February, the time our thoughts turn to roses, chocolate, and true love. Sadly, this month is also the time when so many of us fall prey to the various colds, flus, and tummy bugs circulating in our closed-up homes and workspaces.
Feeling rotten is not fun, but if you’re sick enough to get away with pampering yourself, bundling up with a warm drink and a good book or audiobook may just make your malaise more bearable. And what better way to forget the world and celebrate the month of February than with a new J.D. Robb book? BONDED IN DEATH, number sixty in the series (!!), is an unusually poignant volume that among other delights, lets us better understand and love Summerset, Roarke’s butler/father figure and usually Eve’s nemesis. It turns out Summerset had a more complicated youth than we knew, and the people he fought together with during the Urban Wars have remained bonded in friendship. When one of them is murdered, the group comes together to launch their own search for justice even as Eve searches for the killer. I always enjoy J.D. Robb’s books, but this one was especially touching.
Author Jewel E. Ann has been writing and building up a devoted following for several years, but I somehow only recently stumbled upon one of her books. One was not enough, however! I devoured TRANSCEND, and the moment I finished, I had to dive right into EPOCH. This “duet” tells the story of a widowed father to a newborn, Nathaniel, who hires a young nanny named Swayze. Curiously, she seems to know things about him no stranger could, and gradually he comes to believe she is the reincarnation of his childhood best friend and later girlfriend, who died when they were both fifteen. Swayze can’t offer a better explanation, and neither can her contemporary boyfriend whom she loves passionately. But the more time Swayze and Nathaniel spend together, the tighter their bond becomes—or returns—leaving Swayze town between two good, loving men. The author does a marvelous job of keeping the reader spellbound and ultimately delivers a most satisfying conclusion. I can’t wait to read more of her work.
My attention was also riveted by the touching historical novel THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA, by Patti Callahan Henry. Set in the early 1960s, it tells the backstory of Hazel, who was evacuated from London during the Blitz with her younger sister, Flora. The family life they settled into was idyllic, but Flora was young and confused, so Hazel comforted her with a tale of a made-up land. Tragically, a year into their stay, Flora disappeared and was believed drowned in the river. Hazel’s heart broke, she went back to live with her mother and suffered the horrors of the war, and she severed her connection to the family who had taken her in and made both girls feel loved and cherished. Years later Hazel comes upon a published American children’s book that tells the very story she created for her sister. This is a beautiful novel filled with characters and historical details that make you forget you’re not right there with them trying to unravel a most perplexing puzzle.
And not to bury the lead, but ONYX STORM hit the bookstores since I last wrote, and Rebecca Yarros has done it again. I pre-ordered the book, of course, but I was so eager to catch up with Violet’s adventures that I devoured the audiobook (fantastically narrated, of course) in record time, keeping my earbuds in non-stop and ignoring my family entirely. (Fun life hack: snow shoveling becomes far less arduous when listening to a fantastic book!) No, you cannot start with this third volume, but if you haven’t yet begun the Empyrean series, do so! Yes, ONYX STORM ends on another cliff hanger, and yes, I kept trying to make my phone play more even as the story ended, but this book was amazing. Rebecca Yarros is truly a wonder.
Finally, the Christmas holidays are well-behind us, but I read and fell in love with THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR by Ally Carter. This fun, romantic book is a witty and engaging account of two antagonistic mystery writers brought together under peculiar circumstances and then forced to work in tandem to save a venerated doyenne of the genre from villainous gold-diggers. I loved every minute of it and have added other titles by this talented author to my to-be-read mountain.
May the waning days of February be healthy and happy, and if you have a few free minutes, check out my story “Second Sunrise” in the wonderful charity anthology LOVE AT DAWN before it’s gone forever.
Meg's friends during her high school years all expected her romance novels to hit the shelves decades ago, but she foolishly allowed "serious pursuits" to get in her way. Now that her beloved children can feed, clothe, and most importantly, support themselves, she's free to turn her attention to her first passion - putting words to paper that capture your attention and make your heart sing in quiet joy. Her stories tell most frequently of second chances--in life, love, and sometimes even at rediscovering a soul-mate from a previous life.
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