Historical romances have long been a favorite of mine and I love to find stories based in time periods that aren’t often visited. Donna Russo Morin’s The Courtier’s Secret is set in France during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, so it qualified as a must-read for me.

When we first meet Jeanne Yvette Mas du Bois, she is doing a most unladylike thing: fencing. As the story unfolds we see that Jeanne is often doing unladylike things and it is bound to get her into trouble sooner or later.

After being dismissed from her convent school, Jeanne is back with her family who currently reside at Versailles as members of the court of Louis XIV. Her education complete, albeit prematurely due to her conduct, Jeanne knows her father’s primary notion is to marry her off.

It is only the time spent with her Uncle Jules that keeps her sane. Shedding the inhospitable clothing of a well-bred female, Jeanne relishes the freedom of the boys’ clothing she wears during her daily fencing lessons. If her strict father ever knew about her Uncle’s training, she’d be punished within an inch of her life and sold off to the highest bidder.

Always one to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Jeanne is nearly discovered in her ruse after slipping off in the evening for an adventure dressed as a young man. Her Uncle’s training comes in very handy as she saves the life of one of the King’s Musketeers – a very handsome one indeed.

I really enjoy reading about people who push themselves out of their normal routine, people who take risks. Perhaps that is because I myself have trouble taking risks.

I found the perfect story in Jill Shalvis’ Instant Attraction. Her book has not one, but two characters throwing aside their fears and trying something new – sometimes with each other!

Katie Kramer shouldn’t be alive and every day she is reminded of that in so many ways. The sole survivor of a freak accident, Katie has decided to put her quiet life behind her and see what excitement she can find. Her new job at Wilder Adventures couldn’t be more different from her old job as an accountant. High up the Sierras with breath-taking vistas at every turn, she finds her temporary home exhilarating.

As for excitement, being scared awake in the middle of the night by one of the most attractive men she’s every seen definitely qualifies as exciting. Of course, the fact that Cameron Wilder is one of her bosses makes their unusual evening together all the more interesting. A night spent in her boss’ bedroom? How can you top that? Katie aims to find out.

Fresh off of an around the world trip, Cameron Wilder is definitely not expecting to find a beautiful woman in his cabin, let alone his bed. How could she possibly know he hasn’t been with a woman in nearly a year? It was all he could do not to end his dry spell with her the moment he walked in the door and saw her in the bed. No woman had ever slept in that bed and he was thinking perhaps this one shouldn’t sleep there either.

Have you seen the news lately? Can't really avoid it, unless you live in a very remote area. Spring, where I am, is blooming so nicely, kitty cats sit soaking up the warm on window stills, birds fly overhead, and yet there is war, unemployment, murder and mayhem everywhere. This old world suffers so much. I think however, most of us would not want it all to just end. No more squabbles over ancestral lands, water, rights, etc. While it can be pretty ugly out there, there is a lot of remarkable beauty created by the most populous species on this planet too.

Someone else however, William Joseph in particular, had other ideas. The world ended, and according to his version, no one was supposed to survive, except for a few selected people stashed away. It is a classic scenario in Science Fiction: The end of everything we know, and the start of some new menacing world order, fought by a few leftovers to mess up what was supposed to be the beginnings of Paradise.

The Night Sarah Came Home brings home a new twist on the old plot. For one thing, it is staged in New Jersey, an unlikely place to find the remaining group of people. The story centers on them as seen through the eyes of one Kid Eriksson to whom Sarah is his most blessed beloved he still cannot believe is his. Three friends and their girlfriends on a Jersey Beach when the seemingly impossible happens: a flash of light that nearly blinds one of them, and causes all of them for the rest of the night to find every organic being dead. Rotting lumps of gag stinking mess.

Take a sexy as all get out female spy who wears sharp heeled shoes, is very deadly with any weapon and her hands, and not a slouch in the brain department either. Then add the guy who is a brilliant former football scientist with integrity, a nosy family that want grandkids, Black Ops, stolen classified high tech plans that could kill people, kidnapping, and enough sex to rival The Joy Of Sex book on ideas, and you have The Spy Who Wants Me .

Elle Gray and Dr. Beau Ruston can barely control lust from when they first lay eyes on one another. Both are telling lies to do their job, and finally give in to lust, lots of lust. Assuring one another, "It's just sex" between two gun shy folks here. Then there is sex between Elle Gray's brother and his paramour from ten years ago.

Now a book with so much going on can work. Unfortunately in this one, I found myself distracted and tired while reading it, keeping track of all the things and divergent paths the story was taking. The characters were in some ways too pat perfect and flat for me to relate to. The best scenes were when Elle Gray was relating to her blusterous nosy family. That brought out the most touchable side of Elle Gray. Dr. Beau Ruston tended to come off as a horny Apollo hunk of a man, and while everyone talked about his brilliance, I did not see any evidence of it – unless his ability in bed was to show that?

Competition and high school; they seem to go hand in hand, no matter how much you'd like them to be separate entities. Competition with friends, enemies, and family members seem to be the way during the teen years. When you've been competing with a perfect older brother for attention from your parents as long as you can remember, it would be great to accomplish something spectacular in your own right. Kimberly Lange is about to get the chance in Vikk Simmons' Video Magic.

Kimberly Lange is competing against the perfect-in-every-way and beautiful Marla Morgan, Drama Diva, for an internship on the senior project. She knows she can do the job better, and that Marla prefers to be in front of the camera, not behind it. But Marla is the best friend of Greg Winters, the super hot senior in charge of the project. Everyone believes there must be more to Greg and Marla than friendship.

Kimberly spent her summer on her own project to prove she's the best person for the internship. Her work pays off and she gets the job. Now, can she do everything to show she is worthy of the chance? Does Marla hate her for winning? Does Marla hate her more now that Greg is showing Kimberly more attention than necessary on the project?

What do a pretentious Lady, a pampered step-daughter, and a promiscuous maid have in common? I found myself wanting to know the answer when picking up this read.

Wenches in Pantries by AJ Michaels is a novella length historical romance that is broken down into three parts, each part telling of a particular couple. They are all tied together in the story.

This story follows Millie the maid, Poppy the daughter, and Lady Bea wife and stepmother, who must submit to Lord Pennyworth’s strict rules and expectations. They have come to feel like little more than the lordship’s assets and wish for something more. Soon three mysterious men enter into the Pennyworth estate and the women’s lives are changed. The three ladies fine themselves enveloped in the seduction of their suitors, but a secret the gentlemen share may leave the women destitute once uncovered.

While Wenches in Pantries had a lot of steamy encounters, I found it a bit lacking in actual romance. The plot, though entertaining could have been fleshed out a bit more. AJ Michaels does bring in a nice bit of suspense with the three mysterious gentlemen that take on the role of a hero. Overall, it is a good read to consider passing an hour or two of your time with.

Are you a suspense junkie? Maybe you’re interested in the twisted way the mind of a serial killer works? Perhaps you’re a Law and Order fan, and can’t get enough of the world of crime and punishment. Isn’t it odd how most of those genres feature a tough, grizzled male veteran cop or a young, gorgeous female detective—who is not only too young to know anything about life, but just way too young to be a detective? And why does it always have to be a cop or a former cop? Why not someone like you? After all, you’ve read enough crime novels, watched enough shows you could probably do the job, right? Tekla Dennison Miller allows the reader a chance to solve the motivations of a serial killer in the very ordinary personage of Celeste Brookstone in her novel, Inevitable Sentences.

Celeste Brookstone did not set out to be a crusader for abused women. In fact, she probably sees herself as a bad example staying with an abusive husband until he died, subjecting her daughter to that perverted version of love. Celeste often wonders if she left her husband if her beautiful daughter, Pillar, would still be alive and not dead at the hands of that killer, Chad Wilbanks. All the same, Celeste decides to take over an abandoned lighthouse and make it into a safe house for abused women. Somehow it seems fitting, especially done in her daughter’s memory. She also wants to be close to Hawk Haven where Chad Wilbanks is currently residing. She’s not done with him yet. Maybe the courts didn’t convict him for killing her daughter, but Celeste knows he’s guilty. Chad knows she knows and is amused, which makes it that much worse.