It’s not often that I’ll open a book up and while I’m reading find myself literally in my backyard, but with Jayne Denker’s Down on Love, that’s the situation I’m in. Her Catskill Mountain hometown of Marsden seemed SOOO familiar that at one point when I was making a run to the general store I thought I might bump into George. Denker captured this area perfectly and while the people here are not quite as nosy as George’s neighbors, somehow there is some truth to that description as well.

With that in mind how could I not love Down …

For anyone (like me) who cannot wait till Striking Distance, book six of Pamela Clare’s I-Team series is released on 5 Nov 2013, having the erotic prequel, First Strike available is rather an illicit thrill. In her introduction, Clare notes that the erotic focus in this novella steps beyond what she usually writes in her books, but it serves her characters and readers well.

In Dubai, where dress, public affection or contretemps can land you in prison, television’s sexy wartime frontline reporter Laura Nilsson and Navy SEAL Javier Corbray meet at dinner and spend a weekend having sex. But …

A very good friend, whom I trust implicitly when it comes to book recommendations, told me I had to read Beth Ciotta’s Cupcake Lovers novels as I’d fall in love with her writing and the town of Sugar Creek, Vermont. Well, when I heard that, I quickly started to devour the novels – and just like cupcakes, they’re delicious, addictive, and absolutely perfect. I became hooked, so in this review, I’ll focus on book three, Anything But Love (pub date: 1 Oct 2013) and the holiday novella, book three point five, Some Kind of Wonderful (pub date: 22 Oct 2013).…

May I say that the greatest benefit to reviewing is having the chance to be introduced to so many wonderful authors. I confess, I read a lot, so it still surprises me to discover authors and series I feel I should have known, because they are just so good.

Case in point (and gee, I wish it were a case of Frankie’s wine) is Autumn in the Vineyard, book three in Marina Adair’s St. Helena Vineyard novels. Set in the beautiful Napa Valley, St. Helena is a town dominated by two vineyard families – the Baudoins and the DeLucas …

For anyone who’s experienced the loss of a parent, the grief can be overwhelming. Tangled together are “what if’s,” “could have’s,” “should have’s,” as well as the realization that nothing ever will be the same. That familiar voice will not be able to provide comforting words nor will those arms be able to shelter you in a hug that keeps all the scary things away. But when grief hits, sometimes we’re lucky enough to have other loved ones around who can offer comfort and share the burden of loss.

Delectable, Adrianne Lee‘s first book in her Big Sky …