July Hot Picks

You Guys, it’s so darn hot outside. Texas and I are not compatible in the summer time. I don’t know about you, but when the weather is warm I stay inside and read. I’ve been going through a reading binge the last 48 hours or so where I’ve read about six books. Of course, this has kept me from working on my own books, writing my columns and various other things I should be doing.

To me, summer is about reading. It’s a time to stretch out and lose yourself in someone’s world. And I’m telling you there are no shortage of books to do that with this month.

One of my BFF’s Rosemary Clement Moore has her latest out, Texas Gothic. It may be one of my favorite stories she’s ever written. And she’s written a lot of great ones. This one centers on Amy Goodnight, who comes from a long line of witches, but she just wants to be normal. There is a ghost and a hot cowboy involved. I love this book!

Jocelyn Kelley’s Time Raiders: The Greek Lover is part of a joint project by the RomVets (romance writers who have served or are currently serving in the military). “When I was asked to participate in the time travel series, I decided to set my book in Athens around 400 BC,” Kelley says. “I've always loved Greek mythology. This setting allowed me to bring bits of that into the story, because my hero worships Poseidon. A man's man, who is going to have to work with a very intriguing and sensual 21st century woman to change Athenian history and protect our present.”

I love me some Vicky Dreiling and her latest, How to Seduce a Scoundrel, sounds like great fun. The book features a rather interesting statue of Apollo in the firs scene. “The inspiration for the scene came from a tour I took of Apsley House, Wellington's residence,” Dreiling says. “Inside is a giant, nude statue of Napoleon. Naturally, I made a mental note to use that in a book one day. When the hero’s dodgy aunt arrives in the drawing room, she says to her niece, ‘Louisa, that statue is hideous. If you want a naked man, find one who is breathing.’ Everything is fodder.”

Night Born is Linda Thomas-Sundstrom’s new book. “In this novella, I got to explore artwork from the Renaissance to the Impressionists - a real treat - because Alexander Kent, my main character, is an ancient immortal whose likeness is tracked through time, through museum displayed art, by a Slayer-in- waiting,” says Thomas Sundstrom. “As her mother lays dying by the hand of vampires, Danika Douglas will soon inherit the Slayer title. In finding the face of the local vampire, she'll have to go after him. To prepare myself for writing this, I went to art galleries, libraries, and book stores (what a chore, huh?) and immersed myself with the wonders of art... looking for the face of my immortal. Even though this is a novella, a ‘Bite’ and I couldn't take up precious word count with too many details, I think the mood of the pleasure of all that art comes through.”

In Cynthia Eden’s new release, Never Cry Wolf, it’s finally time for the big, bad wolf to receive a better story ending. Though Cynthia has always been a fan of Little Red Riding Hood, she wanted to see what would happen when a wolf shifter got to take charge (and not just be hunted like the poor beast from the fairy tale). So, this time...it's the wolf’s game. And anyone who gets in the way of LA Alpha Luca Simone will learn why it pays to be afraid of the big, bad wolf.

Kate Douglas’ Wolf 12 is the 21st story in her Kensington Aphrodisia series. “That is you if you count all the novellas in the Sexy Beast and Wild Nights anthologies,” she says. “I probably shouldn’t have written them in such a tightly connected manner, but I quickly discovered that I think in a very linear fashion, which means the series reads as a twenty-one book soap opera with lots of sex, even more story and many ongoing plot threads. All of them are tied up in the final book, which will, I hope, leave readers with a good and hopeful feeling about my Chanku shape shifters.”