X at the recommendation of his girlfriend who also worked at the company. they had been seeing each other for about two years and had some talk of marriage but neither showed much excitement in the subject so it was pushed aside. He wasn't scheduled to start his new job until the first of the year so while visiting his parents in Grand Forks, North Dakota he decided to finally visit Hassie knight who was like a second grandmother to him that he had never met. She sent his cards and letters throughout the years and he kept them all. Her words of wisdom helped shape the man he is today. In Addition his girlfriend thought it would be a good idea to scope out the town as a possible location for a new Value-X expansion so he said why not?

Carrie Hendrickson is the intern at knight's pharmacy and when Vaughn comes to see Hassie he finds her instead. She is the youngest in the family and has four older brothers who are fiercely over protective of her . Especially after her divorce from her husband Alec who cheated on her destroying her self confidence and dignity. Can she trust another man after Alec?
Carrie offers to show Vaughn the town while they await Hassie's return from her meeting. They spend the time together and she feels an instant connection with him that just feels right. They go to the tree lighting ceremony and spend a lot of time with each other. Vaughn finally tells her that he had accepted a job for Value-X but after spending time in this town he has decided to resign and help them with their fight against the conglomerate .
She feels betrayed that he did not tell her upfront but it time she forgives him until another bombshell is dropped in her lap. His ex shows up claiming to be his fiance and blows all his efforts to pieces. He explains that they were never engaged but had just talked about the possibility of marriage in the past with now excitement about it from the woman in question.

Will Carrie be able to trust him ? Is it possible for Vaughn to find a happy ever after in this small town of Buffalo Valley?

high five by janet evanovich

Another adventure for Stephanie Plum . The bounty hunter business has been on the slow lately with no one jumping bale. Stephanie has bills to pay so she takes the one case there is which will only give her the mediocre amount of  seventy dollars for bringing him in since the bond was only set for  seven- hundred dollars to begin with. The bond ends up being for a little person who was carrying a knife, which either way is against the law in Trenton.
Hr makes matters worse for her by refusing to go with her and in her frustration she busts down his door with a tire iron. While he was in jail his apartment was robed and torn apart so her boss and low life cousin Vinnie stuck Randy Briggs with her saying she can kill two birds with one stone by watching the guy and two by staying out of a lawsuit he said he would press due to they got into a wrestling match and fell down the stairs in the apartment building.
Low on jobs her family recruits her to help find her uncle. Fred who no one in particular seemed to like but he was still family all in the same and with no jobs on the table it wasn't like she had anything else better to do with her time. Uncle Fred just disappeared from his car one after noon . They found it in the store parking lot locked up with drying cleaning laying in the backseat. No one had any clue as to his whereabouts. She finally gets a few clues and the story begins to unfold with mob connections and the bank skimming the people who skimming the customers. not a good idea for someone to skim the mob who was skimming the customers.

all the while Stephanie was not getting paid so she went to work for the ultra cool ranger, He gave her a few jobs that were as morally and legally responsible as possible, a security job and a job as a chauffeur in which the sheik she had to drive decided to flash his johnson at her. along with that he was obnoxious to the hilt and took off in the car when she went into the store to get the drink he requested.

Now that she was working for ranger, she was getting company cars that were black and expensive.
This did not please Morelli one bit. Him being cop he wasn't sure how he was getting the cars and if they were legal. Morelli the man starting wondering whether the nature of their relationship was merely business or was pleasure involved as well. Him being a friend and lover of Stephanie plum he was somewhat jealous.

Her cars were being stolen and blown up left and right so she was left once again with big blue...

Who was behind the string of murders that had recently occured? is it possible that she was next?

the littlest matchmaker by dorien kelly

I love the Harlequin American Romance series. They are great short stories about love and family which are often centered in small towns. This one was another cute story although i wish it would have ended a bit differently.

Lisa Kincaid was a widow who lost her husband three years ago in accident. she now ran a bakery and was doing very well for herself. Her son Jamie is now four years old and a content and happy child. He attends preschool 3 days a week at hillside which she had to concede to let her parents pay for because it was what is best for Jamie. He also attends daycare which is run by her best friend. she has little time for herself and as a result she does not spend any time away from her son, on the ocasion that it does happen it is usually the exception and not the rule. She recently became enamored by one of her customer's and best friends older brother , Kevin Decker .
Who wouldn't want a handsome, kind , hard-working man?
but the emotional scars left by Jamie's father from their marriage left her skeptical when it came to trusting another man.

Kevin Decker started out coming to the bakery everyday as a sense of duty because he husband was an employee of his and died while on the job and felt  responsible although he knows it was not his fault. Not long after the visits started he started to care for Lisa as more than friends but was unable on how to orchestrate the first move. Jamie seemed to genuinely like him and gave him the opening he needed into their lives. Due to Jamie not having a father Kevin agreed to step in at the father child pageant that was put on every year as a gift to the mothers. The time he spent with him designing the set allowed him to get close to Lisa.

Little did he know that she has returned him affections for a long time. Slowly but surely they started to spend some family time and on the occasion some time by themselves without Jamie.  Lisa came to love Kevin but would she be able to get past her fears from her marriage? Jamie's father made he feel that he gave up his whole life for them which he came to resent them for.

Would Kevin be able to get past her barriers to show her that he is nothing like her ex?

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich

Another adventure for Stephanie Plum and her bail jumping FTA's but her life would be boring without them. obviously she is still working for her sleaze ,nymphomaniac, pervert of a cousin vinnie at plum bailbonds .  to Her newest target is maxine norwicki, a waitress whose was charged with auto theft on her now ex boyfriends car although she had used it in the past.
praying  this would be an easy case she goes to see the boyfriend in hope that he would rat on where ever Maxine was hiding. unfortunately Eddie did not have a clue as to her whereabouts. Eddie hires Stephanie to retrieve some "letters" from Maxine on top of the bail jumping. they later learn the letters were counterfeit money that Maxine took from him as revenge for the way he treated her.
Maxine started leaving clues in treasure hunt fashion for Eddie. Stephanie enlist the help of sally sweet a local drag queen who is the nephew of one of the members in her building to help unscramble to clues. He was always good at this as a child and had little trouble making sense of the clues.

And to make matters worse Vinnie hires Joyce, whom Stephanie caught screwing her ex-husband on their kitchen table although they have always been at odds with one another.

Not long after Sally Sweet joins the gang bad things start happening. Miss Plum starts getting death threat warnings, her car is soaked in gasoline which then proceeds to blow up, her apartment is blown up. not a good week for her.

Who could be causing these acts? possibly Maxine? no that does not make any sense this stage in the game.
She doesn't want to put her family at risk so she temporarily moves in morelli which turns out to be a fiasco because then everyone thinks they are either getting married or that she is knocked, false accusations on both accounts but that is the gossip mill in the burg for you.

Turns out both her and Morellis cases are interlinked. Morelli has been working on a counterfeiting case and Maxine's mother was using counterfeit bills to buy a few items and support her occasional drug habit. turns out that Eddie's uncle and aunt were responsible for the counterfeiting.

People were showing up with missing fingers and Maxine's mother was scalped. all compliments of Eddie's uncle Leo who had previously been working for the mob but got out on his won when he retired from being an enforcer and became a counterfeiter after meeting with a buddy he met while in prison. the fingers were his trade mark.

The threats turned out to be Sally Sweets gay roommate who turned jealous when he started spending to much time with miss plum and was worried something would happen to sally. He realized the only way to keep him safe was to go after little miss bounty hunter. thankfully no one was hurt and he was arrested.

Could things get any better? nothing like a day in the burg...

Beyond the highland mist by karen marie moning

the first in the highlander series by Karen Marie Moning. i had previously read the immortal highlander but i wish i had read this first because it explains a lot of the tension and reluctance to help between Adam and hawk.
In this one the story starts off with the faery queen speaking of a man who is renowned form his sexual exploits and all the women covet his love and attention. Many have graced his bed but none have been able to touch his heart. This makes the faery king and the people of the court jealous of a mere mortal. How could a man compare with the powers of the faery?
The Faery king sends his beloved fool through time to find the perfect woman, one who would surely turn down the renowned hawk. The fool is know by many names, the black elf, the fairy fool, or -the sin siriche du- the most dangerous of all faeries for no trickery was too good for him.

In this time he was known as Adam black and posed as a blacksmith in the medieval time bringing forth Adrienne De Simone from the twentieth century. He had watched the centuries searching for the perfect woman, someone who would truly despise hawk and all he represented.

Adrienne was originally from New Orleans but had been an orphan from a young age , growing up in an orphanage surrounded by others and craving affection. she was young and naive and got the attention of a rich and beautiful man who soon wanted to marry her. She was too naive to believe that he would have anything but the best of attentions where she was concerned. soon she found out she was just a pawn in his game for he was involved in organized crime and was setting her up to take the fall. from now on she distrusted men as a whole and especially despised the wealthy and beautiful .

She was perfect having been scorned by a beautiful man before and she would never again trust in a beautiful face. She was dropped into the 15th century at an importune time for hawk was to be wed to the infamous mad Janet comyn and she was now dead but laird comyn passed her off as his own and she was wed by proxy to lord hawk of dalkeith. This was not a love match but an order imposed upon the laird of dalkeith  by king James or otherwise his whole clan would be laughter at the hands of the kings many men. 

Hawk was shocked by the beauty she possess and  made it his mission to seduce her. Her heart slowly but surely warmed to him against her best attempts to deter it  . He was nothing like he previous husband but had a warm and kind heart , he would never due her any harm. This was the age of chivalry not of gangs and drugs and organized crime.

Adam tried to per sway her to become his instead of the lairds but her attraction to the laird was nothing compared to that of the smithy. She eventually had to choose adam though or he vowed to kill hawk and all of the clan...it was the heardest thing for her to lie to hawk's face and vow she loved adam and not him...

Could she truly convince hawk that it was a ploy and send him a message to help her find her way back?

three to get deadly by janet evanovich

Stephanie Plum is back and getting better with every novel. She teams up with Lula, hooker turned file clerk and wanna be bounty hunter who has a tendency for the outrageous and seems to want to bust a cap in anyone's ass who happens to be on the wrong side of the law in her book. Stephanie is given the unsavory job of bring in Moses "uncle mo' bedemeir. He is everyone's favorite person and runs the local candy and ice cream shop. He was picked up by a young cop trying to make a name for himself, would have just been a ticket but uncle mo was also carrying concealed  although most people take it as a suggestion rather than the law in the burg.

hoping this will just be a simple a apprehension and not another one of her wacky chases, she goes to the shop but no one has seen Mo and looks at her as if she cursed God instead of trying to do her job.  With no leads on Mo at the moment she goes after Stuart Baggett a 22 year old who decided to go on a drunken run and shoot a bunch of cars with an air rifle. unfortunately , two of those cars turned to be cop cars. They find him at his job and he closes down to be taken to have the appearance rescheduled. They get into an accident on the way there and stuart gets away in all the confusion, she unfortunately forgot to cuff him.

Stuart becomes MIA until Lula spots him at cluck in a bucket in a giant chicken suit passing out cardboard chicken hats to the kiddies. Cops are called due to an argument between her and Stuart , he tried to run so she tackles him and is pulled off by two fellow officers. Bringing him in chicken suit and all , the cops joke she should be glad they are more lenient because the animals right group might not have been...ha ha ha

moreill seems to be pulling back from their usually game and it seems odd to her...

With finally a lead from Lula, she knows him as old penis nose, it supposed looks like one though she don't see the resemblance. He was spotted on Montgomery. Before long Stephanie is finding bodies like a moth drawn to flame. Homicide has been slow in Trenton, not anymore thanks to her. They also found 4 bodies buried in Mo's basement of the candy shop.

in addition their is a group of vigilantes killing drug dealers and users , everyone thinks this is great and finally someone is doing something about the problems in the community. Mo and the group are considered heroes not murders in the eyes of the community, Mo didn't kill them the pastor of the freedom church did but they were found in Mo's basement so he is an accomplice to murder.

Gossip mill is running rumors about everything but they finally find a lead from one of the kids she went to high school with. Turns out mo' makes quality underground porn on the side in a cabin way in the woods. he sells to a select few and is saving for retirement. He wouldn't want to tarnish his image. he is hiding in the cabin he made the movies....Life is certainly getting interesting here in the burg.

Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

And Stephanie Plum strikes again. another book full of laughter, murder and mayhem. can you handle it?  Stephanie is still carry her trusty smith and Weston which proves helpful when she actually remembers to load the thing and now carries a stun gun , defense spray and one beast of a flashlight that may come in handy in more than just lighting up a room. Still working with the ever mysterious ranger and Trenton's finest , the sexy Joe morelli.

Her newest FTA is Kenny Mancuso cousin to morelli and seriously deranged. He is newly out of the armed forces, suspiciously loaded and  shot his best friend in the leg with a stolen weapon, unfortunate for him he was caught by an off-duty cop. He is now on the run and no one can find him . It is up to Stephanie to bring him in for failure to appear at court before the time on the bond runs out and neither her or  Vinny gets any money out of the case.

Kenny was long time best buddies with Spiro Stiva who is heir to running the funeral parlor. Stiva had 24 caskets in a storage locker and they have suspiciously gone missing. so hires on Stephine in attempt to locate the missing caskets. Along comes Grandma Mazur to the viewings for these are the social life of those who live in the burg.  She ill definitely add spice to the party when they find out the cannon she is packing in that purse of hers. Add in hacked off body parts and privates being sent through the mail and you have one seriously screwed up kid.

What do Kenny and Stiva have in common? are they in cohorts with each other ?

also added in to the mix is Lula now ex hooker turned file clerk for Vinny's . Always willing to lend a hand, especially when it involves putting a cap in someone's ass.

Moreilli and Stephanie get real cozy on a stake out for two until she finds he put a transformer in her purse...was it for her own safety as he claims or did he not want to risk her not sharing a piece of the pie?

You sure don't want to miss this one...

The Valentine Bride by Liz Fielding

the finale in the Brides of Bella Lucia series. overall i good series that i decided to keep for myself instead of posting to my bookshelves on paperbackswap.com or bookmooch.com.....

Louise Valentine had recently found out that she wasn't the girl she thought she was. Raised as a Valentine of the UK's Bella Lucia restaurants and given all the amenities a young girl could want. Later in life than what is usually expected she finds out she was adopted as a baby by john and ivy valentine, if it wasn't for his heart attack who knows if they would have even revealed the truth with her. Now in her early 30's she is questioning the life she once lived and no longer has a reason to fight the attraction for her cousin Max Valentine that has been simmering and waiting to break out since she was a teen.

Max Valentine had recently been promoted to the head of Bella Lucia restaurant group  . He was previously the manager of one of the restaurants and breathed the day to day activities involved in running it successfully. His half brother Jack who was previously estranged from the family after an argument with his father some 12 years ago recently put a lot of capital into the business to prevent the business from going bankrupt after an embezzlement scandal from one of their own. One of the conditions was for him to  hire Louise Valentine as a PR consultant and turn the business into the 21st century. Louise may be a member of the family although no longer a blood relation, which could prove problematic to max's sanity , she was also really good at what she does.

Max offers Louise the position under the conditions that she would work for him until valentine's day as long as he would give her a kiss as payment for the contract. The attraction between the two since they were in their teens but there was no longer any blood ties between them so there were no longer any boundaries.

They begin work together on the PR project but are just as suddenly thrown together due to the passion that has been composed is now released. there is no need for the traditional courtship due to their history . They both are falling fast and hard but can Louise finally give in to Max? will they last or will he continue to always but Bella Lucia first as he always have?

Will Max risk everything he has at the risk of losing the meaning in his life?

One for the dough by janet evanovich

This is the first installment in the Stephanie plum series. Prior to this i had only read her pre-plum novels. After to reading this book I am a fan for life. This book is laugh out loud funny and crazy to the point of pitiful at times. Stephanie is down on her luck after losing her job as a buyer for woman's underwear at and exclusive company that was swallowed up by a larger one. She is going for broke and had sold most of her valuables to pay the bills . So she goes to her mother's house to get a free meal and is told that her cousin Vinnie is looking for a file clerk.
Turns out the position is already filled but he lets her be a temporary bounty hunter due to the blackmail she ha don him and threatened to reveal the information to his wife. The FTA of the moment is no other but infamous Trenton cop Joe Morelli. They had previous relations with one another when they were younger and they weren't always on good terms but she was in need of money. She gets 10 percent of the 10000 bound he failed to appear on.  She Joe around but he is in finding because he is being accused of killing and unarmed man. Add in Benito the champ who is seriously gone looney and known for being rough with the women , crazy grandma Mazur, a missing eye witness, Ranger the go to guy who makes the law bend at his will and informant and you get one hell of a wild ride.Joe needs to find the missing eye witness to acquit himself. So him and stephanie team up to find the eye witness and he agrees to let her turn him in willingly so she can collect her bond money.

Can she do it? and what happens on this journey?

The Nanny and the Sheikh by Barbara McMahon

Wasn't as good as some of the others in the series but was still a good quick read. only one more book to go before i have read the entire series.
Melissa Fox goes to Qu'Arim with Max Valentine on a business trip more for pleasure and a thank you for  helping out then to actual work although her services would be required at the few meetings that she needed to attend because Max did not speak the local language or their second language french, which Melissa was fluent in. She fell in love with the warm weather and beautiful land but she had an upcoming job in a few weeks and could not stay on as long as she liked.

Sheikh Surim Al-Thani was mesmerized by Melissa fox from the moment her met her. She was there as a guest to the country though and not there to be a temporary distraction for him. He was conducting business with a cousin of her's who he went to school with at Eton and has remained friends with. With the opening the construction of the resort and the new Bella Lucia international location his time is limited but he found himself wanting to spend more and more time with her. He was also responsible for three young children who had recently come into his care when he was named guardian after his cousin and her husband died in a fatal car crash.

she was great with the children and he did not have a clue on how to behave with them. what do you say to a two year old? he was an only child and had never been exposed to the younger generation growing up. He was sent to boarding school at age nine and was never close with his family as a result.

The more she was in the country and around Surim, the more she wanted to stay but she had a job commitment waiting for her and did not want to put herself in a place where she would get her heart broken again. She had already been let down by one man who cheated on her and discovered who he really is and did not value the same things in life that she did. Surim was looking for a wife  and she just did not fit the bill.

Would it be possible for him to convince her to stay and care for the children? they have blossomed in her care and they genuinely cared for each other. You can tell by the interactions that the love is on both sides. The attraction between them was magnetic . what is the harm in a few kisses?

Could she stay her and have to one day soon watch the man she had grown to love marry another woman and she bear his children for which she would eventually be in charge of?

He needed a wife and they were compatible so why not marry in his thinking. would she say yes and bear his children? He did not want her to leave and could not imagine his life no longer without her after spending time with her these past weeks and coming to care for her and the children.

was a lifetime together feasible for them?.....

Crazy About the Boss By Teresa Southwick

The Prodigal son returns ......Jack Valentine spent the last 12 years building an empire of his own after being rejected by his own father the night of an important event at the Bella Lucia Restaurant. He led his father to believe that he did not prepare any food for the event as he promised but in reality he was covering for his mother who destroyed every ounce of it in a drunken rage after receiving her divorce papers in her already fragile condition. The truth he swore never to reveal in an effort to protect his mother. In that night she may have lost her husband but he lost his entire family. Weren't the parents suppose to protect their children in a time of need not the other way around?
Madison has spent the last few years working for Jack Valentine, a job she loves. They balance each other out and help those who need help while gaining a controlling interest in several companies. She used her no nonsense attitude to help jack with the decisions and bring forth prospective companies that she feels the company would benefit from. Her relationship with Jack is strictly professional due to her past first being used as a frat wager then being used to gain access to someone she knew. So she had little trust in men especially Jack who always turned for the hill once this started to progress.

Jack hadn't seen his family in the 12 years since he left on that night of the Bella Lucia function but he returns at the request of his sister to meet her sister's husband who just just happens to be King of Meridia. Little does Jack know but the Family business is in trouble and he is the only one who can help.

Off to London Jack convinces Maddie to accompany him on the trip although it is the holiday season with the promise she could see some of London while they were there. while they are there she sees a whole new side of jack . The sensitive, caring  man and not just the serial dater/playboy she is used to in new york. She could easily come to love this Jack but he could just as easily crush what is left of her heart and dignity. 

After dealing with past issues with both parents he realizes he cares for Maddie...can they be together without Maddie's trust in men holding him back?

Married Under the Mistletoe by Linda Goodnight

One of my favorites in the Brides of Bella Lucia series. with each book in the series i can't wait to pick up the next one. this is the first one where the valentine relative has a male lead.

Daniel Stephens had recently learned that he is the illegitimate son of the Valentines of the Bella Lucia restaurants in the UK. He has spent the majority of his life trying to solve the water shortage problems in countries such as Ethiopia. unfortunately whenever things start to look good for a project the funds run dry. He can only do so much and it feels as if the work he does is swallowed up as soon as he reaches completion. The projects can not be completed without money to fuel them . He decides to go to the UK and meet his father with the hope of gaining money to fuel his projects through the opening of his company. His father offers his the room in the flat above the restaurant he manages, along with the flat comes Stephanie Ellison which is informed to be happy about her impending flatmate.

Stephanie Ellison started working at the Bella Lucia restaurant only a few years ago in attempt to flee her past in Colorado. No one knows the past that she suffers and hides it well with sophistication and strength one would come to expect from someone in her position. She is well liked and has made a success of the flagship location where she manages. Turning the restaurant into the new era leaving behind the old itialian decor and bringing in a new flair with contemporary design and art catered to the sophisticated class. She was given free range in decorating and renewing the restaurant to appeal to it's customers. He efforts have helped the restaurant ten fold, but who really know who she is?

Behind her she left a history of abuse from the monster of a man she later learned wasn't her natural father and opened her eyes to the nightmares yet to come. Scarred from shoulder to mid thigh she hides from her secret shame for her last boyfriend could not handle the horrors of her past which translated to her as unlovable and disgraceful in the eyes of others.

Stephen never allowed him self to have a serious relationship. He allowed him self to enjoy his share of women but due to his upbringing he was raised believing that he himself was unlovable and unable to give or receive love in return. So it comes as a shock when he starts to care for Stephanie and puts it off as nothing but genuine compassion and not love.

Stephanie always held herself away from the opposite sex because of the horrors of her past but from the beginning she felt a connection with Stephen. They both had suffered abuse though his was not physical she was able to relate to him and fell hard and fast for him allowing her love to blossom , which she never thought possible after the things that she was subjected to .

is it possible for them to both put their past behind them and open up truly to love? Can Stephen realize what he has before him before it is too late?

Wanted: outback wife by ally blake

Another Great book in the Brides of Bella Lucia series.
Jodie Simpson thought the highlight of her trip would be the ability to spend time with her long-lost sister Louise Valentine but with her visa coming close to expiring she realizes she wants to stay in the land down under and not have to return to the UK. Having tried contacting the office of immigration and being denied an extension on her visa her friends come up with the plan to create a website to invite man to marry her. She is a bit skeptical on the topic but this is not suppose to be a love match just a marriage of convenience so she can remain in Australia.
She is not interested in love after taking care of her schizophrenic for years and dealing with the highs and lows of the disease she finally wants time to be herself and not be required to care for anyone but her.

Heath Jameson is a wealthy rancher who lives in the outback. The second son in the Jameson family who has taken care of his family for years. He came home to ensure the livelihood of the rest of the family when his parents died and many of the siblings were in their teens and younger. without him who knows what may have happened to the family rancher or the lives of his family. Would they be where they are today without his backing? who really knows but now Heath has decided to take a risk with his life for you don't live forever and time is precious as he recently learned when a good friend of his and sister-in law Marissa died when she was hit by a truck that ran a red light on her way to pick her kids up from daycare. What better way to go full force but to get married right? He wasn't expecting love from this union but the hope of companionship and if that turned into love well that was fine with him.

At the first meeting Jodie knew Heath was the one she was going to choose and time was running out. So why not be married to the attractive rancher from the outback? he is the best candidate thus far and  his kissed were like a jolt of lightning . Why not be with someone who is pleasant to look at and is a good person through and through.

Heath was struck from the moment he met Jodie with her piercing green eyes he knew that she was the one he was going to marry. If he could help her out in the process why not? Maybe this companionship could turn into a love match because he knew just the attraction he felt for her made his blood boil like never before.

Was is possible for love to forge after them spending time together on the ranch and in the cramped apartment in Melbourne? Could Jodie give Heath her  entire self without having to sacrifice who she wanted to be?

The Rebel Prince by Raye Morgan

This book is the third in the Brides of Bella Lucia. With each story in the series just improves. I especially liked this one with the strong female lead character.
Emma Valentine is the chef of the exclusive Bella Lucia Restaurant in the UK but has been offered the opportunity of a lifetime by the meridian coronation manager, who frequents the restaurant and would like nothing better than to have her create the coronation meal at when the second son becomes king. Emma jumped at the opportunity and had been preparing night and day for this for weeks so she doesn't embarrass herself or her family at such a big event . Least of all does she expect to get knocked out by a stray water polo ball not long after her arrival. Being so tired from her lack of sleep she appears to be unconcious so "Monty" sends for the palace doctor. Low and behold he turns out to be the prince . He made her feel alive on first impact from his touch to his gaze, it all drew her in to what at the time she didn't know was out of bounds for her , the chef.

Sebastian did not intend to miss lead Emma Valentine but was unaware that she did not know who he was. The one time he assumed he was known he was not, the royals were pretty well known in these parts and most young women tended to follow the society pages. Now with his brother abdicating the throne he is forced with the decision on whether or not to go through with the coronation or forfeit the crown to his cousin Romas, who is an idiot in his own right. Time and time again he repeatedly ran into Emma, he could feel the attraction but chose to ignore it until he finds her stranded on the side of the road and helps her but to her refusal. They spend a wonderful day together even idyllic in its own right but they could never be with him being a prince and all.

Emma knows she can not be with Sebastian but can not help but wonder what would become of them if it was allowed. After all their interactions and private moments will he really choose someone else? Only the girl he dances the last dance with at the ball will know. So what else can become of her? Can she watch him choose another woman to become his queen while she is breaking inside for what cannot be?

Conspiring against her Agatha, Sebastian's sister and her cousin, Louise give her a makeover on the pretense of a girls night since they are the only ones not invited to the ball. They dress her up and force her to take pictures in the room that was set up but when she turns around, who does she see? Behind Agatha is none other but Sebastian who asks her to take the last dance with him.

Sebastian chooses her as he can seem himself with no other woman and tells the ministes that if they wish him to become king and accept the crown Emma must agree to stay and marry him or he goes.

What will Emma choose? Can she stay and be queen with Sebastian ? Or will she turn her back on the only man she ever loved?....

Having The Frenchman's Baby by Rebecca Winters

This book is the second in the Brides of Bella Lucia series put out by harlequin and silhouette. i have thus far thoroughly enjoyed both of the books and can not wait to read the others.

Rachel Valentine is the wine buyer for the exclusive Bella Lucia restaurant is the UK. Her grandfather sends her to France to find an old friend of his and when she is unable to find and ask who makes the best wine in the area.When she is unable to locate him she asks the concierge at the hotel where she is staying and directs her to the vineyards owned by the Chartier Family. Upon meeting Lucien Chartier master wine maker she knows she is hit by love at first sight as we American and English have come to know the french term.She never believed in it but her grandfather told her should would know when she found it. She certainly had in Luc but their relationship is suppose to business only.

Luc got hit by the bullet as well. The first time he saw Rachel he was so awestruck by her beauty and the emotion that hit him that he almost ran into her car passing on the street where she yelled out her window and proceeded to call him an "idiot". Luc's emotions were so strong he knew he had to see her and do anything to have her so instead of returning her call as usual her went to the hotel to see her to arrange time at the vineyard . She mad him feel alive again and able to get past the guilt to release his ex-wife from the coma she had been in for three years. The only thing that had him holding on was an overpowering sense of guilt that the accident resulting in her coma had been his fault. He visited Paulette everyday in the hope that with the love and attention she would return to them.

Rachel and Luc fell hard and fast and had a whirlwind love during a threatening storm that hit Alsace. She felt as if she never had before and wanted to forever be with Luc. He had yet to have a chance to tell her about Paulette so when he was out getting groceries in which he planned to tell her everything upon his return and ask her to marry him, his mother stopped by and told Rachel her version of the situation causing Rachel to flee from France and return to the UK.

Luc was devastated to find her gone but after to seeing the familiar basket on the table went immediately to his mother's to see what she had told Rachel to make her go. Only the truth in her eyes, she wanted to spare Rachel the heartache of Paulette...

Could Luc get rachel back now?

Shortly after returning to the UK her grandfather died and soon after learned that she was carrying Luc's baby and she would have to tell him soon.

Could this child mend the holes created by his mother? he could not risk losing another baby as he did with Paulette. please let this be the solution to their problems for he loves her to the bottom of his very soul.

Billionaire's Marriage Bargain Bargain by Leanne Banks

Mallory had always had the hots for Alex Megalos but thought herself to be beyond his spectrum of women. She didn't want to be another flavor of the week to this social circle hottie know as "the lady killer". Alex was known to get any female's attention by simply walking into a room. He held the female population in the palm of his hand , so it came as a surprise when alex approached her at a party and made plan for a later date.
Alex never noticed Mallory before but realized what a beauty she was. Her father had asked if he knew any men that would make a suitable husband for his daughter, immediately discounting him as a possible candidate. The more time he spent with her the more people he crossed off the list of possibilities and realized her wanted her for himself.
Soon they were a discreet item and spending more and more time together. She made him feel like a human being and alive inside instead of the empty shell of a man he was currently consumed by his job.

Alex mad her feel alive inside and didn't know what she was experiencing . could this explosive chemistry turn into something more than just a private affair. she didn't want to be another one of his flavors of the month. So when he asked her to move in with him suddenly she needed time to think about it. Unfortunately private pictures of them had surfaced on the internet and they needed to stop a scandal before the grainy pictures that were taken we able to be refocused and the people in the pctures revealed.

Could a marriage pushed ahead to cover a scandal result in love?

Coming Home to the Cowboy by Patricia Thayer

Coming home to the cowboy is book one in the brides of Bella Lucia series. If the rest of the books are like this one the series will be thoroughly enjoyable.

Rebecca Valentine is a well know in the advertising industry and has spent the last ten years getting to where she is today. She has been goal oriented since college but wants to have a family but her dreams are cut short when her doctor tells her she may not be able to carry a child due to her Endometriosis. She being the best person for the job, goes to the tucker family ranch to help promote the tucker's new free range beef which will become available once the rotation is complete. She used to ride horses at her grandparents as a girl before the divorce so she is no stranger to a horse.

Widower and father to two young children Greta, 11 and Colby, 5. He thought his life ended when his wife died two years ago in a snowstorm along with his unborn child. His children were the reason he got up every morning. He used to be a coporate executive but has since sold off his stock in the family business to stay home with his children as much as possible and run the ranch. This project is Greta's baby.

These two were attracted from the start but he denied his feelings because of his late wife and Rebecca because she did not want to combine business with pleasure or burned anyone with her health problem.

After setting up an advertising campaign and spending time with Mitch and his family she falls in love with the rancher and his children . they stole her heart and made her want this she thinks she could never have. why would he want her when she could have someone who could give him more children?

Little does she know Mitch returns her love and wants her whether they can have more kids or not. For he has two at home who want her to be their mother.

what can be the best present of all but a ready made family ? She agrees to marry him but has a present of her own. a baby that she thought she could never have. thank goodness for little miracles.

the Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie

Another winner by jenny crusie. i have yet to find a book by her that i do not like and i have read most of them. i have a few yet to go but i will get to them eventually and i can guarantee it will be worth the wait.

Daisy Flattery is in her early thirties and had previously quit her secure job as a teacher to pursue her life's passion as an artist. to pay the bills she also makes jewelry and  tells stories to those that will listen. She is the quintessential artist with the wild hair and wild wardrobe. She loves animals and will do anything to help those in need.

Lincoln "linc" Blaise is the typical plainclothes male. All serious and no color. His wardrobe consists of neutral colors and blacks, nothing to bold but respectable and simple. He has published a book and wants to get a job at Prescott but when he is asked at the interview if he is married he says no but says he is engaged at the thought that this is the only thing holding him back from this job.

He needs to find a fiance fast and someone who will pass as the new Mrs Lincoln Blaise and the homey wifely type. Daisy can tell stories so why not create one of their own? he offers her a thousand dollars to pose as his fake fiance . Daisy gladly accepts because she is in desperate need of money and who wouldn't want to spend the evening with an attractive man?

Daisy does her duty to play his fiance but then her and lincoln enter into a marriage of convience when the head of prescott expects them to be married. is it possible for them to be together? will they ever find love?

Daisy spends he nights thinking of linc and does the same but neither but the first foot forward for risk of embarrassment.  will they eventually admit their feelings or live in perpetual silence?...

Thunderbolt Over Texas by Barbara Dunlop

This book i would give a  3 1/2 out of 5 stars. although it was a good book i do not think i liked it enough to want to read a second time. good story about the sacrifices in family and the secrets you keep in order to protect them.

Sydney was a museum curator on the verge of losing her job thanks to the antiquities snake bradley. ever auction she went to acquire a piece he would stay hidden and then beat her out at the last minute. As curator it was her job to find pieces for the museum to draw in the clientele and without new pieces the old ones tend to fade away with the lack of interest in them. she finally found the piece to save her job , the thunderbolt of the north, only it was one contingency. the only way for her to obtain the antiquity would be for her to marry the eldest son of the Erickson clan. with no family and her job on line she found it wouldn't be that big of a problem for a no fuss marriage of convenience.

Cole was the eldest Erickson heir and the one who could give Sydney what she wanted. why would he be willing to marry someone he didn't know or love? She maybe smoking with a killer watt smile but who knew what secrets she was hiding in that tiny package of hers. Cole agrees to the marriage of convenience in order to help his brother produce and heir. Kyle believes that if the stress of producing a baby was off his wife she would become pregnant. So Cole sacrifices himself for the sake of the family. When they finally go to see the broach so pictures can be taken to prepare for visit he learns that the broach is a fake....who would have taken it and why? a secret that had been closely guarded for years by his grandmother bound in embarrassment...can they find the real one or is it forever lost? can they have a marriage of more than just convenience? 

Best Friend....Future Wife by Claire Baxter

I have read a lot of the harlequin romances and this is one of the best by far that i have read. It is only second place to my one and only dating games by Leigh Michales.

Della had always had feelings for her best friend Luke Brayford. He was not like a lot of the other guys in which he genuinely cared about the little people. He came came from a good family, the very thing she had always wished she had. they became her second family when she became friends with his sister Lyn. They became the three musketeers growing up . Due to the fact that Della did not want to jeopardize the only family and friends she ever had, she hid her feelings from Luke and kept up appearances that they were just friends. Deep down she had always loved Luke even 15 years later when he returns from his voyages to settle back home.

Luke returned home after a broken marriage that both parties had rushed into that were based on attraction and lust and not the love Luke thought it was. Yvonne was not the person he thought her to be. He returns home to take a CEO job of a charity of the the orphanage he had been managing for the past three years. In comes Della more beautiful then ever, the one person he could always talk to and be himself around. she always had a way of calming him and making him grounded when everything around him was blowing up in his face. His attraction to Della hadn't dissipated as he had hoped over the years but had grown stronger. Della was not a girl any longer but a sophisticated woman with a woman's' curves. He never acted on his feelings over the years either but instead banked them down. He felt it would be a betrayal to his sister if he were to go after Della, they were after all a 3 of a kind.

The sexual tension between them continued to heat until one kiss and second thoughts turned into an explosion. Never in his life had he had the same experience with another woman, he wants them to be together but she blows it off like a one night stand. Breaking his heart to pieces. Deciding he cant be around her and not want her he decides to return to the orphanage in India. When he goes to say goodbye to his sister he learns the truth, Della does love him but does not feel herself worthy of him because she can not bear children as a result of the chemo. Can they overcome the obstacles and conquer their love?