Daisy Flattery has been working as an artist, after leaving her job as a teacher, and not having a great deal of luck keeping her head above water financially when her upstairs neighbor needs a fiance for the weekend.


Linc Blaise is interviewing for a position in the History Department at Prescott College and in a moment of panic invented a fiance. And now he needs to find a suitable woman to help him convince the powers that be that he's the right man for the job.

But Linc think Daisy is flighty and says the first thing that comes out of her mouth. His taste runs to trim blonds who fit in with his chrome and black furniture and track lighting. Daisy's life is mismatched and comfortable and her art is uncomfortable for a lot of people but she works hard to make sure she doesn't embarrass Linc during his interview.

In fact, everyone loves Daisy and when Linc shows up in the fall without her it's a problem. His intention was to create a new story about how they broke up but the department chair sends him to go get her so he does. Linc convinces Daisy to spend the academic year married to him - he wins by keeping his job and she wins by being able to paint and not worry about the bills. Each has some concern about what this says about their priorities and the growing attraction building between them.


One thing Linc didn't count on was everyone liking Daisy so much or Daisy becoming such an integral part of life in the community. The students he tutors start coming to his house even when he's not there, faculty he works with do the same, and everyone loves Daisy - including the dog she adopts as soon as she gets to town.


True to other Crusie stories there are some wonderfully funny moments but this story also has some unexpectedly touching experiences between the two main characters. This may not be a new Crusie - it's a re-release from Bantam - but it's new to me and may be new to many of you. One thing I know about it though is that you won't be disappointed.

I loved Julie and Julia and was excited to find out that she'd written another book, however this is not the kinder/ gentler Julie who cooked her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This is a memoir of a woman who's having an affair, who's husband knows she's cheating on him, who is given permission to do the same and who seem to be living separate lives within the same space.

While this is going on Julie decides to take on an apprenticeship as a butcher. You should know - I don't have the love of raw meat that Julie Powell does. In fact, I really dislike raw meat and there's a lot of talk about breaking down animals. I found it intriguing how this discussion mirrored the breaking down of her relationships. Not unintentional, of course.

I usually fly through books but this one has taken me nearly two months. It's captivating but disturbing and even though there's a satisfying ending I'm not sure you can exactly call it happy.

Jack Winters is afraid that he's going crazy and knowing his family's history that means the Arcane Society will be after him to kill him. The only help is to find the lamp that his great-great-whatever forge centuries ago and a dreamlight reader to reverse the effects of whatever is going on with him.

When Jack walks into Chloe Harper's office she knows that he's different and that he has a very strong talent. When she brushes up against where his hand touched her desk earlier she also learns that he'd killed someone. Amazingly enough she believes his story and jumps in to help him find the lamp he needs.

They head off to Vegas and a happen to stay one step ahead of the bad guys, most of the time, learning more about each other, the attraction they feel and this mysterious extra talent that Jack seems to have developed. Eventually, they contact J&J to set things straight and, of course, help take out a few more Nightshade operatives.

While this Arcane Society novel stands alone, and is the first in the Dreamlight Trilogy, if you've been following the series you'll enjoy that several characters from previous stories make a cameo appearance.

Sydney Kirkpatrick's father was killed in a robbery gone bad 20 years ago and now that the man responsible is days away from being executed she drives to San Quentin to tell him how he ruined her life. But she learns that the kid who robbed her father actually knew him and wasn't just after his money.

Sydney uses her time between doing forensic sketches as an FBI agent to research back through her father's case to try to figure out who might have actually killed him. In the mean time, she learns that someone has put out a hit on her.

Trying to bring her past into her present, while keeping her mother's new family safe, takes Sydney off of her usual straight-and-narrow path. Her skills as a forensic artist are invaluable when it comes to putting all the pieces together in a story that'll keep you guessing right up until the end.

Liz Monahan was having a nice weekend getaway with her current boyfriend until she began to pick up the tell-tale signs that he was married. This always happened to her and it really pissed her off. Flustered, she watched him get off the elevator for his room and then goes to her own. As she walks in she sees a dead guy in the bathroom and a hitman throws her on the bed. Luckily the hitman has a soft spot for six foot tall redheads and lets her overpower him so she can get away.

Agent Harper isn't having a very good day. His partner killed their informant. Then a civilian walks in on his clean up. After he lets her go he knows he has to get going fast before security comes check. His partner leaves him hanging and when he gets back to The Agency they are not happy. Especially, when evidence comes along that points to his partners death. He begins to connect the dots and knows that they're going to pin the screw up on him so he bails out the window of his office, uses his 'ready' bag and becomes "Bob Anderson" so he can go back to the last place his partner was on assignment and find out what went wrong.

The first thing that happens is that he runs into Liz, who is the reference librarian for a pharmaceutical company that "Bob" now works for as an accountant. She freaks out runs right into her, now ex-, boyfriend. Yep, she kicked him out when he didn't believe that she'd seen a dead guy and the hitman and by the time she gets home "Bob" has broken into her house and searched for clues to connect her to the theft and sale of extremely dangerous, pharmacological superbugs.

While "Bob" and Liz are on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys so they can stop a biological pandemic from happening there are some laugh out loud moments. First, there's the running discussion of Liz's tattoo and what it means. Then there are the random calls from her mom. Also, there's the budding chemistry that builds and builds as the two get to know each other better as they run for their lives and solve the crisis before the end of the world as we know it.

Gabriel McQueen arrives home to Maine to visit his young son and parents just in time for a major ice storm to blow into town. His dad, who's the town sheriff, asks him to go up the Helton place to check on Lolly Helton who is in town to ready the family's house for sale.

Gabriel and Lolly had a love hate relationship when they were in high school based on the fact that each had the hots for each other but didn't know how to express it. You know, typical high school stuff.


When Lolly is threatened by meth addicts that invade her home Gabriel helps her escape and gives her more than just an extra hand against the hoped up addicts. He gives her a piece of his heart. Check out this holiday romantic suspense novel for a good happily ever after.

Harper Connelly has a special gift. Ever since she was struck by lightning as a teenager she's been able to find dead people. On this trip back to Texas to see their sisters, Harper and Tolliver are pushed back into the past when they learn that Tolliver's father has been released from prison and he's seeking forgiveness now that he's clean and sober.

Harper and Tolliver, who are not related by blood but grew up together, are finding it a challenge to be seen as a couple now and the only people happy for them are their little sisters who just want to be be able to wear long dresses to a wedding.
But in the process of getting reaquainted with their family some disturbing realizations come to light about the long ago abduction, and probable murder, of Harper's older sister Cameron. During Tolliver's recuperation from a gun shot wound they drive back to the scene of Cameron's abduction, see the scene with eyes of adults and learn that their current case and the lives of their family are most assuredly interwined.