Great Books to Savor in May

One of my favorite people in the world is Juliet Burns, who also writes at Jillian Burns. She was one of the first to welcome me into the world of romance, and I’ve been a fan of hers for forever. She has a new Harlequin Blaze out this month, Let It Ride, under Jillian Burns. I downloaded it onto my Kindle and let me tell you, this is one yummy book! Captain Cole Jackson has been injured, but he wants to prove he still has what it takes to woo the women. He sets his sights on a Keno girl Jordan Brenner, while he and his friends are having fun in Vegas. Once he sleeps with Jordan, he realizes it’s not going to be the one nightstand he expected.

"I decided I needed to visit Las Vegas to properly 'research' my setting for
this book," Burns says. "My husband and I took a 3-day vacation to Sin City and
managed to take in three shows (all topless), and see the big tourists sights.
Although we didn’t stay at the MGM Grand, I seriously and diligently studied
all the hotel Keno Girl/waitress uniforms plus I got a feel for the lobby,
nightclubs and bars. But my husband took his research assistant job very
seriously and diligently studied the Keno Girl/Waitress uniforms to see which
ones showed the most cleavage. His results? The Paris Hotel. Ah the French.
C’est la Vie!

The lovely Nancy Haddock’s Last Vampire Standing is also out this month. In this one Cesca has to deal with Jo-Jo the Jester, a budding stand-up comic, who needs sanctuary. Unfortunately a psychotic vampire with a murderous agenda has followed Jo-Jo to Florida putting everyone close to Cesca in danger. "Jo-Jo came to me while I was brainstorming with a friend," Haddock says. "I figured after a surfing vampire character, a wannabe comic would be a scream to write. His interactions with Cesca had me on the floor a few times." "I was in the process of writing Holding Her Own, set in New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina hit," says Marie Nicole Ryan. "I had to put it aside for months before I had the heart to finish this story, but I’m so glad I did. My undercover FBI agents definitely deserved their happy ending." Jo Davis’ Under Fire is the second installment in her Firefighters of Station Five series. In this one Zack Knight fights fires and saves lives, but he’s burned out. That is until he rescues sharp-tongued exotic dancer Corrine Shannon, who sends the normally shy firefighter out of control. I have to say it... These books are sizzling! "I'm a firm believer that ideas lurk in everyday events, corners and discoveries," says Ramona Richards, the author of The Taking of Carly Bradford. "In the case of my new release, I passed over a stream on the morning walk I took every day. One day, a single white sandal lay next to the stream. The first question was, 'Whose is it?' The second, 'Why did she lose it?' set off a series of questions involving kidnapping and death. By the time I got home I had the basic plot." I love me some knights and Karin Tabke’s has buckets of them in The Blood Sword Legacy. In Master of Craving Most of England has submitted to King William, but Wales refuses to yield. His trusted Blood Swords are unable to prevail, and while Stefan de Valrey is left unconscious on the battlefield, his sworn brothers are captured. Despite terrible injuries, Stefan vows to liberate them. Even rescuing a delectably beautiful—and naked—maiden from rape cannot deter him, for the silver-eyed Arianrhod is a Welsh princess, a hostage Stefan can exchange for his brothers . . . so long as Arian remains as pure as when he met her. But that is a constraint Stefan finds harder to honor with every passing day. Ellen Hartman's May Superromance, The Boyfriend's Back, is a classic lovers reunited story with a not-quite- secret baby plot thrown in. JT McNulty left his hometown fifteen years ago when his high school sweetheart, Hailey Maddox, turned down his proposal. When JT turns up for his mother's funeral and then decides to stay and take care of his injured dad, Hailey's daughter seizes the opportunity to meet the man she thinks is her father. The eBook edition available on eHarlequin includes bonus content: a 14-page prequel set when the characters were in high school and a sneak peek at Plan B: Boyfriend, a December release featuring JT's younger brother, Charlie McNulty. Regency fans are in for a treat with Janis Susan May's The Fair Amazon, Life has been cruel to Georgina Montcalm. Her family is dead, her family estate now belongs to an unknown distant cousin and her longtime love and unofficial fiance returns home from the wars to inform her he has fallen in love with another. As if that were not enough, Georgina earns the unwelcome reputation for being fast after her quickwitted rescue of a wealthy young man of fashion from a highwayman. Recalled to a realization of her responsibilities, Georgina's godmother brings Georgina to London, where to the surprise of all she becomes the rage. As she becomes a most unusual Toast of the Town, several young men vie for Georgina's hand; can she negotiate the tricky ways of Society and find her true love? Other noted books to check out this month... Sharon Sala has a lovely story in the Mother’s Day anthology A Mother's Heart. Her story is The Promise. Some of the other authors in the anthology include Isabel Sharpe and Linda Cardillo. Another anthology, Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond features several authors including Susan Wiggs, Michelle Richmond, Marisa de los Santos and Leslie Morgan Steiner. Until next time... Candy

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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, Charmed & Deadly, and Like A Charm. Her latest book The Demon King and I 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