Welcome back! Hope you´ve all been reading. I have done lots of reading this week, including Nora Roberts´s latest as well as two others for you, all currently available.

I hate to gush, but Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts (Jove) is just wonderful. This is the second in her Irish trilogy, featuring Shawn Gallagher, a dreamer and musician who´s, as Brenna O´Toole would say, a bit slow to move. This couple makes a deal that gets more complicated as they go along, but nothing unbelievable. These characters are so real, so endearing, that you can´t help but root for them. The sense of place makes you feel as though you´re truly in Ireland with them, and the troubles this pair faces are very realistic. Of Cupid´s five arrows, this one gets four and a half. Definitely a keeper for me. But now I´ve got to wait for the third book!

The second book I read this week is "Everything in Its Time" by Dee Davis (Jove Time Passages). Katherine St. Clair has returned to the castle in Scotland where she spent one night with the love of her life, Iain Mackintosh--over 500 years in the past--determined to find her way back to him. Much as I love time travels (and Scotland), and good as this story was otherwise, I really have a problem with traveling back and forth, and back and forth. And in this one, not only does Katherine go, but so does her brother. That pulls me right out of the story. There´s a sweet secondary romance for her brother, as well as a truly nasty bad guy and treacherous relatives added to the mix here. This one was a nice enough way to pass the afternoon, except for that one thing, and has earned two and a half of Cupid´s arrows.

The third book this week is "Harper´s Moon" by Suzanne Judson (Berkley). This is another one with characters so real you can´t help but love them. Annie Taylor is on the run, looking for a safe place to hide from her past. Jed Harper is a man who won´t settle down. When they meet in his small hometown, both are surprised by the intensity of their emotions. As is the case in most small towns, there´s a cast of characters including family and friends, both old and new, and then there´s Annie´s past, waiting to catch up to her. After reading this, I can almost see the little town of Burnsville, North Carolina, and Annie´s little house. This was a really delightful book. I´m giving it four of Cupid´s arrows.