Publishers Weekly : Bestseller Gerard follows October's Show No Mercy with another fast-paced tale of romance amid flying bullets. After wily smuggler Fredrick Nader kills investigator Sam Lang's sister, Sam swears to quit Black Ops Inc. Then he learns that Vegas blackjack dealer Abbie Hughes could lead him to Nader's hideaway in Honduras. Sam's plan to seduce information out of Abbie backfires: they fall in love, while Nader kidnaps Abbie's brother, Cory. She heads south with the Black Ops boys, determined to rescue Cory and deal with Nader once and for all. Readers will especially love Abbie: skeptical of Sam after their first disastrous interaction, insistent on participating in the mission, horrified by the criminal world of blood and violence, utterly devoted once she opens her heart. Gerard's polished prose and zippy plotting will continue to satisfy her many fans. (Nov.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

School Library Journal : Gr 7 Up—Phoebe Castro is a distance runner who plans on winning a full-ride cross-country scholarship to USC with her two best friends. Then her mother returns from a family reunion abroad with a Greek fiancé who runs a private school and announces that she and Phoebe will be moving to an island in the Aegean. The news gets worse as the teen arrives to find out that there is no scheduled ferry service from the island. To top off everything, she learns that every other student is descended from one or more Greek gods. Her new stepfather tells her that she cannot share this fact with anyone, for the safety of everyone on Serfopoula. Things seem to be looking up when she meets an absolutely gorgeous guy while running on the beach and, despite her lack of divine ancestry, she is granted a provisional place on the cross-country team. The IMs fly back and forth between Greece and southern California, magical hijinks abound, and classes and practice keep the protagonist busy. The story is part "Harry Potter," part Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief (Hyperion/Miramax, 2005), and part shojo, and it will keep teens, particularly girls, reading to find out if Phoebe will finally fit in, get her crush, and make the team.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly : This yummy lovefest from Gibson (after Tangled Up in You) focuses on a familiar dilemma: how to end bad luck in love. At 35, successful Idaho SFF novelist Adele Harris has had it with losers who make fun of her big fat ass. She feels cursed—and she was, by old rival Devon Hamilton-Zemaitis, who stole Adele's first love, football star Zach Zemaitis. When Devon dies following an accident, she must remove the curse that's prevented Adele's happiness so she can go to heaven. Meanwhile, Adele gets a frantic call from older sister Sherilyn, who's divorcing her husband and has moved back to their old hometown of Cedar Creek, Tex.—where Zach now coaches high school football, and where Sherilyn needs help with her 13-year-old. Gibson keeps the action light but dead-on delicious in Adele's and Zach's sizzling second-chance-at love. (June)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly : Following a near-death experience, the owner of a vintage clothing store in Atlanta discovers that she can see dead people—and worse, hear them—in this sprightly but derivative series launch. When Nicki Styx awakens in the hospital after a heart attack, she doesn't intend to let her newfound heart defect cramp her funky style—but a series of close encounters with ghosts might, particularly her meeting with a murdered friend, Caprice, who seems intent on dragging Nicki into the voodoo underworld. On the plus side, the clinical interest of sexy emergency room doctor Joe Bascombe (who's researching near-death experiences) warms into a fascination with Nicki herself; he has more than a little trouble, however, accepting her otherworldly encounters. As threats to Nicki and her friends mount, lively writing may keep genre fans reading, but the episodic plot feels slight, and Nicki is frustratingly uninterested in her own backstory (for instance, Nicki is adopted, but shows little curiosity when Joe suggests his estranged wife might be Nicki's identical twin). (Sept.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly: False memory, an interesting if overly familiar plot device, forms the basis for the latest romantic thriller by Solomon (Blind Curve), an enticing read that shamelessly plants The Bourne Identity in the fertile soil of the current War on Terror. Margo Scott, owner of a small Washington, D.C., bookstore, awakens to find she can't remember the last month of her life. Worse, that same day she's questioned in the murder of Frank Temple, the deputy director of Washington's elite Terrorism Control Force, a man she swears she's never met. Soon Margo realizes she has no evidence of the normal life she knows—no photos, no contacts in her PDA—while evidence of a life she has no recollection of piles up, including her expert combat skills and a government tail named Jack Wise. With a suspicious Jack at her side, she must find out how and why her memories were falsified, who murdered Temple and what happened during her lost month. Solomon takes her time getting to the heart of the story, but once the action kicks in the pace picks up considerably. Despite a forced romance between Margo and Jack (standard-issue bickering included), Solomon's latest is twisty and diverting, with well-written action sequences and a winning lead. (Apr.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly : In the 20th fine volume of Roberts's futuristic mystery franchise, police lieutenant Eve Dallas is called in when lawyer Grant Swisher and his family are massacred with eerie skillfulness on the Upper West Side. The only survivor is 10-year-old Nixie, who evades—and witnesses—the killers as she creeps down to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Despite the painful memories of her own childhood that Nixie's presence calls up, Eve decides to hide the girl in the high-tech mansion she shares with her husband, billionaire businessman Roarke. With help from Roarke; her faithful sidekick, Peabody; and others, Eve discovers the existence of a shadowy former military operative with a grudge against Swisher—the lawyer helped the operative's battered wife divorce him right before she disappeared. The relatively early disclosure of the villain's identity and the dearth of other viable suspects dulls the suspense in the first half of the book, but tension escalates toward an absorbing denouement as a trap Eve sets for her target ends up with Nixie as its unintentional bait. Throughout, the series' colorful supporting cast and Eve's prickly personality—smartly showcased in her power struggles with everything from space-age vending machines to her own past—remain as vividly appealing as ever.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Though short on plot and completely lacking in suspense, Crusie's latest (after Faking It) is still an entertaining story featuring a cast of immensely appealing characters and smart dialog. Min is on the rebound from David and searching for a date to take to her sister's upcoming wedding; Cal is on the rebound from his last girlfriend, who was pressuring him to set a wedding date. From the first chapter, it's obvious that these two will meet, date, and fall in love, but it's their journey toward happily-ever-after that will keep readers turning pages. Of course, there are numerous hilarious complications along the way: Min's sister is having cold feet as her wedding day gets closer, Min's mother is next to impossible, and Min herself is having trouble fitting into her bridesmaid dress. When one of Cal's business partners falls hard for Min's best friend, the stage is set for a series of coincidences, each more outlandish than one can imagine, as Min and Cal are forced together with predictable results. For readers who can't bear for the story to conclude, Crusie even goes so far as to add an epilog that condenses the next 20 years in the lives of her characters. Enthusiastically recommended for most collections of contemporary romance and women's fiction. -- Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : Minerva Dobbs's mother named her daughter after the Greek goddess. Yet Min, who's grown up to be a curvy woman who adores carbs, isn't quite a knockout beauty and, at 33, she shows no signs of getting married anytime soon. So when the dashingly handsome (god-like, in fact) Calvin Morrissey enters Min's life and starts pouring on the charm, she's skeptical. As well she should be-it appears Cal has a $10,000 bet with some of his drinking buddies that he can get Min into bed within a month. Statistics-loving Min knows about the bet and figures she can play Cal for a month, use him as a date for her sister's upcoming wedding and then dump him right before the month is up. Alas, destiny has different plans. As Min and Cal fall for each other, Crusie pulls out the pranks, repeatedly pushing the two together and then tearing them apart. A bubbly cast of characters alternately helps and hinders romance, including Cal's ex-girlfriend, a psychologist who studies relationships for a living; a matchmaking Italian chef; and Min's friend Liza, who'll stop at nothing to make sure Min doesn't wind up with the conniving Cal. It's all cutesy, corny, romantic fun, and Crusie (Fast Women; Faking It; etc.) has created a loveable character in Min. Although some readers will be sucked into Crusie's deliberate plot, others may cringe at its predictability. With multiple references to Chicken Marsala, Krispy Kreme donuts and Midwestern brats (a fine contrast to Min's compulsively thin-thinking mother), Crusie's latest should delight romance readers with a penchant for sinful foods.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly : A dark secret keeps Chicago assistant state's attorney Kristen Mayhew as tightly wound as the springy red curls she works to pin down. Meals at the nearby diner, sleepless nights renovating her empty house and days in court where the bad guy more often than not doesn't face justice make up her life—until she finds the bodies of three criminals she failed to convict in the trunk of her car. Each dead body comes accompanied by a sinister letter, the writer informing "Dearest Kristen" that justice has been done on her behalf. An unusual twist for a suspense novel, to be sure, but because the murderer preys on rapists, gang members and pedophiles, Rose'strademark tentacles of fear never fully extend (as they did in her earlier books, Don't Tell and Have You Seen Her). Instead, this book's greatest strength lies in the romance between Kristen and handsome detective Abe Reagan, who's still reeling from the death of his wife. Abundant side characters, including Abe's entire jovial clan, clutter the plot and diminish the story's tension, especially when minor players suddenly step forward to play major roles. But readers will appreciate Rose's sensitive portrayal of Kristen's hesitancy to trust and Abe's gentle perseverance in uncoiling the vibrant woman within.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Archaeologist Callie Dunbrook is excited to be overseeing a new dig, but with the site rumored to be cursed, her ex-husband hanging around, and a stranger suggesting that he knows all about her past, things aren't altogether rosy. Despite the pub date, the book will surface in late March.

Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : Set in and around rural Woodsboro, Md., a small town drawn with affection and familiarity, Roberts's latest is the literary equivalent of a big delicious meal whipped up by a talented home cook. She offers a dash of exoticism and innovation-a Neanderthal settlement is discovered on the site of an unwanted housing development, prompting gorgeous young archeologist Callie Dunbrook to race to Woodsboro to take charge of what promises to be the dig of her career. After dollops of detail about archeological work, Roberts dishes up huge servings of comfort food, and it is all the more satisfying for being so straightforward. When the owner of the Antietam Creek development turns up murdered on the site, Callie is thrown into closer contact than she'd like with her ex-husband, who also happens to be the anthropologist sharing responsibility for the dig. Jacob Greystone is a hunk-"long bones, long muscles, all covered in bronzed skin...." Meanwhile, Suzanne Cullen, the hugely successful proprietor of a Mrs. Field's-like baked-goods business, tracks down the archeologist after seeing her on the evening news. Callie, the woman claims, is the baby daughter who was snatched from her stroller when she was just a few months old. Callie hires a beautiful young lawyer, Lana Campbell, who happens to be involved with Doug Cullen, Callie's long-lost brother. Another murder, arson and attempted murder heat up the chase until all the young lovers are drawn in. As in other delectable entertainments by Roberts, it is not the wild denouement but the pursuit itself-studded with scrumptious romantic encounters-that is the real dessert.

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Part 1 of this engaging novel (written by Roberts) offers a typical Roberts heroine. Attractive and quirky, Laine Tavish owns a small antique gift shop called Remember When. After a man is accidentally killed outside her shop, Laine is dismayed to realize he was her uncle. She has spent a good deal of energy keeping her family's unsavory criminal history a secret and is unsure and more than a little uneasy about why her uncle was coming to her shop. Hunky insurance investigator Max Gannon, who had been tailing the uncle for his own reasons, soon switches his attention to Laine. An engaging dog named Henry, Laine's heart-of-gold con-man father, Max, and a stash of diamonds, all intertwine with just the right amount of humor and snappy one-liners to propel the story to an ending with just a few loose ends. Part 2 of this novel (written by alter ego Robb) pushes us into the future. New York City police detective Eve Dallas is investigating a case with ties all the way back to Laine and Max, now grandparents, married some 50 years. It's their granddaughter Samantha who is involved with the same disappearing gemstones. Roberts's gimmick of combining these two stories works fairly well. Readers of Roberts's contemporary stories and fans of her futuristic Eve and Roarke novels will love getting two books for the price of one. Essential for all public libraries.-Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : A perfect marriage of sensuality and suspense, this sparkling new offering from Roberts (Birthright, etc.) and her alter ego, Robb (Imitation in Death, etc.) takes readers on a two-part journey-first to the quaint burg of Angel's Gap, Md., and then to New York City, 56 years in the future. A multimillion-dollar diamond heist connects the two halves and fuels the first story, which focuses on the romance between sexy PI Max Gannon, who's working for the company that insured the diamonds, and smalltown antiques dealer Laine Tavish, daughter of a notorious thief. Laine has worked hard to overcome her heritage, but when her father's best friend is killed outside her shop, she becomes the target of a ruthless killer who thinks she has her father's share of the take. Because the story skips ahead in time, Max and Laine have little time to explore their affection for each other, but Roberts still manages to make their whirlwind romance both believable and charming. A nerve-shattering encounter between Laine and the villain shows Laine to be as capable and crafty as Lt. Eve Dallas, who's the driving force behind the novel's second half. Set in the year 2059, the continuation finds Eve on the trail of a murderer who's after the diamonds that were never recovered from the decades-old heist. Though the identity of the criminal is apparent midway through, Eve's charismatic personality and colorful crew-including her former thief husband, Roarke, and her partner, Peabody-keep the energy level high. A true master of her craft, Roberts has penned an exceptional tale that burns with all the brilliance and fire of a finely cut diamond.

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Home for the first time in years for her sister's holiday wedding, Noelle McDowell is forced to face Thom Sutton, the man who jilted her when they were both teenagers. Complicating matters is the longstanding feud between their mothers, which, although it will likely seem silly and shallow to most readers, is actually at the root of Noelle and Thom's problems. Fans will likely demand this light, little Christmas hardcover romance by one of the genre's favorites, especially if they enjoy sweet, contemporary romances of the Americana variety. Macomber (Between Friends) lives in Port Orchard, WA.

Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : Prolific, bestselling romance novelist Macomber offers fans a stocking stuffer for the Christmas season. Twenty-eight-year-old workaholic Noelle McDowell takes a rare vacation from her high-powered computer company in Dallas to come home to smalltown Rose, Ore., for the holidays and help plan her sister's wedding. Noelle hasn't been to Rose in 10 years-ever since her high school sweetheart jilted her. Theirs was a secret romance because their mothers, one-time best friends, had long been engaged in a bitter feud that began when Sarah McDowell borrowed Mary Sutton's antique tea service and never returned it. A silly popcorn-throwing incident at the movies brings Noelle and her ex, Thom-now a handsome executive at a prosperous startup-together again. They discover they're still in love. But will their warring families ruin their second chance for happiness? Their mothers, coincidentally assigned to the same volunteer job-filling Christmas baskets for the needy-begin their charity mission with a vicious toy-throwing fight at a local mall. Will an accident during an ice storm provide an occasion for their reconciliation? There aren't exactly any hairpin plot turns in this formulaic, feel-good, PG-rated contemporary romance. Still, the mom-against-mom catfight adds a dash of hilarity to this lightweight confection. The good, clean holiday fun should satisfy Macomber's fans.

Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Legendary in the art world, three small silver statues depicting the Greek Fates were said to possess incredible powers, and if ever found would be worth a fortune. One, thought to have sunk with the Lusitania, winds up as an Irish family heirloom, but when a treacherous American gallery owner steals it from Malachi Sullivan, Mal, together with his brother, Gideon, and his sister, Rebecca, sets out to get it back and beat the dealer to the other two statues. Malachi's search sends him to author Tia Marsh, a respected authority on mythology who, along with stripper Cleo Toliver and securities expert Jack Burdett, holds the keys to the missing statues. Roberts's latest is another of her patented blends of passion and danger seasoned with tart wit. Watching prim, neurotic, scholarly Tia develop a taste for adventure is just one of the joys in reading this marvelously entertaining romance. A member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame, Roberts lives in Keedysville, MD. John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : Acts of thievery ultimately lead to justice in the wildly prolific Roberts's latest romantic suspense novel. The little silver statues representing Greek mythology's Three Fates are an art collector's dream: they're extremely valuable individually, but priceless as a trio and legend has it that when put together, they endow their owner with power over destiny. When a German U-boat torpedoes the Lusitania in 1915, petty burglar Felix Greenfield is in the midst of purloining one of the Fates from a first-class stateroom. Felix survives the ship's sinking and vows to reform. Flash to the present, in which three of Felix's descendants calculating Malachi, slick Gideon and intelligent Rebecca Sullivan have just had their Fate stolen by Anita Gaye, a ruthless and menacing antiques dealer. Vowing to recover Felix's statue, the three siblings depart Ireland to search the globe, finding love along the way with a pan-phobic Greek scholar, a stripper and a security expert. Like the Three Fates, the six principals learn that they will only be powerful enough to defeat Anita if they can operate as a single unit. Though it's a slick, snappy read, this character-heavy sudser is far from Roberts's best. She uses the words "three" and "fate" so often that the repetition becomes comic, the siblings' exotic globe-trotting amounts to little more than location name-dropping and Anita, a villainess of Cruella de Vil proportions, is a caricature rather than a character. But Roberts has been so popular, and for so long, that her legion of fans will undoubtedly forgive her for this one while eagerly awaiting her next.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly : A creepy cerebral serial killer vaguely reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter pursues a charismatic female doctor in this thoroughly satisfying if somewhat derivative thriller. Skillfully drawn surgical backdrops sizzling with ER intensity balance out the obligatory romantic intrigue and familiar plucky police professionals, attesting to Gerritsen's authentic medical expertise as a former physician. Dr. Catherine Cordell, the main character in this chilling tale, thought she had shot and killed her rapist and would-be murderer two years earlier in steamy Savannah, where he was a surgery intern at her hospital. Now, in Boston, as another hot summer begins, he appears to have miraculously returned and embarked once again on his grisly mission: he rapes women, then surgically removes their wombs. As two intrepid detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli investigate, Cordell begins to doubt her own memories (or lack of) and discovers that not even her OR is safe. Gliding as smoothly as a scalpel in a confident surgeon's hand, this tale proves that Gerritsen (Harvest; Life Support; Bloodstream; Gravity), originally a romance writer, has morphed into a dependable suspense novelist whose growing popularity is keeping pace with her ever-finer writing skills. (Sept.)Forecast: National print advertising in People, the New York Times and USA Today, plus a major promotion campaign, will ratchet Gerritsen's sales up yet another notch.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Take a widowed First Lady on the run, add a discredited journalist looking for a story, toss in a pair of intriguing orphaned sisters for good measure, and you have the unlikely ingredients for another of Phillips's brilliant romantic romps, deftly combining laughter and love with real women's issues and served up with a sophisticated flair. Creative plotting adds sparkle, and entertaining, well-drawn secondary characters round out the novel, but it is the growing, healing relationship between the protagonists and how they finally form a family that touches the heartstrings and makes this contemporary romance an unforgettable read. A past master at taking a startling but just believable premise and making it work, Phillips (Lady Be Good) has won several RITA awards and lives in the Chicago area.

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Tory's only hope throughout a desolate childhood was her friend Hope--who was brutally murdered. Years later, when she finds herself falling for Hope's older brother, the killer starts stalking again.

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : Doyenne of the bestseller lists, Roberts (River's End) may have achieved her personal best in this tense Southern gothic. As atmospheric and unsettling as a Tennessee Williams play, the story takes us into the gifted mind and troubled soul of visionary Tory Bodeen, whose childhood in Progress, S.C., was marked by her father's beatings, her mother's passivity and, when she was eight, the rape and strangulation of her best friend, Hope Lavelle. Now 26, still haunted by Hope's unsolved murder and memories of an unsettling experience in New York City, to which she fled at age 18, Tory returns to Progress after a quiet four-year stint in Charleston. Although profoundly ambivalent about her psychic ability to connect with other minds, she knows she'll never find peace until she uses her unsettling skill to find the murderer. And by opening a shop full of beautiful objects, she wants to show Progress that she's more than the bruised spawn of despicable Hannibal and Sarabeth Bodeen. She doesn't reckon on being swept off her feet by Hope's older brother, Cade, or by making an enemy and then a fine friend of Hope's twin, Faith. Nor could she have imagined that she would stumble on a chain of past murders seemingly linked to Hope's death. The mystery heats up as a wave of new murders sweeps Progress, but the increasingly intricate plot developments never overwhelm the human element. Roberts--again like Williams- seems disgusted only by unkindness; she treats most of her big cast with affection and compassion for their foibles. Cade doesn't yield an inch to his mother's snobbish contempt for Tory, and the complicated Tory is allowed to hate her own mother and wish her father a painful death: there are no saccharine reconciliations here. Even when a few over-the-top sex scenes and hackneyed phrasings slip in, Roberts's witty dialogue and moody descriptions soon counteract them. This is romantic drama at its best. 400,000 first printing; Literary Guild Main selection; author tour. (Mar.)

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Publishers Weekly : Setting her story in Salvation, N.C., Phillips adeptly develops the theme of love's healing power. Broke and desperate to provide a better life for her son, gutsy Rachel Stone ends up in Salvation when her car breaks down. She knows the place--even worse, they know her as the widow of G. Dwayne Snopes, a televangelist who fled stealing millions. Luckily, Gabe Bonner, who owns a drive-in theater where Rachel asks for work, seems to be the only person who doesn't recognize her right off. Rachel's proud mettle distracts Gabe from the grief of his own tragic loss, but enemies strike out at Rachel, while Gabe's brothers mount a family defense against the gold-digging widow. Phillips (Heaven, Texas) digs deep to expose weaknesses and strengths in the psyche and faith of her characters. The result is a book that is touching, funny, sexy and humane.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Lonely, single, and 34, brainy physicist Jane Darlington is determined to have a baby--even if she has to pretend to be a hooker (and a "birthday present" for football star Cal Bonner) to do it. She doesn't expect, however, that her quarterback is a whole lot smarter than Jane had hoped, definitely more honorable than she had expected, and simply won't take no for an answer. Although the initial premise (while funny) is a stretch, the protagonists are strong and appealing and draw the readers into a sensual, heartwarming story that is graced with some interesting secondary characters, including a savvy backwoods grandmother with ideas of her own. Phillips (Kiss an Angel, Avon, 1996) lives in the Chicago area.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More

Library Journal : Cool, capable, and thoroughly domestic, Brianna Concannon welcomes American mystery writer Grayson Thane to her County Clare bed-and-breakfast, never dreaming that she and this footloose, homeless-by-choice stranger could ever have anything in common, let alone fall in love. But they do-and then must come to terms with their separate pasts before they can put the future in perspective. This latest solid contemporary love story by Roberts is the second in her Irish trilogy (after Born in Fire, Jove, 1994). [Roberts lives in Keedysville, Md.]

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

Publishers Weekly : Roberts's second installment in her Born In trilogy (after Born in Fire) takes the reader back to Ireland, where Brianna Concannon uncovers some unexpected and disturbing details about her deceased father. While trying to turn the attic of her bed-and-breakfast into another guest room, Brianna finds a stock certificate from a nonexistent company called Triquarter Mining--no great surprise, as the elder Concannon had always had a weakness for worthless ventures. More surprising is a set of old, passionate love letters written to her father 28 years before by a woman who was not Brianna's mother. This discovery is overshadowed by the arrival of famed mystery novelist Grayson Thane, who is to be her guest--and her lover (at least until his next novel is finished). The scope of Roberts's latest offering is limited to Brianna's and Gray's affair, leaving the reader impatient about fleeting references to footprints outside Brianna's window and a messy break-in at the B&B. Still, the pace of the book is smooth and even, and the writing captures the charisma and earthy charm of Ireland and the gentleness of its people while setting the tone for Born in Shame, the final story. (Aug.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

...More