A St. Valentine's feast

REVIEWS BY BARBARA SAMUEL

The spirit of St. Valentine brings a full course meal this month, one made up of all my very favorite things—a savory English appetizer, followed by a salty, elegant quiche served with a sexy salad from Lori Foster, and finished by a light medieval with spicy hints of danger.

I confess to a deep fondness for women's fiction by English authors. There is a certain good-natured reality about the English style, a sense of compassion that doesn't require a lot of embarrassing over-embroidery. Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble is a delicious example of the form. When Natalie is unceremoniously dumped after six years, her good friend Tom comes to the rescue with an idea for a way to cheer her up: They'll go on outings corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. By the time they get to Z, surely Natalie will have fallen for him? Alternating among three couples at various stages of life, Alphabet Weekends is a clear-sighted, compassionate and loving look at the ways we fall in and out of love, wound ourselves and each other and get back on track . . . if we're lucky. A warm, readable, lovely story.


A rich main dish

There is absolutely no one in the genre like Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Her books are as perfectly balanced and deceptively simple as a serving of quiche. We know quiche, like we know romance, but Phillips is a master chef, and Natural Born Charmer is a substantial and complex example of her special wizardry. When Blue Bailey is rescued by quarterback Dean Robillard, she's at the end of her rope, broke and homeless, while Dean is just as lost on the road of life. Both have mother issues. Dean's was a druggie groupie who abandoned him to boarding schools, as Blue was abandoned to nuns and hippies while her activist mother saved everybody but her own daughter. The two have enough abandonment issues to float three psychology departments, but the delight in Phillips' careful, layered characterizations is that no one is exactly what one might think, and humans are not case histories, but full of surprises. A colorful, tender tale of the delicacy and indestructibility in each of us, and the rich surprises love can bring.


Spicy, saucy salad

Lori Foster is known for spectacular, sizzling, singe-your-fingers erotic romance, but she is so very popular because she knows that sexy must also be carefully crafted and intelligent—the power here is the depth of story around those love scenes. In Causing Havoc, extreme fighter Dean Conor is drawn back to the hometown he was torn from when he was eight years old, thanks to a letter his long-lost sister writes to him. Once he's back home, the wandering "Havoc" suddenly finds himself needed and hated in equal portions. He's given a chance to be a hero in real life, rather than just in the ring—does he have what it takes to live up to all those expectations? Havoc also finds himself being drawn into a spicy relationship with his sister's best friend, Eve Lavon, a free spirit with her own ideas of what should be. This is very much the hero's story, irresistibly saucy and well written.


A smooth finish

Lovingly rendered and pleasantly digestible, Margaret Moore's My Lord's Desire provides a medieval dessert. Battle-weary Lord Armand de Boisbaston arrives at the court of King John hoping to find a wealthy bride to offer ransom for his imprisoned brother. Instead, he finds himself ensnared by the alluring Lady Adelaide, who has learned independence by fending off suitors at court. Neither has what the other needs, but they're locked into a false betrothal when they become embroiled in a conspiracy that might cost them both their lives if they cannot thwart it. A clever theme of the way lies and half-truths entangle us adds flavor and dash to what might have otherwise have been a standard medieval tale.


Barbara Samuel's latest book is Madame Mirabou's School of Love.

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