An Unlikely Countess-Jo Beverley

An Unlikely Countess

Jo Beverley

Signet, Mar 1 2011, $7.99

ISBN 9780451232717

In 1765 in Yorkshire, Prudence Youlgrave lives in poverty.  She knows her only hope to escape is to marry wealth above her social level.  However, meeting someone with money is difficult for someone in her economic straits.

Catesby Burgoyne rescues Prudence from robbers.  Shocking himself though he knows his intoxicated state keeps him from remaining logical, he asks her to marry him; shocking herself she accepts.  When sober he regrets his fight with his brother the Earl of Malzrad and not because he has no money being cut off.  Resigning from the military, he and Prudence are further shocked with what fate spins next.  Cate’s older brother dies unexpectedly, which makes the remorseful spare an Earl and his wife Prudence the Countess.  As they fall in love, her former fiancé arrives to stake a prior claim on Prudence.

The class distinctions come across very powerful in this super Georgian romance as the support cast of aristocrats could make or break the new Countess.  Although the ending with Prudence’s ratty fiancé seems unnecessary and a bit weak, this fast-paced tale will thrill fans of Jo Beverly’s Malloren saga as the engaging historical romance contains combat on two fronts: gender and class warfare.

Harriet Klausner

A Good Man Is Hard to Find-ReShonda Tate Billingsley

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Gallery, Mar 22 2011, $15.00

ISBN 9781439183502

Investigative journalist Ava Cole feels like she fell through the rabbit hole when the news magazine she works for shuts down.  Instead of seeking a job, Ava is assigned to work for a sister publication, the National Star; a tabloid in which the story always comes first even before the safety of the reporter and the subject of the exposé.

Ava admits to herself she appreciates the upbeat accommodations her new position provides, but hates wallowing in the dirt.  Her current assignment has her in Aruba to cover pop superstar India Wright’s wedding.  Her editor expects Ava to find the sordid filth on the bride and groom.  However, Ava also finds romance with photographer Cliff and with India’s manager Julian; while hoping she is below the radar screen of some tabloid reporter exposing her triangular tryst. 

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is an entertaining look at tabloid reporting of scandalous behavior’ which ironically as Ava knows she could be the story.  The cast is solid especially Ava struggling with how far she feels she fell in the journalism world and the rejection of her long time former boyfriend.  However, as she learns sex scandals sell while other investigative reporting apparently does not and that she needs two hunks to move passed her former hunk.  Readers will enjoy Ava’s revelations as she fully comprehends the true meaning of A Good Man Is Hard to Find and even harder to retain.

Harriet Klausner

A Light at Winter’s End-Julia London

A Light at Winter’s End

Julia London

Pocket, Feb 22 2011, $7.99

ISBN 9781439176498

Heartbroken Wyatt Clark watched his wife Macy leave him to return to her first husband Finn Lockhart, who had been mistakenly reported dead by an IED in Afghanistan (see Summer of Two Wishes).  Wyatt spends the next two years moving back and forth between anger as he brought Macy back to life after she learned her Finn died and self pity as he believed Macy owed him.  He remains in isolation on his Texas ranch.

In Austin, Texas Holly Fisher has dreamed of being a songwriter for a long time.  Now the time is right to begin her career.  However, her aspirations are put on hold when her estranged sister, Hannah, a drug addict, arrives with a baby.  She dumps Mason on Holly before leaving to enter a rehab program.  Holly takes Mason with her as she goes to the Fisher family spread, next door to the silent sourpuss Wyatt.  As she falls for Wyatt and Mason, she wonders whether a love song can do her feelings justice only reality turns her lyrics to How can You Mend a Broken Heart (BeeGees).

This sequel is a super character driven Texas romance starring a mentally wounded rancher who understands Nazareth’s Love Hurts so refuses to go back on the horse that threw him and a nurturing woman who puts her aspirations aside to care for her one year old nephew.  Filled with angst due to realistic characters, readers will enjoy A Light At Winter’s End though it helps to understand Wyatt better by reading his previous heartbreaking appearance in Summer of two Wishes.

Harriet Klausner

Bound by Guilt-C.J. Darlington

Bound by Guilt

C.J. Darlington

Tyndale, Mar 1 2011, $12.99

ISBN: 9781414340128

She has spent her young life as a serial foster child moving from one home to another.  Roxi Gold dreams of belonging to a loving family permanently, but each new home makes her feel this will never occur though she tries too hard to belong.

Currently, Roxi travels the country with her foster parents stealing rare books in order to remain in her current home; if she refuses she will be kicked to the street though she is disturbed by her criminal activity.  Police officer Abby Dawson feels worn out by a job she once cherished as her work was used against her in the custody fight with her ex. She wishes she could turn to her dad for solace, but they are estranged.  Roxi and Abby meet when blood flows over a first edition of the Great Gatsby.

Roxi makes for a strong tale as her odyssey will reach inside to the souls of the readers.  She makes the tale seem real as her desperate need to belong leads her to criminal activity to keep her guardian pleased with her.  Bound by Guilt is a terrific Christian contemporary due to the protagonists and a powerful support cast.

Harriet Klausner

Blackout-Rob Thurman

Blackout

Rob Thurman

Roc, Mar 1 2011, $7.99

ISBN: 9780451463869

Hybrid human-Auphe Cal Leandros awakens on a beach with no idea how he got there or why he is surrounded by dead spidery monsters.  Although his memory is gone, Cal believes in his gut he is a natural born killer as he heads into Nevah’s Landing, South Carolina.

Two men he does not recognize arrive claiming they are here to help him.  One of them says he is Cal’s purebred brother Niko and the other insists he is their friend Robin Goodfellow.  Niko explains they are BFFs also and run a private investigator business together.  He distrusts both of them as his instincts, especially his Auphe side, insist he do so.  That changes when more spidery monsters attack and they have his back as other enemies surface.

The latest Cal Leandros thriller is an exciting tale enhanced by a realistic modification in the relationship between the siblings.  While Niko is hurt by his brother’s behavior towards him, Cal continues to struggle between his dueling dual natures as Cal fears what he truly is since he has no memory of who he is.  Filled with action, Rob Thurman provides a terrific twist to the protagonist in the angst-laden Blackout (see Roadkill and Deathwish to fully understand the spin).

Harriet Klausner

The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse

The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse

Steven C. Schlozman, MD

Grand Central, Mar 25 2011, $19.99

ISBN: 9780446564663

A zombie plague has been turned loose upon the earth, but the disease is not natural as it is man made.  The research has turned people into NGH, No Longer Human.  This leads to medical researchers on a remote island dissecting and experimenting on captured zombies seeking a cure with the belief that NGH types are classified as monstrous beasts who live to feed endlessly on human flesh. 

Nuclear bombs fail to end the spread of the epidemic.  Meanwhile on the coral atoll Bassas de India between Madagascar and Africa, a research center has been established to find a cure.  Led by renowned zombie expert Dr. Stanley Blum and Dr. Blanca Gutierrez, volunteers have come to help.  They conclude that the disease works similar to catching the flu with prions playing a key role.  They believe they are closing in on a vaccination, but abruptly they seem to have vanished.  However, Dr. Blum’s The Zombie Autopsies’ journals have been found and under review by the World Health Organization; as time runs out on Homo sapiens remaining the dominant species on the planet.

As Z books go, The Zombie Autopsies is a truly gruesome horror medical thriller; not so much due to someone creating the disease, but more because of the inhuman experiments on humanoid bodies by scientists mindful of Dr. Mengele and the Nazis.  Although the reader will understand the despite attempts to save humanity, the scientific saviors lose what makes a person human while conducting their research.  Dr. Blum and the Z crew put the faces to the tale as he knows he will never leave the island as he regrets what he believes he must do while fans will have to decide whether the zombie is a monster or sick grandma as this is a chilling, vividly gory thriller.

Harriet Klausner

After the Golden Age-Carrie Vaughn

After the Golden Age

Carrie Vaughn

Tor, Apr 12 2011, $24.99

ISBN: 9780765325556

In Commerce City, Celia West the forensic accountant is fortunate that the Olympiad superheroes protect her because she keeps getting kidnapped.  She is the daughter of the group’s leaders Suzanne known as the Spark because of her ability to create and control fire and Warren endowed with super speed and strength.  However, Celia is estranged from her parents as she wants to live a normal life working assets and liabilities that are numbers and not fighting supervillains with masks and powers.

Currently she is looking into the records of supervillain Destructor seeking proof of tax fraud.  When his case comes to court, her relationships through her parents to the alleged felon are exposed.  This costs her the job and her friends while widening the rift with her parents.  As a crime wave hits the city and with too much idle time on her hands, Celia sees a pattern that ties all the felonious activity to one person.  She uses the supercomputer at the Olympiad headquarters trying to uncover the identity of this diabolical mastermind, but also learns much about the yin yang births of superheroes and supervillains.

Carrie Vaughn is a superhero of an author as she deftly switches voices and worlds with her different series (see Kitty the werewolf tales).  The story line obviously pays homage to the Golden and Silver Ages of comic books with the twist of an accountant working the numbers to bring down supervillains.  Readers root for Celia who they hope reconciles with her parents and obtains self-esteem as she fears she can never live up to the legends her parents are.  Filled with pathos and a touch of romance as well as plenty of POW! And AM! Fans will enjoy the silver adventures of the offspring of two Golden Age heroes.

Harriet Klausner

Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts- Lucy Dillon

Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts

Lucy Dillon

Berkley, Mar 1 2011, $15.00

ISBN 9780425238875

At about the same time her decade long relationship ends, thirty-nine year old Rachel inherits her aunt’s home, dog, and kennel.  Not sure what to make of the will as she never expected the bequest, Rachel decides to move to her aunt’s home on the London outer perimeter.

She finds the kennel overwhelmed with rescued canines and her aunt’s neighbors to be friendly with each other and welcoming to the newcomer.  Rachel decides to run the kennel as best she can though she knows nothing about dogs and sees good homes for her wards.  Rachel meets divorce veterinarian George who is over the edge with his former wife who gave their children a puppy.  Rachel befriends married Natalie who wants a baby but for now settles on coddling their “foster” dog.  The kennel owner finds other nice people as she explains a house is not a home without a dog sharing the digs.

Mindful of the Groucho quip “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend; Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read”, this is an enjoyable second chance at life as the beleaguered but happy heroine finds rescuing canines ironically saves her.  This is Rachel’s makeover but the strong cast; canines included especially her roommate provide a warm contemporary tale that encourages the audience to learn what makes you happy and risk seeking it.

Harriet Klausner

Someone’s Watching-Sharon Potts

Someone’s Watching

Sharon Potts

Oceanview, Feb 7 2011, $25.95

ISBN: 9781608090136

Once a corporate suit, Robbie Ivy works as a bartender in Miami’s South Beach section.  Her estranged father arrives at the club where she works to ask Robbie for a favor.  His other daughter Kaitlin “Kate” Brooks and her BFF Joanne Sparks are missing somewhere in the concrete South Florida jungle; he wants Robbie to help find her.

Robbie is stunned to learn she has a sibling as she had no idea until her dad’s visit that she had a half-sister.  Not knowing how to start, she asks her former boyfriend, Jeremy Stroeb for advice.  He suggests she speak to Detective Judy Lieber who cautions Robbie to watch her step as coeds like Kate are targets of nasty predators especially when Joanne is found dead.  Her amateurish inquiry turns deadly as Robbie realizes time is running out on her meeting her younger half-sister alive.

Relationship damaged Robbie makes a terrific protagonist as she hopes to make it with Jeremy, reunite with her father and become friends and sister with her sibling.  Thus she has a major impetus to find Kate.  Mindful of the exhilarating mindless action movie Taken (even though the heroine is an amateur while Neeson’s character Mills is a former CIA field operative).  Filled with spins and stunning red herrings, readers will appreciate this engaging, timely but sordid tale of kidnapping teens and forcing them into prostitution (right out of the headlines).

Harriet Klausner

Heresy-S.J. Parris

Heresy

S.J. Parris

Anchor Books (Random House), Feb 1 2011, $14.95

ISBN: 9780767932523

In the late sixteenth century the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Monk Giordano Bruno for his heretic belief in the Copernicus theory of a heliocentric system.  He has no safe haven as the Inquisition hunts him in order to burn him at the stake for daring to espouse that the sun is the center of the universe.  Still he flees his Naples monastery just before the Father Inquisitor comes for him heading to Paris and then London where he prays he will find respite in Queen Elizabeth’s anti papal reign. 

In 1583 the queen’s Secretary of State Sir Francis Walsingham asks Bruno to visit to Oxford to look for treasonous Catholic scholars.  He agrees as he wants to go to Oxford but in search of the fifteenth book of Ancient Egyptian High Priest Hermes Trismegistus who wrote in this tome his understanding of the “Divine Mind”.  However, the defrocked monk never expected to be the hub of gruesome homicides.

The real life intelligent elucidate Bruno tells the tale mostly of his time in Oxford in 1583.  He makes the story line fun as a wonderful historical thriller.  The serial murder mystery engages the reader also, but takes a back seat to the divided deadly dogma of religious loyalties during the Elizabethan Era as portrayed by the excommunicated enlightened monk.

Harriet Klausner