Kristen Wolf

Crown, Jul 12 2011, $25.00

ISBN: 9780307717696

In 7 A.D. Palestine, the young boys taunt handsome seven year old Anna for looking more like a boy than a girl.  Her mother Mari explains that she a boy and a girl.  When Mari gives birth to a stillborn boy, Anna’s dad Josef filled with anger and grief stones elderly healer Zahra to death while his daughter watched in horror.   Three years later, with her dad still raging and Anna looking even more like a boy than a girl, the child wonders why a dead son is worth more than a living daughter.  Josef beats his wife who soon dies and sells Anna as a boy to a visiting shepherd.

In the desert the Sisters secret sect abduct Anna from the shepherds.  In their caves, they mentor her in the ancient belief “The Way,” which releases dormant power within her.  When the Sisters become endangered, the inner Circle sends Anna on a journey to spread the word of the Way among the people.  Taking advantage of her male looking physique, she begins her missionary work, which places her at odds with the priests and the Roman overseers.  By 33 A.D. in Ancient Palestine, word spreads about a Healer who walks amongst the people helping the downtrodden but refusing any gifts; while betrayal and redemption battle to claim their souls.

This is an intriguing coming of age retelling of the Jesus story starring a flawed heroine who has doubts that she is the one to spread the word of the Way to the masses as she has always been the outsider.  The support cast like Judas is shone in different lights than the typical renditions.  Fascinating, fans will enjoy the “truth” of Anna’s journey.

Harriet Klausner

C.C. Coburn

Harlequin American, Mar 6 2012, $5.25

ISBN: 9780373753994

Only having returned home in Spruce Lake, Colorado a week ago,, firefighter Adam O’Malley enters the burning apartment to rescue a an elderly woman and eighteen month old Charlie.  The boy’s three older siblings were taken outside by the babysitter.  However, Adam learns that Molly remains inside.  Though Molly is a dog, Adam goes back in and rescues the canine.  The widow working mom Carly Spencer, a masseuse at the Spruce Lodge Spa, thanks the firefighter who just wants to catch his breath.  His mom offers the apartment over the stables to Carly, her four kids and the dog to the shock of Adam; who happens to be living there.

Adam and Carly are attracted to one another.  However, he has a secret that he concealed from everyone that keeps him distant from relationships while she has doubts about having another firefighter in her life and that of her kids as her late husband Michael was one in San Diego.  When Carly is charged with arson, Adam intercedes.

The latest contemporary romance (see The Sheriff and the Baby and Colorado Christmas) is a warm second chance at love O’Malley drama.  Neither of the lead couple wants to fall in love, but they cannot help themselves as they do.  The two extended families add depth to their romance especially mom who brings humor (and aggravation if you ask Adam) to this wonderful tale.

Harriet Klausner

Trish Milburn

Harlequin American, Mar 6 2012, $5.25

ISBN: 9780373754007

Merline Teague, proprietor of the Vista Hills Guest Ranch in rural Texas, interviews Brooke Vincent for the position of a cook.  Mrs. Teague remarks that the applicant’s résumé is thin, but will give her a trial of cooking for the family.  If that works out she will also cook for the guests who can number upwards of forty.  The food is so good that Merline’s son Simon jokingly proposes.  Brooke Vincent is hired while she laments that Brooke Alder no longer exists.

Another Teague son, Ryan was a loner before he served in the Iraq War; now he is all but a hermit except for his family.  However, he feels more than just attracted to the new cook, Ryan senses a fellow wounded warrior.  Ryan also knows he cannot compete with Simon who is interested in the new employee.  Brooke hopes hiding on the ranch will eventually force publicly squeaky clean lobbyist Chris Franklin to stop stalking her since she no longer resided in Arlington though she misses her family in West Virginia.  However, no one walks out on Franklin who will use any tool including threatening the Teague clan and Brooke’s extended family including her young nieces to force her to return to him.

The latest Teagues of Texas (see The Cowboy’s Secret Son) is a tense romantic suspense starring two hurting souls and a psychopath.  Readers will appreciate love healing the protagonists even as she fears she owes him the truth at the cost of her job, haven and him.  Fans will relish this exciting taut thriller as readers anticipate that Franklin is coming for Brooke.

Harriet Klausner

David J. Schow

Dunne, Feb 14 2012, $26.99

ISBN: 9780312571375

Elias McCabe had sex with his best friend Clavius’ ex-wife Nasja and took pictures of her naked when a man holding a very formidable looking gun enters the photographer’s loft.  Elias considers that Clavius might be annoyed for his banging his mentor’s former spouse, but soon realizes otherwise.  Gun Guy escorts Elias at gunpoint before taking him to meet his teammates Cognac and the Professor, and a dead Dominic Sharps who made the news whenever LAPD was involved.  The photographer’s assignment is to take shots of Sharps seemingly having sex and afterward Elias will leave with ten grand.  However, if he opens his mouth Gun Guy will reuse Sharps’ body bag.

During the shooting, Elias video records the event without Gun Guy knowing what he did.  When Elias finds out what Gun Guy has used the shoot for, he places his video version of the encounter on the Internet where it goes viral and destroys the blackmail scheme.  Raging Gun Guy begins killing those who were involved while seeking Elias, who hides on a New York movie set.  Elias knows flight is impossible from this ruthless maniac so he must fight but a shoot to him is a photo gig not a gun gig.

This is a super satirical noir starring an antihero who is comfortable with shooting porn but not shooting guns.  His adversary Gun Guy is terrific as a violent stranger who gets mad and even.  With a biting mocking of fictional violence and an even more acerbic masticating of the American obsessive quest for the perfect look at any cost, fans will anticipate the High Noon encounter between the porn photographer and the Gun Guy.

Harriet Klausner

Camilla Lackberg

Free Press/Simon and Schuster, Feb 7 2012, $15.00

ISBN: 9781451621778

In Fjallbacka, Sweden, police detective Patrik Hedstrom is on vacation spending time with his eight months pregnant mate Erica when the call comes from Superintendent Mellberg.  A six-years old boy exploring the mouth of the King’s Cleft discovered the corpse of a naked lady.  Patrik arrives in time to get his boss away from contaminating the crime scene.  When Forensics lifts the body, they find the skeletal remains of two more victims.  Mellberg asks Patrik to lead the investigation as his other detectives, Martin lacks experience and Ernst lacks imagination; Martin resents not getting a chance to lead and Erne rages over the Kid getting another case.

Patrik believes the older skeletons are female teens, Siv Lantin and Mona Thernblad, who vanished in 1979.  The autopsies affirm that each victim was tortured in a deliberate simmering manner until death provided relief.  The latest deceased is identified as German Tanja Schmidt.  Time becomes precious when a young girl vanishes without a trace while evidence points to the Hult family.

The keys to this strong Swedish police procedural (see The Ice Princess) are the profound look inside the souls of the key players to learn what motivates each them; including negative incentives and the discerning glimpse into group dynamics when time is running out.  Using flashbacks to 1979 to tell the tale of the Hult evangelical healers who are involved in the present day investigation enhances the overall tension.  Although Erica’s sister Anna’s domestic problems with her ex add to the look at what moves people, this subplot takes away from an otherwise taut Swedish whodunit.

 Harriet Klausner

H. P. Mallory

Bantam, Feb 28 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780345531452

Almost thirty, fortuneteller Jolie Wilkins gave up on dating after the last few losers were deader than the reanimated she has brought back from beyond.  Her self-image is pitiful; however, that was when she was just another mundane human trying to eke out a living.  Her world spun off its axis when Rand the Warlock entered her shop.  Soon afterward, she becomes a witch resurrected from the dead by Mercedes.  Jolie is proclaimed the Queen of the Underworld of vampire, werewolf, fae, and witches; she has no earthly or other plane understanding of why or how it happened except some ties back to 1878 where she almost killed Rand.

Even more confusing for the new royal is Rand the hunk seems to want her.  Throwing her already out of control life further into chaos is Sinjin the vampire who desires her Highness while vowing to protect her.  Not used to one man coveting her let alone two, Jolie cannot make up her mind.  However, Jolie has no time to ponder choosing one as a deadly paranormal species threatens genocide of her subjects even while she begins to learn governance is not a matchbook cover endeavor.

This is an engaging urban fantasy starring a self-deprecating heroine and two hunks who vie for her affection.  The storyline starts off a bit choppy as the backstory (from self-published E-books) is provided.  Once the game is set, Witchful Thinking turns into a wonderful amusing thriller as the paranormal seem real in the Mallory mythos.  Wisenheimer Jolie makes the tale as she struggles with two males wanting her, preventing ethnic cleansing by malevolent mobsters, and learning governance of four conflicted species (like post Tito Yugoslavia).

Harriet Klausner

Karyn Henley

WaterBrook, Mar 13 2012, $9.99

ISBN: 9780307730145

In Camrithia, King Laetham completes the ceremony that makes Trevin a comain military leader.  At the same time, Dregmoorian Prince Varic arrives at the castle with a peace proposal that Laetham considers as a means to end the raids from his neighbor to the east.  Varic offers to marry Princess Melaia, who Trevin loves.  Daughter of a late angel, Melaia tells her father that she will wed Trevin only, but after she obtains the three missing harps that will restore The Wisdom Tree.

Laetham sends Trevin on a mission to find the missing comain; while Melaia asks him to bring back the harps; one of which is possessed by the Dregmoorian Secondborn Benasin.  Trevin loathes leaving her with Varic, the sly treacherous heir to the Dregmoorian throne.  Still he leaves on his missions to prove his worthiness to his beloved Princess and himself.  On his horse Alamarin who once had wings, Trevin’s journey begins when his steed leads him to Eldarra Prince Resarian and the Golden.  As Varic tries to kill him, Trevin’s horrible deeds while working for the Dregmoorian FirstBorn Lord Rejius, haunts him. 

The second Angelaeon Circle thriller (see Breath of Angel) is an exhilarating quest fantasy starring an honorable champion who’s driven by his love for the princess and his obsession to for redemption.  The storyline is action-packed from the moment the vile Varic and the tense Trevin meet and never slows down until the readers learn why the Dregmoorian heir wants the newest Camrithia comain dead.  Though it behooves the audience to read the first tale to better understand the complex Henley mythos, fans will enjoy walking and riding in a realm where the Angelaeon interact with people and often rule.

Harriet Klausner

 Jacqueline E. Luckett 

Grand Central, Jan 25 2012, $14.99

 ISBN: 9780446542999 

Since she was nine years old and found the bluebook, fifty-six years old Nicole-Marie Handy loves all things French though she has never visited France. Her dying best friend Tamara makes Nicole agree to a death bed pledge of going to Paris. While her married lover Clint asks her to wait; as he swears he will leave his wife Eleanor to marry her and then take her to Paris on their honeymoon.  Nicole ignores Clint and travels to Paris. There she locates a photo of her dad lovingly inscribed by him to RubyMae, a woman she never heard of. She begins to investigate what happened in Paris to her dad after WWII had ended.

Rotating perspective between Nicole’s modern day saga and RubyMae’s 1940s-1950s drama, Passing Love is an interesting tale of two women coping with betrayal and failed love yet finding solace in Paris. Character driven by the lead female protagonists, readers will enjoy their similar stories linked by her father though six decades apart.

Harriet Klausner

Josh Dean

It Books, Feb 7 2012, $24.99

ISBN: 9780062020482

Using Jack Australian shepherd and his retinue as a fascinating entrance into the dog show world, Josh Dean writes a delightful look into why so many people invest so much money, emotion and time on these events.  His career starts with Jack appearing to be a future superstar.  Over the year we get to know him and his human team up close and personal as Jack is the ticket to help us on the outside understand what motivates so many people to participate.  This includes the support elements like training, breeding, hairstyling, etc.; as Mr. Dean states that these shows keep some purebred breeds alive.  Occasionally attendees like me see chaos when watching a dog show, but Mr. Dean explains it is very structured and how the lay person can better observe what is going on.  Jack wins first prize as he turns Show Dog: The Charmed Life and Trying Times of a Near-Perfect Purebred into an enjoyable romp.

Harriet Klausner

Jill Shalvis

Harlequin Blaze, Feb 21 2012, $5.25

ISBN: 9780373796731

In Santa Rey, California, Rainey Saunders is the junior sports coordinator at the beleaguered North District Rec Center.  At the same time that Rainey and her BFF Lena run a car wash to raise some funds, on the news the Sacramento Mammoth players and their thirty-four years old coach Mark Diego and the Anaheim Ducks got into a brawl at a seedy bar after the latter team won the Stanley Cup over the former team due to a controversial call.  Lena dates their boss, Mark’s brother Rick’ while Rainey remembers when she was sixteen and offered herself to Mark who rejected his friend’s advances with a life misconduct.

Mark and two of his players arrive at the rec center as the coach and his Ducks’ counterpart make their inane fighters do community service.  Rainey’s seditious heart stops as she knows she still wants the rat, but she never forgave him for the humiliation.  However, as he hangs around coaching the girls’ softball team, he realizes he is in love; she has been in love with him for over a decade.  He plans to score the goal of his life winning the trust of his woman.

This is a charming second chance at love sports romance starring two likable protagonists and a strong support cast especially rec teens at the rec center.  Fans will enjoy this fun tale as Mark prays Rainey will release him from the penalty box so that they can heat the ice with their love.

Harriet Klausner