Sookie's Coming and More Summer Hits on the Shelves!

On September 7, fans will finally get a chance to see HBO’s version of True Blood, which is based on the popular "Dead" series from Charlaine Harris. I’ve seen the first two episodes, and while I can’t review it until closer to the debut, I can tell you that I’m already a fan. It is a little sexier than I remember, but I plan on going back and reading the series. I’ll have the full run down for you next month.

Beth Cornelison has a new one out, Duty to Protect. It’s about a counselor, Ginny, who helps abused women. A client’s husband turns violent against Ginny, and she must protect the women and children in her care, as well as fight for her own life. Riley Sinclair is a firefighter who responds to the call of burning offices and ends up saving Ginny’s life. He vows no one is ever going to hurt her again.

"Writer’s often talk about characters who become real and tell the author how to write them," says Cornelison. "That was Ginny. She took on a life of her own and threatened to steal the show at times when I first introduced her in another book. By the time I finished Danger At Her Door I was itching to write Ginny’s story."

Then You Hide is Roxanne St. Claire’s new romantic suspense. "This one takes place in the steamy Caribbean," St. Claire says. "Wade Corell hunts down a woman who doesn’t want to be found. They strike a shaky bargain to get what they need, but it looks like that negotiation could cost them their hearts and their lives."

We all know my buddy Gena Showalter is hot stuff, but this new series of her oh, baby! The latest is Darkest Pleasure and it’s about Reyes, the demon of pain. "I wanted to write this book because there is something so fascinating to me about a man who can only feel pleasure when he is in pain," she says. "I had to know what kind of woman could ease his torment, giving him what he needs, what he secretly desires, and healing wounds he didn’t even know he had."

Dragon Wytch is the latest from Yasmine Galenorn’s D’Artigo sisters’ series. "In Dragon Wytch, I’m opening up a whole new series story arc—a couple, actually, but only one will be obvious at this point. The book is a leap in both tension and strength for the sisters—they’ve been through round one, so to speak—now they find out what happens when the battle doesn’t always turn out the way they hope it will. And Camille finds out just what makes a dragon tick. Writing the Camille-Smoky scenes was some of the most fun I’ve had through these books—and they’re all fun."

Alexis Morgan says she couldn’t resist the idea of a 1,000 year-old Viking, who drives a 1940 Packard through the mountains of Washington State in her new release Dark Warrior Unleashed. "His long life of serving his people has left him isolated and merely existing from day to day," says Morgan. "But then the heroine entices him out onto the dance floor at her favorite club, and he finds he hasn’t forgotten how to really live after all."

In Colleen Thompson’s seventh novel, Triple Exposure, she says the story took her to new heights. "To research the story of a photographer and pilot acquitted of murder, I took several glider flights," says Thompson, "including a memorable one over the setting of beautiful Marfa in West Texas."

Janice Maynard’s latest is By Appointment Only. "I started this book as a sexy, fun romp in the Florida sun," says Maynard. "But my minor characters, along with a yummy hero and his stubborn heroine, took the story in a new direction. It’s still ultra sexy and has a lot of humor, but I ended up delving into some very serious stuff about the difficulty of maintaining a long-term relationship."

Jasmine Haynes first introduced the character Trinity in The Fortune Hunter, "and as I was writing her, I discovered that I needed to see what made her tick," says the author of the new book Show and Tell. "Even as a writer sometimes our characters surprise us, and that’s what Trinity Green did for me."

Until next month...Candy

---

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 & Ready Charmed & 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.

You can visit Candy daily at her blog or her website