Book Gibberish

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.

-- Barbara Tuchman

I received a packet from Gail W.: Debra Webb's Striking Distance, along with two surprises: Lori Handeland's Hunter's Moon and Anne Stuart's One More Valentine. I was surprised to discover that Handeland's werewolf romance is in first person POV. Has anyone tried her Moon series? A couple of days ago while I was working in London, my winning prize from Suzanne McMinn, Weekend in Paradise made its way to my home safely. Thanks, Suzanne! I'm too lazy to gather to list books that I bought last two weeks. Maybe I'll get off my arse and do the job tomorrow. :) What's on the Paranormal Romance front? Shana Abé's historical romance The Smoke Thief will be out this September and in hardback. I have no idea what the story is about, but the title is certainly an eye-catcher. For a change! :D I think this is her first hardback? First three vampire romances of Susan Sizemore's Primes series - I Burn For You, I Thirst For You, and I Hunger For You - will be reissued this September as a 3-in-1, Crave the Night, making it a whopping 800-page book. This is for readers of romantic comedy author MaryJanice Davidson's Undead series: this July there will be a new Undead book - Undead and Unappreciated, which will be published in hardback. I predict there will be an uproar over that little hardback thing. Does anyone have any info on Mary Beth Bass's Follow Me? It's due out this May. By the look of it, it's her debut at Love Spell. Out this month, Kate Brallier's contemporary fantasy novel Seal Island:

Cecil Hargrave lives in a cramped apartment in New York City, hates her job, and has no close friends. She yearns for something more, but what? When Cecil inherits a beachfront house and a thriving business on picturesque Seal Island in Maine, she jumps at the opportunity to kickstart her life, despite her reservations about moving to New England. But even if stereotypes hold true and New Englanders are standoffish, she'll have a new career and a gorgeous home. Much to her delight and surprise, Cecil settles rapidly into small-town life. She makes real friends, plays with the seals who live on the beach outside her house, and meets two very different men. Tom, a darkly sexy novelist, has returned to his hometown to write. He and Cecil hit it off almost immediately, and their chemistry is explosive -- but Cecil can't seem to stay away from the handsome drifter, Ronan, despite his secretive ways. It's like she's under a spell...

Am I the only one whose eyebrows rose high enough to hit the skyline over the heroine's name? Anyhow, in my current Amazon.co.uk basket:

• No Way Out - Michele Albert [action romance/romantic suspense]
• Mr. Impossible - Loretta Chase [historical romance / I'm really chomping for it since I learnt that it takes place in early Victorian Egypt]
• Before I Wake - Anne Frasier [mystery]
• Finders Keepers - Linnea Sinclair [futuristic romance]
• Windwalker - Natasha Mostert [not sure what is it, but it's a Tor Romance]

Until then, I'm reading [or rather, trying to read] Andrew Martin's The Necropolis Railway, which is basically a murder mystery potboiler set in and around Edwardian London’s steamy, sooty, grimy Waterloo station. I'm struggling because there is a few info chunks about old trains and those old days of the English railway system. It's a must for fans of that sort, but for the likes of me? Let me put this way, I might throw it over to read Debra Webb's Striking Distance. Be good, be bad & be safe.