Finding love by the book

REVIEWS BY BARBARA SAMUELS

It is said that a genre novel creates order out of chaos. Mysteries solve crimes and offer redemption. Science fiction speculates where our current path might lead us, or imagines other worlds. A romance novel, first and foremost, lets one man and one woman have a shot at real happiness together—and they do it in myriad ways.

Karen Robards' newest offering, Vanished, is a very romantic romantic thriller that doesn't slight on the pacing one bit. Assistant District Attorney Sarah Mason is living a thin, cold life after the disappearance of her daughter seven years ago. If it weren't for her dog, a dysfunctional pit bull mix with abandonment issues, and her best friend Jake, a private eye with an eccentric extended family, Sarah probably would have already given up the ghost. When Death comes calling in a quick-shop robbery on the first page, Sarah is shaken awake—to Jake, who loves her, to the possibility of really living, to the chance that she might be of some use in the world. Unfortunately, someone wants her dead. It's going to take everything she's got to stay alive to help another little girl who needs her—and maybe find redemption for her own daughter. With its rip-roaring pace and great cast, Vanished is the kind of book you'll carry around the house with your thumb holding your place until you've read the last word.


California dreamin'

California native Christie Ridgway's books are crammed with smart girls, manly men, great sex and fast, funny dialogue. Her latest novel, The Care and Feeding of Unmarried Men, is a delightful example, a romance as purely sparkling as California champagne. Palm Beach beauty and society columnist Eve Caruso is in hot water up to her perfect little ears when Nash Cargill, aka "The Preacher," arrives in town. Blonde, sultry Eve is a Bratz Doll come to life, used to getting her own way with a single crook of an eyebrow, but Nash is a regular on the monster truck circuit—someone like Eve will be no problem. Except of course, she has those pesky little mob connections, trouble with the securities commission and issues about her dead mobster dad. Pour yourself a big glass of Ridgway champagne and enjoy.


A bombshell guide to the dark side

Darker, but just as much fun, is Charlaine Harris' series of novels about Sookie Stackhouse, a blonde bombshell cocktail waitress and mind reader. Sookie finds yet more trouble, adventure and romance in Definitely Dead the sixth installment in this wildly popular series. After her recent troubles, Sookie is looking for a little peace and quiet and a chance to finally get the cabinets up in her kitchen. There's a new . . . er, man on the horizon, the courtly and muscular shape-shifter, Quinn, and she'd like to get to know him. But a dead cousin and a brewing war draw Sookie into the dangerous world of vampires and shifters. It's impossible not to love the wry, sexy, often earnest, ordinary-if-it-wasn't-for-the-whole-mind-reading-thing Sookie, surely one of the most winning heroines to guide us through the dark side in a long time. Maybe ever.


Alchemy and photography

Finally, there is no one who understands what we long for in a man as well as Amanda Quick. In Second Sight, Victorian spinster and photographer Venetia Milton is delighted to accept a substantial commission to shoot the collection of an alchemist dead for 200 years—and to avail herself of what is likely her last chance to seduce a man before she takes herself and her family to London to open a studio. Gabriel is happy to oblige, but their night of passion is interrupted by bandits, and Venetia is forced to flee. She's crushed when she learns that Gabriel was killed, but sees the benefit in establishing herself in London as his widow. When he reappears, very much alive, the pair—who share a gift for second sight in addition to their lively attraction to each other—must unite to find out who stole the alchemist's notebook, before dire consequences befall them all. Venetia is a smart, resourceful heroine with a witty tongue, and Gabriel is more than worthy of her.


Barbara Samuel's Lady Luck's Map of Vegas is a 2006 RITA award finalist.

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