Celebrate the holidays with three marvelous stories from four best-selling authors. Angel Lane returns readers to Sheila Roberts’ much-loved community of Heart Lake while Linda Howard’s Ice adds the thrill and chill of danger to a reunion tale of high school friends. Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter combine their talents to transport readers to paranormal worlds populated with vampires, valkyries and handsome alien warriors in Deep Kiss of Winter.
Take a well-deserved break from gift shopping and settle into your favorite chair with Angel Lane. Whether you’ve enjoyed earlier visits to the town of Heart Lake or you’ve only recently discovered Sheila Roberts’ charming books, you’re in for a treat with the latest title from this talented author. Angel Lane features three interesting, talented and warm women, each of whom has her own reasons for feeling ambivalent about the upcoming holiday celebrations.
Jaime is a successful chocolatier who’s recovering from a bad marriage; bakery owner Sarah is an empty-nested grandmother struggling to fill the emotional hole left in her life after her grandchildren move far away. Their friend Emma is fighting to keep her quilt shop afloat while wishing destiny would hurry up and deliver her long overdue, one-and-only love. When Emma starts a movement to encourage the town’s residents to commit random acts of kindness, Jaime and Sarah agree to help. None of the women could have foreseen the impact the plan to “put the heart back in Heart Lake” would have on their small town—or their own lives. Roberts’ trademark humor and memorable characters wrestling with real-life issues add up to a novel that will make readers smile and wish for more.
Those who love a bit of danger with their romance are in for a few shivers while reading Ice, Linda Howard’s tale of romantic suspense. During an ice storm in wintry Maine, Gabriel McQueen races against time to bring Lolly Helton down from her mountain home to the safety of town. But unfortunately, the dangerous weather isn’t the only threat to their lives. A pair of drug addicts are chasing them, and it’s anyone’s guess whether Gabe and Lolly will freeze to death or be shot in the ice-coated woods. They’re determined to survive, even if it means their stalkers have to die. Howard does a stellar job of turning up the heat between Gabe and Lolly despite the icy-cold setting in this dangerous tale of high school friends rediscovering the sparks that once drew them together.
For a change of pace, ask Santa to wrap up your own personal copy of Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter. These two acclaimed paranormal romance authors join forces to bring readers two stories in this sizzling holiday collection.
An Ice Queen and a vampire warrior come together in Cole’s “Untouchable.” Daniela (Danii) is a valykrie who is part ice fey, and her cold skin will freeze anyone who touches her. Centuries-old and incredibly powerful, vampire Murdoch Wroth knows at first sight that Danii is his mate, but even his phenomenal physical and mental strength is stymied by her body’s ability to prevent contact. While desire ratchets higher with each second, Murdoch and Danii’s sexual frustration is matched only by the danger that threatens their very lives. Fans of Cole’s “Immortals After Dark” series will love this story and its connection to prior books, while readers new to the author’s valkyries and vampires will surely be hooked by this addition in the popular paranormal series.
Showalter’s “Tempt Me Eternally” stars a woman who can change her features and shape to assume any identity and a man from another world. Aleaha Love’s adopted persona as a government agent has her crossing paths with Breean, commander of a group of interplanetary travelers determined to build new lives on Earth. The two are clearly made for each other, but they’re on opposite sides of a war . . . or are they? With deception and danger all about them, the two will have to combine forces if they’re to survive and become life mates. Showalter has a reputation for writing hot and steamy paranormal romance, and she doesn’t disappoint in this tale of otherworldly adventure.
Lois Dyer writes from Port Orchard, Washington
