Escapes for too-hectic holidays

This month we've found the perfect getaway for the too-busy holiday season when there's never enough time to pamper ourselves. So, steal a few moments or hours between the pages of these great reads.

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

Every busy woman deserves her own prince. Even when she's 125 years old and she's been waiting 10,000 years. Glenna McReynolds' Prince of Time is worth the wait—for Lady Avallyn Le Severn and readers alike.

When Avallyn finds her Prince of Time she can't reconcile his destiny of saving the entire planet with the drunken condition she finds him in. Her Prince of Time is one Morgan ab Kynan, a thief who stole the golden dragon that led him to the greatest danger he's ever faced and to the time weir that propelled him forward from 12th century Wales.

In Morgan's time, Darkkum was unleashed on Earth, destroying its plants and drying its seas. Together Avallyn and Morgan must prepare to journey back through time to change the course of history while fending off skraelings and Watch warriors.

They are not the only time riders, however. Covus Gei, the Warmonger, whose body is being consumed by the shadowy destructive power of Darkkum, lusts for control of Earth and the Lady Avallyn. He's determined to follow the pair back through time to restore his body and capture Avallyn.

Glenna McReynolds has an uncommon gift for blending epic romantic quest with futuristic fantasy. This tale will surely sweep you away into a world beyond time and place.


Time short this holiday season? Feeling too rushed for words? These novella anthologies are just the kind of holiday indulgence you won't need to make resolutions to undo later.

Sometimes indulgence is a place rather than a season. One such place is Leo's, a Washington, D.C., supper club where the stories are as rich and spicy as the women who come for dinner and find the loves of their lives. Welcome to Leo's blends the superb writing of African-American storytellers Rochelle Alers, Donna Hill, Brenda Jackson and Francis Ray.

In Rochelle Alers' Second Chance, Leigh Walcott takes a tumble—sprained ankle and all—for Dr. Scott Alexander. Love and marriage should be just the prescription for the solitary workaholic event planner and the doctor immersed in his work. But the traumatic loss of her first husband and child makes Leigh afraid to risk that second chance. Wining and dining at Leo's are part of the treatment, but only Leigh can choose to love again.

For Jae Crawford, even that first love is still just a hope. In Donna Hill's Eye of the Beholder, Jae is a self-constrained gospel singer who's wary of the glittery Leo's. Clyde Burrell is immediately drawn to the demure singer celebrating her birthday at the club. Afraid she'd rebuff him if she knew he was the entertainment manager, he pretends he's an accountant instead. That little lie gets complicated to sustain. It'll take a lot of faith for Jae and Clyde to find their way beyond the obstacles and learn to trust one another.

Welcome to Leo's could not be better titled—this is one warm, lovin', welcoming collection of novellas.


The holiday season and all its festivities shimmer amid the Scottish heaths and heathers of A Season in the Highlands, with sparkling stories by Jude Deveraux, Jill Barnett, Geralyn Dawson, Pam Binder and Patricia Cabot.


No holiday season would be complete without that most glamorous of nights, New Year's Eve, and the self-examining time of New Year's Day. Secrets of a Perfect Night by Stephanie Laurens, Victoria Alexander and Rachel Gibson wraps up the holiday season with charm and just the right amount of champagne sizzle.


Sandy Huseby reads, writes and raises a wassail cup o'cheer from her homes in Fargo and lakeside in northern Minnesota.

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