Love, love me do

Leave the beach towel and toys and bikini behind and pack your summer bag with these terrific novels. And if you get so absorbed in the stories you forget to slather on the sun block, don't say we didn't warn you!

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

Heart murmurs

The lovers reunited theme may mean many things -- clearing up old misunderstandings, re-meeting each other for the first time as changed individuals, and the always dishy dilemma of the secret child. But in the lyrical hands of Rita Award-winning author Kathleen Eagle, the surest thing such a reunion promises is you'll be transported to a unique world to learn What the Heart Knows.

Helen Ketterling returns to the Bad River Indian Reservation with two secrets: she's investigating possible corruption at the Pair-a-Dice Indian Casino while accumulating memories for her son, Sidney. Reese Blue Sky carries a secret of his own: the heart condition which forced his early retirement from professional basketball.

In the crucible of questions -- Who is responsible for the hit-and-run death of Reese's father? Does their son carry the same heart ailment as Reese? Can Helen set aside the fears which drove her away from her teaching at Bad River years before? -- Helen and Reese discover together What the Heart Knows.


Stargazing

If you're ready to explore fresh terrain in historical romance, you owe yourself The Stargazer, the first novel of Renaissance Ph.D. scholar Michele Jaffe. Stargazer has the power to stir the romance realm as did Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. Bianca Salva and aristocrat Ian Foscari meet over the murdered body of a Venetian courtesan, and each suspects the other of the crime. So independent Bianca is stunned that Ian proposes a marital arrangement. Bianca complicates matters by refusing to give up her doctoring practices. Powerful enemies of the Foscari family are willing to resort to every means possible to destroy Ian, both personally and in business -- no less than one would expect from the land of Machiavelli and the Borgias.

Redolent with the sensuality and mystery of Venice, Jaffe delivers a page-turner that will keep you burning long into the night.


Beauty and the Beast

"Bear" McQuaid is a visionary railroad builder from Montana who only needs, well, a pile of money to complete his dream. So who better to meet than Diamond Wingate, who is The Soft Touch.

Author Betina Krahn's quick-witted characters are as sparkling as this tale of how poor guy meets super-rich girl only to find that her money's the least reason to become entranced by her.

As "Bear" struggles to prove himself worthy of Diamond, he faces down the dangers of the men trying to stop his railroad line by any means. But in this book, the best lines are the ones author Krahn so cleverly provides her appealing characters.


Once in a Blue Moon

Some horrors can never be overcome -- or so believes Olivia Bond, a kidnap victim who has been the pampered courtesan of a New Orleans bordello owner until she escapes. Noah LeCroix, scarred in body and spirit, has his own reasons for hiding out in the Illinois swamp where he rescues Olivia. In the process of healing and recovery, Noah and Olivia become the means for each other's salvation in Blue Moon by Jill Marie Landis.

Before Olivia can be totally free of her past, however, she must come face to face with it. And Noah's rescue this time may not be enough. Landis powerfully delivers her gift for bringing renewal to deeply wounded lives in Blue Moon.


Fantasy Island

On a mist-shrouded island off the coast of Cornwall, time has been kept at bay for seven centuries. But when Jack Knight pursues the perpetrator of a London crime that left a woman dead and his best friend clinging to life, the modern world invades like a strike force in The Island, by Jill Jones.

The community of Dragoners has kept old traditions alive -- isolation, arranged marriages, old ways of healing. Keely Cochrane shared her friend Genny's yearning for freedom, but when that yearning leads to Genny's murder, she's torn between the safety of her traditions and the wonders of life Jack introduces. A magical escape into a realm steeped with legend.


Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her homes in Fargo, North Dakota, and lakeside near Nevis, Minnesota. She is online at SHuseby@aol.com.

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