I can’t believe summer is upon us. Thankfully, we’ll have lots to read while we
hang in the air conditioning. I can’t believe all the great books rolling out
over the next few months.
Here’s a short list of what’s ahead:
I "heart" Rachel
Caine. Her fourth book in the Morganville Vampire series is called Feast of Fools. Claire
Danvers has lot more to worry about than matriculation -- including enemies who
are allergic to daylight and have a distressing taste for blood. The town is
run by vampires and Claire and her housemates Eve, Michael and Shane, find
themselves in the middle of a power struggle between the vamps who want to
coexist with humanity and the really scary ones who don’t. "I was hesitant to
do a story with vampires for the young adult market, especially post
the ‘Twilight’ phenomenon," says Caine. "But the idea of Morganville itself
seemed really interesting to me. I wanted to bring something new to the genre,
so there are lots of twists and turns in Morganville’s story -- and only some of
them are the fault of the vampires.
The Trouble with
Moonlight by Donna
MacMeans sounds right up my alley. In the midst of a moonlit safe-cracking
mission, British spy James Locke witnesses a ruby necklace spirited away as if
by conjurer's trick. Following the jewels leads him to Lusinda Havershaw,
who's inherited the talent of turning invisible in moonlight -- at least, the
parts of her that are unclothed. Locke trains Lusinda in espionage, even while
he finds her close proximity bewitchingly distracting.
Alyson Noel's new
release Cruel Summer
is about a young woman who has undergone a major transformation. She’s shed her
nerdy image and she’s looking forward to summer parties and possible hook-ups
with her favorite hunk. Unfortunately, her plans go awry when her parents send
her away to Greece to stay with her crazy aunt. The young girl is stranded on
an island with no malls, no cell phone reception and an aunt who talks to
plants. When she meets a handsome stranger, she decides maybe the island isn’t
so bad after all, and the life she left behind isn’t at all what she really
wanted.
On the other end of the spectrum is The Art of Desire by Cherie Feather. This is one sexy book. "I used to get censored by
my editors because my love scenes were too graphic," says Feather. "When the
erotica subgenre exploded, it seemed inevitable that I become a part of it. The Art of Desire is my
first really, really sexy book. No censorship. No holds barred. But in spite of
the sensuality, I wanted it to be highly romantic and deeply emotional, too."
Karin Tabke has a new
historical, Master of
Surrender, out this month. It’s the first in her new Blood Sword Legacy
series. Bound by a brotherhood forged in the hell of a Saracen prison, eight
Blood Swords--mercenary knights for William the Conqueror--set out to claim
their legacies the only way they can: by right of arms, by right of victory, by
rite of conquest.
The idea for Linda
Warren's new release Always A Mother came to her from a conversation she overheard in
a beauty shop. "The stylist was telling another client about a friend who was
40 and pregnant," says Warren. "The woman had grown children and was returning
to college. She packed a bag and left and everyone was worried about where
she’d gone. Now you can read my take on that snippet of gossip."
Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist, who has
interviewed just about every celebrity there is in Hollywood and written
thousands of articles. She is the author of the Charmed & Dangerous
series including Charmed & ReadyCharmed & Dangerous and
Charmed &
Deadly. Her latest book Like A Charm" is
available now!
Her non-fiction prose includes Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy,
and essays in Alias Assumed: Sex, Lies and SD-6, and Five Seasons of
Angel. She's also the entertainment critic providing the latest on TV, film
and celebs for the radio station 96.3 KSCS. And she's the managing editor for
FYI Television.
