A Willing Surrender by Robyn Donald

This is her best book! It is about love at first sight and that overwhelming chemical spark that doesn't come along often. Recognition floors Morgan Caird when he sees Clary for the first time. There is no choice about pursuing her, he knows he must and she feels the same way. But very soon into the book we find out that when he met Clary he dumped a woman who he was living with and that woman turned out to be Clary's sister-in-law (who had recently left Clary's brother). The situation is packed with emotion and as you can imagine Clary's beloved brother blames him for breaking up his marriage. A little book filled with passion and worth the read.

A Marriage Betrayed by Emma Darcy

Imagine walking in to a hotel in a foreign city and having everyone from the doorman, to the bellboy, to guests in the lobby react in shock when they see you. That is the very interesting premise to this book. Although it is a case of mistaken identity, it is such a strong beginning that it does carry the rest of the book. The ending here is less satisfying, but it was an interesting situation and is worth checking out.

A Texan's Luck by Jodi Thomas

More than a love story, this book is also a good ole-fashioned "shoot-em up" western. I haven't read her books before and this book was the third of a trilogy. I definitely plan to read the first two. Captain Walker Larson is sent home to protect his wife from a killer. His presence there was requested by the town sheriff who is unable to protect Lacy Walker, editor of the only newspaper in town, twenty-four hours a day. He figures only her husband can do that and the Army agrees with him. The problem is Captain Walker was married to Lacy by proxy after his father bought her for his son in a wife lottery. The story goes on from there as these two strangers who have only met once before learn to tolerate each other and more. It is an adventure with interesting subplots which will obviously lead to more books in this series. It was a fun distraction that makes you realize that if men only figured out what every woman knows, romance novels wouldn't be so interesting, that is, there are three little words that make all the difference, namely I LOVE YOU!

Dream of Me by Josie Litton

This is the story of a Viking warlord and a sheltered Saxon lady. Josie Litton's writing is very like poetry, it is lovely, satisfying, and stirring. The feared Viking offered peace to the Saxon lord and even offered to marry his sister to bring a lasting peace between their peoples. The answer he was given was demeaning and insulting so he decides to force the Saxon to hear him by kidnapping the lady. That is how the story begins. Start this book on a Friday, you will not be able to put it down. It follows the Lady Cymbra on a sometimes frustrating, sometimes joyful, and sometimes dangerous adventure where she comes into her own and finds the true meaning of love. Happy reading with any of Josie Litton's beautiful stories, my favorite of all is "Dream Island," but since "Dream of Me," followed by "Believe in Me," are grouped together in a two volume novel, and are her first books; start there.

The Man of My Dreams

When the magnitude of my problems disheartened me, you were there with words of encouragement. When I could not believe in myself you believed for me.
How can I thank you for the words that encouraged me when problems overwhelmed me.
You could see a light when I was in darkness. God used you in my life in a lovely way. Thank you for listening, inspiring, helping and motivating me like only a very best friend could do.

The Mistress Wife by Lynne Graham

Now don't get me wrong, Lynne Graham is one of my favorite romance writers, but, let me just say this is not her best effort. She is often accused of writing the same book over and over again because she always has a super rich male hero and a poor, naive, beautiful heroine. Her stories are about emotions, usually the man is without them and the woman brimming with them. What is good about them is they really get to your heart and your emotions when you are empathizing with the woman. He believes things that are not true about her because he has believed someone's lies. When he finally finds the truth we are cheering for her. But this is not that book. This one was written from a different point of view and it never gets off the ground. My theory is, if it's not broke don't fix it. She should stick with her powerful, emotional stories and forget about trying to change what she is so good at. In this story the wife believed lies about the husband and left him because of it. After two years away from him she finds out about the lies and then spends the rest of the story chasing after him, which was somehow demeaning to the heroine. Of course, if you are a diehard Lynne Graham fan you will have to read it just because you read all her books, that's what I did. Happy Reading!

Dark Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

If you get the opportunity to read Ms. Moning's books, do so. This is one of my favorites. She had to go back in time to find the hero of this novel, he is so larger than life few men today could fill his shoes. She used a Carl Sandburg quote to start off "Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." She brought a dark Highlander through time to New York City where he meets Chloe the Irish lass who captures his heart, intelligent, beautiful and dynamic. Dageus our "time traveling" hero is dark, cursed actually, beautiful, erotic, and the perfect man of any woman's dreams. The story is a page turner and if you like this one then Kiss of the Highlander is even better. She even puts some humor in there with the mythical Tuatha De' Danaan.

The Bride's Necklace by Kat Martin

For a paperback this was a long book. Sometimes it bogged down and sometimes it was a frustrating read but by the end I was interested in reading the sequel so I have to waffle on this book. It is a complicated story with more than one problem having to be resolved. The love story was not as satisfying as I would like, but then I am an incurable romantic. It was NOT the book I could not put down, I have read better from this author, but, it filled a lonely night and was a great distraction.