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'Tis the season for romance
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REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY
Jace Colton keeps his humanity rigidly guarded behind an austere surgeon's mask ever since a broken promise made in boyhood led to two deaths -- until, that is, he finds a soulmate in Julia Anne Hayley. Julia is celebrating Christmas for the first time since the untimely loss of her disabled baby sister, Winnie. Jace and Julia together discover that for a few brief, stolen days the shadows of the past can be dimmed by the glittering magic of London. Reality intrudes all too soon, however, as Jace heads off to provide medical care to war victims and Julia flies to Seattle to begin a new life. As life quickens within her, Julia reaches out -- only to learn Jace has been kidnapped by terrorists. Katherine Stone's magical touch makes A Midnight Clear a story for all seasons.
By Katherine Stone Warner, $6.99 ISBN 0446606782
Sometimes, it takes a village to save Christmas -- especially when the Christmas in question is a tiny Minnesota hamlet on the verge of becoming unincorporated. Losing the town's identity is unthinkable to the citizens of Christmas, Minnesota, who band together to save it in Pamela Bauer's delightful Saving Christmas. Sara Richards gets the unenviable task of spearheading the rescue, and her plan for a one-day village festival is at the mercy of the weather, the swift passage of the calendar, and one genuine bah-humbug nemesis, her old high school fantasy man, Joe Gibson. Joe's back in town to take his mother back to California. But Sara's and Joe's moms and a town full of romantic spirits are convinced that the best place for Sara and Joe is in Christmas together. Taking a delightful spin on the "Twelve Days of Christmas," Pamela Bauer makes Saving Christmas a warm-as-melting-marshmallows treat of a tale.
By Pamela Bauer Harlequin, $3.99 ISBN 0373168039
Historical romance superstar Jude Deveraux turns contemporary with a suspenseful quest for missing treasure in High Tide. The last thing New York businesswoman Fiona Burkenhalter wants is a three-day fishing trip in the Everglades . . . with a guide named Ace. But Ace proves to be helpful when Fiona awakens to the crush of a dead body in her arms. When Fiona and Ace learn they're the prime suspects and chief heirs of the murder victim, they set out to find the real killer -- and solve a mystery. In this fast-paced escapade, Jude Deveraux delivers adventure and romance as mysterious and sultry as the Everglades themselves.
By Jude Deveraux Pocket, $24 ISBN 0671814161
Simon and Schuster Audio, $24
In The Proposition, Judith Ivory puts a new spin on the story of Pygmalion as she tells the sparkling tale of a spinster who makes a man out of "mud." Mick Tremore is a Cornish rat catcher who's set loose on the proper, genteel Edwina Bollash, tutor of aristocratic young ladies. Mick is used to being propositioned by women who want a brief wallow in the mud of the lower classes, but nothing he's experienced has prepared him for the challenge of his tutor. Edwina wants to prove she can teach the free-living Mick how to be a proper gentleman, even if she has to do some learning of her own. Judith Ivory's The Proposition evokes the warmest human passions in this radiant tale.
By Judith Ivory Avon, $6.50 ISBN 0380802600
Robyn Carr takes readers behind the scenes and into the lives of writers in The House on Olive Street. Four friends begin their most important collaboration yet as they archive the papers of their friend Gibby. Elly, Sable, Barbara Ann, and Beth discover unexpected truths about themselves as they work to make Gibby's dream and the house they all love live on in her memory. In Regency times, Lady Fanny comes back from exile to face her past and build a new life in Scandalous Secrets by Patricia Oliver. In order to come to terms with that past, Fanny must put her trust and love in the hands of Colonel Sir Derek Sheldon, a man with secrets of his own.
By Robyn Carr Mira, $5.99 ISBN 155166545X
Scandalous Secrets
Sandy's six picks from 1999 Undaunted by the prolific listmakers determined to cast back for centuries to compile millennium booklists, we're happy to remind you of these terrific novels published in the past year. Great, entertaining stories with a little "something more" make these books Sandy's favorites for 1999.
By Luanne Rice BDD, $19.95 ISBN 0553110632
Nova Audio Books, abridged, $17.95
Brilliance, unabridged, $24.95
On Mystic Lake
Nova Audio Books, abridged, $17.95
Brilliance, unabridged, $39.95
Night Gardening
Brilliance, unabridged, $24.95
What the Heart Knows
The Saving Graces
Random House AudioBooks, $24
Jewels of the Sun
Nova Audio Books, abridged, $17.95
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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Ever since Dickens's A Christmas Carol, writers have found special reward in telling inspirational stories of Christmas joy. In Katherine Stone's poignant A Midnight Clear, two lost souls travel across the Atlantic to confront their "ghosts of Christmas past."
It takes a village -- and a man
A real catch
My fair gentleman
Short takes