Hello, and welcome back! I hope all our U.S. readers had a good holiday weekend and didn't shop till they dropped among the wild crowds at the malls. I actually worked most of the weekend, so no shopping for me.

For those of you who're subscribed to the newsletter, Love Notes, you'll remember that I mentioned last time that I was putting together a booksigning for a small group. That is official now. On Saturday, December 10, 2005 at 12:30 p.m to 2:30 p.m, at the Waldenbooks located in Park City Center, Lancaster, PA, five authors will be joining us for a signing. Susan Meier, author of this month's Snowbound Baby; Kathy Love, author of Fangs for the Memories; and Joy Nash, author of Celtic Fire will be joining new fantasy author Maria V. Snyder, author of Poison Study and children's author Linda Oatman High, authof of The Last Chimney of Christmas Eve to sign books and meet with readers. I'm thrilled to say we have them all, and I hope any of you who're in the area will stop by to see them.

And, in the meantime, I have two new romantic suspense novels to share with you all.

Fade the Heat (LoveSpell) by Colleen Thompson is an early December release, available now. Firefighter Reagan Hurley meets up with an old childhood buddy, Dr. Jack Montoya, when she's on a quest to get her job back. There's a lot going on in this one, including Reagan's stubborn determination to get her job back any way she can, including by pushing legal barriers. That tends to make me wonder about her in other areas. I didn't hate this one, but I didn't love it either. Reagan's doggedness makes her not the most likeable heroine I've read in a while, and it tends to bleed over into other areas of her life. Not a keeper for me, but I'm sure someone will disagree. I'm giving this one two and a half of Cupid's five arrows.

Dead Reckoning (Berkley) by Linda Castillo is next, with ADA Kate Megason about to take on a career-making case. Saddled with the prickly investigator Frank Matrone, she's game. But her investigation into the murders causes her own deep, dark secret to be unearthed by whoever is trying to get her off the case. Ms. Castillo's books have been hit or miss for me in the past. This one veers more sharply into straight suspense than some of her previous tales, and Megan's sudden leap into love wasn't convincing to me here. As a suspense novel, I liked this one fine, but as romantic suspense, not so much. I'm giving this one three arrows.

Until next time, happy reading!