Hello, and welcome back! I hope you're not all suffering from this same heat and humidity as we've got here in the east, but the weather map I saw this morning indicated that many of you are. You have my condolences. But I'm hoping you're all spending some time in a nice cool spot with some good reading material. Of course the choices I have for you this week won't do anything to help you cool off. Indeed, they'll have just the opposite effect, I'm afraid, but they're worth it.

A while back, I shared Patricia Rice's "Merely Magic" with you. This week, I have the next book (and hopefully there'll be plenty more!) in the Malcolm-Ives series, Must Be Magic (Signet). The Malcolm woman this time is Leila, the odd duck in this family of magically gifted women, who has no magical talent; and her Ives man is Dunstan, accused of murdering his cheating wife. I absolutely love this story. Leila is a strong woman, and while she works on developing her own talent, she only grows stronger. Dunstan doesn't remember if he killed his wife or not, but he's not interested in involving anyone else in the mess of his life, not even his son, whose appearance early on throws a wrench into his plans. Not only are these believable, enjoyable characters, but, whew! The chemistry between them will singe your fingertips on the pages. Of Cupid's five arrows, this one's earned four and a half. I hope Ms. Rice is working on, or at least planning, more Malcolm-Ives romances!

The other book I have for you this week is the anthology With Love (Berkley), with novellas from Linda Lael Miller, Kristin Hannah and Jennifer Blake. All three have been in previous novellas, but for new fans of any of these authors, this is your chance to get them. While I enjoyed Jennifer Blake's "Pieces of Dreams" with an about-to-be-bride who finds herself in love with her groom's brother, and Kristin Hannah's "Liar's Moon" with the heroine whose worst nightmare and dream of a lifetime have come true, the one I liked best was "A Midsummer Day's Dream" from Linda Lael Miller, with it's time-traveling heroine. I'm giving the anthology three and a half arrows.

Look on Amazon.com for Must Be Magic (Casablanca Classics).