by Jayne Hoogenberk, eHarlequin Community Manager

I’m back with a great line up of romances to help warm up your Spring and keep you turning the pages til we hit the beach with our summer time must-reads.  Our editors recommend you check out the following favorite authors and new miniseries and continuities, and I can’t wait to talk about them with you in our blogs and forums!

First off the block is Maureen Child’s Man of the Month story for Silhouette Desire, The Last Lone Wolf. Maureen is known for her provocative stories, family sagas and strong sexy heroes, and she’s been giving us some backstory on her hero Jericho and how Daisy Saxon plans to rock his world in the Silhouette Desire Author blog on eHarlequin.  Maureen says “I loved this book and it wraps up a quartet about the latest batch of King (of California) brothers! Oh, there will be more, but Jericho King is one of my favorites, so I’m excited to see him out on the shelves….”  you can read more of her blog here.

Of her new series in Silhouette Special Edition, fan-favorite author Marie Ferrarella says, ”Here we are with the second installment of Matchmaking Mamas. This time it’s soft-spoken Theresa Manetti who is trying to find a mate for her workaholic daughter. Kate has only ventured out into the dating field a handful of times. The last time was not the charm, inasmuch as she became engaged to a high-profile criminal lawyer who enjoyed more than his share of “undercover” work, the undercover in this case being sheets. After that disaster, Kate dedicated herself to building up her career and completely ignoring her personal life.”  Ha! We just know THAT won’t last, but you’ll have to read Fixed Up with Mr. Right? to say I told ya so!

You also won’t want to miss New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Brenda Jackson’s romance double-header this month with Spontaneous (Harlequin Blaze)and Hidden Pleasures (Kimani Romance).  Of Spontaneous she says, “I’ve been anxiously waiting to be able to write Duan Jeffries’s story—and I’m thrilled to introduce him in my very first Blaze novel. My readers first met the Jeffries clan when Reggie Westmoreland fell in love with Olivia Jeffries in my Silhouette Desire book titled Tall, Dark…Westmoreland! Since then, I couldn’t get Olivia’s two older brothers, Duan and Terrence, out of my mind. Terrence made his debut in my Kimani novel Temperatures Rising, and now, finally, it’s Duan’s turn.”  Read the first chapter here. (bring ice!)

And Harlequin American Romance is launching a 6-book continuity miniseries from June (available in May on eHarlequin) to November, called The Codys: First Family of Rodeo. The Codys’ are a wealthy ranching family with strong ties to the rodeo. Six siblings compete in rodeo events and find love in various western settings.  This miniseries is full of drama, emotion, family secrets, pregnancies and babies, weddings, and hunky cowboys! I know, I had you at rodeo, right?

The first three books are:
Walker: The Rodeo Legend by Rebecca Winters (June)
Dexter: Honorable Cowboy by Marin Thomas (July)
Dusty: Wild Cowboy by Cathy McDavid (August)

If Suspense & Adventure is more up your alley, then you’ll be wanting to check out the all-new trilogy from Harlequin Intrigue, Texas Maternity: Hostages kicking off with Delores Fossen’s The Baby’s Guardian and don’t miss Kerry Connor’s emotional and gripping Shivers miniseries title,  Stranger in a Small Town of which she says, “All of my characters mean a great deal to me, but I especially felt for these two people, two lost souls who find a connection when neither expects it.”  Read more here.  Kerry and Delores often blog at eHarlequin and you can catch up with on the Intrigue Author blog.

On a girls weekend in Las Vegas, best friends Alex, Molly, Serena and Jayne (sadly NOT me) are supposed to just have fun and forget men, but they end up meeting their perfect matches in Harlequin Romance’s new Girls’ Weekend in Vegas miniseries.  Check out Book One, Saving Cinderella! by Myrna Mackenzie, followed by Vegas Pregnancy Surprise by Shirley Jump (July), Inconveniently Wed! by Jackie Braun (August) and Wedding Date with the Best Man by Melissa McClone (September).

I promise to be back with more NEXT week, until then, tell me more of what you like to read and which stories you’re looking forward to most!

Happy Reading,

Jayne

Community Manager
eHarlequin.com

by Julie Leto, author of Surprise Wedding and 3 Seductions and a Wedding (Harlequin Blaze June 2010)

There are few events as sexy and as romantic as a wedding.  Honestly, I’m surprised that I hadn’t written about one before—and I’m thrilled to be able to not only give readers a glimpse into the romance of a beautiful bride and her gorgeous groom, but also into the secret romances of their entire wedding party!

My free online read, Surprise Wedding, is about Bianca Brighton and Cooper Rush, two college sweethearts who have been engaged for ten years, but have never managed to make it down the aisle. Their friends believe they’d eschewed the altar because they are always traveling…and when I wrote the companion book, 3 Seductions and a Wedding—the story of how three bridesmaids and three groomsmen hook up while planning a surprise wedding for their best friends Bianca and Coop—that’s the only explanation I gave!  But when I was given the opportunity to write a prequel in Bianca and Coop’s point of view, I had to dig deeper and explore precisely why two people who are crazy in love are avoiding the ultimate act of commitment.

I hope you enjoy this peek into the psyche of this adventurous couple…and how their love story affects the people who love them the most in the June Blaze, 3 Seductions and a Wedding!

Editor’s Note: Visit the eHarlequin Read section each weekday for a new chapter in Julie’s exclusively free serial, Surprise Wedding Here’s a sneak preview:

Cooper Rush gazed across the turquoise blue water of the Costa Rican mountain pool and spotted the woman in the black bikini whose curves stopped his heart. The blood pumping in his chest rushed south so that his lower body seized with a deep-rooted desire. Her thick dark hair streaked down her back, the ends lust-tipped arrows pointed at her luscious backside.

He had to have her.

Read more!

Still reeling from all of the love? Or perhaps it was a quiet long weekend with not much to-do? Whatever your sentiments about the big V day, we know you’re a romantic at heart, so you’ll still appreciate all of the great editorial we have for this month. Here’s Jayne, our Community Manager, with a look at what’s really hot for the month of February (and beyond!)

by Jayne Hoogenberk, eHarlequin Community Manager

You gotta know that Cupid’s in the house, or at least knocking at the door of the Blaze series with a title like Her Sexy Valentine.  And reader-favorite Stephanie Bond proves that love comes when and how you least expect it in this sizzling story of coworkers turned lovers, and if you’re wanting even more sugar and spice, follow it up with ManHunting, a sultry Blaze anthology by New York Times bestselling authors Betina Krahn, Joanne rock and Lori Borril.

 

You might want to check out A Valentine’s Wish by Betsy St. Amant. One of the first Valentine’s stories by Love Inspired AND by an up and coming new author. This is a story of friends who come to realize that they’re really in love with each other. Set in atmospheric New Orleans, it’s a sure pleaser!

For a different kind of Valentine read you’ll want to pick up The Man from Nowhere by New York Times bestselling author Rachel Lee.  This is a very moving page-turner about a “man from nowhere” who watches the heroine from afar to protect her because he “sees” her murder.  Now that’s a Valentine who’s got your back!

May I just say, Ladies ‘Start Your Engines’ with this great NASCAR anthology by Vicki Lewis Thompson and Nancy Warren and Dorien Kelly called Racing Hearts.  As Vicki Lewis Thompson says “I’m a NASCAR convert. I confess that until diving into this story, I knew very little about NASCAR. But as the proud owner of a hot little two-seater sports car, I was more than willing to learn about fast cars and the daredevils who drive them.”  She’s got MY vote and I can’t wait to dive into the stories either!

If you’re hunting for out-of-this-world romance, Silhouette Nocturne will have you howling for more with a scrumptious and unearthly bonus story in two full-length titles from the Wolf Moons miniseries where werewolves fights against evil and fight for love. Check out Red Wolf and Wolf Trap for two stories for the price of one,  just in time for Valentine’s Day

And rounding out the highlights, I’d be totally remiss not to mention something we haven’t seen in a while with The Fun Factor – a new Romantic Comedy miniseries launching in Harlequin Romance in March with Oh-So-Sensible Secretary by Jessica Hart. It might be a March title, but you can get books a month in advance on eHarlequin.com, just one of the benefits of being an online shopper! Now our editors say they’re really excited about this miniseries, and that it has a real feel good guarantee and that’s good enough for me! The next book is Tipping the Waitress with Diamonds by Nina Harrington (May)

So I hope I’ve given you room for thought if not a passel full of recommendations for Valentine’s reading, enjoy!