From danger to desire

With the temperatures spiking, so is the danger in this month’s incendiary offerings. Enjoy with cold lemonade!

One of the most entertaining and versatile storytellers of the romance genre, Christina Dodd, offers up Storm of Visions. Jacqueline Vargha is hiding from her destiny when bodyguard and ex-lover Caleb D’Angelo tracks her down. Despite her protests, he drags her back to New York City and what awaits her there—induction into the Chosen Ones, a select few with special gifts who are dedicated to combating evil as perpetrated by the Others, a group in league with the devil. These latest Chosen assume they will be trained by those more experienced, but then an explosion destroys the old guard and their headquarters. Now, the novices must find their way alone, even as they fear someone in their midst is bent on their destruction. Power struggles within the group and between fiery Jacqueline and determined Caleb keep the pages turning. While the love story does resolve, the continued threat to the Chosen Ones will draw readers to the next installment in this exciting, otherworldly series.

More than a man

Seducing the Moon by Sherrill Quinn stars a newly turned werewolf trying to regain the love of the woman who thinks he betrayed her. Declan O’Connell was bitten four months ago and is coping with the changes to his life. Though he can’t complain about his new powers, he’s worried how the woman he wants to claim as his mate, Pelicia Cobb, will handle the news. While she’s one of the few who know of the existence of werewolves, Declan already has a strike against him after he helped jail her scamming grandfather two years before—even as their romance was hot and heavy. But Declan is determined to have a second chance, and even more determined to stay close when it appears that someone is out to harm Pelicia. Who is making her a target? And why? The former commando in the Royal Marines will do what he must as violence comes even closer. Teeming with action and earthy sex, this story will rocket the reader’s pulse.

Game of love

Two wounded souls unite during a terrifying series of murders in Karen Rose’s I Can See You. Eve Wilson is scarred both inside and out by two past traumas, but she continues to rebuild her life. A graduate student in psychology, she’s employed part-time at a cop bar and also works on a study about the efficacy of online role-playing games as therapeutic tools. When some of the women in her study appear to commit suicide, she takes her suspicion that the deaths aren’t self-inflicted to the police. Homicide detective Noah Webster, who has watched Eve from afar for a year, discovers the woman is right: the suicides are faked and there’s a serial murderer on the loose. As Noah and Eve work together to unravel the killer’s pattern and stop further deaths, their efforts are complicated by yet more frightening acts. Is one person behind them all? There is another battle at hand too, that of Eve and Noah against the attraction both are afraid to face. Skin-shivering suspense and a poignant passion between two vulnerable people combine in this lethally good read.

Sensual spy

Mysterious master spy “Dalziel” from Stephanie Laurens’ Bastion Club series gets his own book in Mastered by Love. Just as he winds up his duties to his country, the man known as Dalziel gets word that his father has died. Now Royce Henry Varisey, 10th Duke of Wolverstone, he must return to his principal estate. Royce expects his homecoming won’t be easy, and yet it’s made more interesting when he renews his acquaintance with a beautiful orphan, Minerva Chesterton. Minerva vowed to Royce’s parents that she will see him settled and with a wife—but doesn’t see herself as a candidate despite her long-held fascination with the seductive duke. Minerva wishes to marry only for love, and the ex-spymaster cannot make that promise. But as Royce woos Minerva he learns more about himself and a surprising enemy who threatens the two lovers. Packed with passion and peril, this story is a superb ending to the series.

Christie Ridgway writes contemporary romance from her home in Southern California.