Danger never felt so good

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

Brace yourself for a sizzling-fast beach read guaranteed to send cold shivers down your spine. Catherine Coulter's pulse-pounding Blindside is an exciting dip into the adventures of married FBI agents Sherlock and Savich, who in this outing are merely supporting characters for the real lead couple, Miles Kettering and Katie Benedict. Katie's the Jessborough, Tennessee, sheriff leading the search for kidnappers who've snatched Miles' 6-year-old son Sean from his Washington D.C. area home and brought him to the remote mountain town. Miles assumes his past FBI work has made his son a target, but he discovers the danger has more personal roots. Coulter liberally laces the suspense with unexpected motivations and characters you just know are B-A-D. The romance is just as fast-paced as the danger. The couple marry in haste, but the danger just won't let go, as the two learn that being blindsided can be good for the heart, yet hazardous for the body.


Meet me in Las Vegas

Balancing single motherhood with criminal investigation puts everyone in danger when a deranged killer is on the loose in Las Vegas in Michele Jaffe's Bad Girl. Eve's a bad girl with issues and a startling resemblance to forensic expert Chicago "Windy" Thomas, who's hot on Eve's trail. Devoted to her daughter Cate and her fiancé Bill, Windy starts questioning her relationships and the danger she's brought into her own home. When she realizes Eve's a handy scapegoat for an even more dangerous killer—the mysterious Harry—the pursuit turns into a game of cat-and-mouse. Harry's obsession with Eve has already left a trail of victims around the city. Will Windy and task force leader Ash Laughton pull together the threads to catch the conniving killer before he turns her daughter Cate into his newest victim? As Harry taunts Windy with his uncanny access to her life, she's all the more determined to stop him. Meanwhile, Ash awakens passions in Windy that Bill can't match, and she faces difficult choices, both personal and professional. Driving the plot with masterful edge-of-your-seat power, Jaffe offers taut, compelling and relentless suspense with Bad Girl.


The magic touch

Girls just want to have freedom in Patricia Rice's delicious historical romance The Trouble with Magic. The trouble referred to in the title involves Ewen Ives, the first person Felicity Malcolm and her sister Christina meet on their quest to find a book of magic spells. Aidan Dougal's convenient offer of his abode for their further adventures opens the floodgates for a witty and charming courtship between Felicity and Ewen that just couldn't be. Or could it? After all, Ewen needs cash to stave off the bankers after his floodgate design nearly destroys a village. And Felicity finds that the man she disdains offers just what she needs in the happily-ever-after department. With the byways and bedrooms of not-so-stuffy ol' Scotland as a backdrop, The Trouble with Magic delivers a clever and captivating peek into the minds, hearts and magic of a pair of passionate lovers.


Maternity suit

Just because Nina Chickalini wants to get out of her rut and into a different life doesn't mean she'll jump at the first ordinary Joe who comes along. In Wendy Markham's exhilarating romantic comedy, The Nine Month Plan, Nina gets a strange request from her lifelong best friend, Joe Materi—he wants her to have his baby. Joe's ready for fatherhood, but Nina can't wait to escape her Queens neighborhood and the maternal role that was thrust on her when she was barely out of her teens. And neither one of them has been able to forget their one night together—right after Nina had to tell Joe that his bride had bailed out on him. Finally, after 15 years, both have a chance to go after the dream each one wants most. Markham sends Cupid's arrow straight to the bull's eye with this sparkling tale.


Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her homes in Fargo, North Dakota, and lakeside in northern Minnesota.

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