Cover Reveal - - Race the Darkness

Abbie Roads, Susan Gee Heino, PJ You meet the nicest people at romance conferences. Last summer, while waiting in line for a taxi to LaGuardia Airport after attending the 2015 RWA national conference, I struck up a conversation with two women standing behind me in line. We discovered we were all heading to the same airport and decided to share a cab. One of those women was the delightful Abbie Roads, a then-unpublished author. Today, eight months later, I'm very excited to reveal the cover of Race the Darkness, a dark, gritty, emotional, and sexy romantic suspense novel by debut author Abbie Roads! It’s precisely 7:22 pm ET, the sun has just set in the east, and it’s starting to get dark... First in a gripping paranormal romantic suspense duo by a Golden Heart finalist debut author whose clinical work gives her chilling insights... Cursed with a terrible gift Criminal investigator Xander Stone doesn’t have to question you—he can hear your thoughts. Scarred by lightning, burdened with a power that gives him no peace, Xander struggles to maintain his sanity against the voice that haunts him day and night—the voice of a woman begging him to save her. That threatens to engulf them... Isleen Walker has long since given up hope of escape from the nightmare of captivity and torture that is draining her life, her mind, and her soul. Except…there is the man in her feverish dreams, the strangely beautiful man who beckons her to freedom and wholeness. And when he comes, if he comes, it will take all their combined fury and faith to overcome a madman bent on fulfilling a deadly prophecy.   Abbie Roads is a mental health counselor known for her blunt, honest style of therapy. By night she writes dark, emotional novels, always giving her characters the happy ending she wishes for all her clients. Her novels have finaled in RWA contests including the Golden Heart. Race the Darkness is the first book in the Fatal Dreams series of dark, gritty romantic suspense with a psychological twist.   Dear Readers, I wrote Race the Darkness from start to finish three different times, with three different story lines, and with three different titles! The only thing that ever remained the same between the versions was Xander and Isleen. I believed in them and the story they wanted to tell. I hope you love reading about their tragedies and triumphs as much as I enjoyed writing them… All three times! And isn’t the cover amazing, beautiful, gorgeous? I cried the first time I saw it! It made all the hard work to get this book to you worth it! Abbie Roads  P.S. I would love to connect with you and hear what you think about the cover! You can find me here:  · Website · Facebook · Twitter An excerpt from Race the Darkness:  No fucking way was he going to die running. He stopped, turned and faced the truck barreling toward them. The tires ate up the ground at an indecent rate. He clutched Isleen tighter to his chest. For her sake, he wanted it to be a quick death. No more lingering. No more pain. That thought infuriated him. None of this was right. They shouldn’t be on the verge of death. Again. The truck kept coming—twenty-five feet. Everything slowed, happened as if through the quicksand of time. A white dandelion floaty meandered on the breeze directly between them and the truck. His heart no longer ran a staccato rhythm. Duh…duhm.Pause. Duh…duhm. Pause. His life didn’t flash before his eyes. The future did. Isleen’s future. In an ethereal dream beyond time, her skin was gilded by firelight, her eyes void of sadness and fear, her body whole and healthy. She smiled, an expression so full of warmth and tenderness and undiluted joy that it plunked itself down inside his heart and wouldn’t leave. He ached to create that kind of smile on her face, but their lives were over and it all could’ve gone so differently if he’d only listened to her, believed in her, found her years before now.

Review - - When a Laird Loves a Lady

When a Laird Loves a Lady
Highlander Vows:Entangled Hearts - Book 1
By Julie Johnstone
Release Date: March 22, 2016

An Outlander 
Raised by a tyrannical father, Marion de Lacy yearns for the comfort of belonging to a loving family. So when her father announces her betrothal to an evil knight in exchange for his help to overthrow the king, she concocts a desperate scheme to avoid the marriage: feigning her own death and then fleeing England. But when her plan goes terribly awry and she’s captured by the knight, not even her careful preparations could ready her for the Scottish barbarian who rescues her and then informs her that he’s to marry her by edict of her king. Certain her father will defy the king’s orders and wed her to the knight if she refuses the Highlander’s hand, Marion agrees to marry the strangely compelling but obstinate laird of the MacLeod clan. 

A Highlander 
After the death of his beloved wife, Iain MacLeod has no desire to marry ever again. Yet when he finds himself obliged to do so to secure the freedom of his childhood friend and king, he reluctantly travels across England to collect his unwanted bride, expecting to find a cold Englishwoman. Instead, he discovers a fiery, bold beauty who is fiercely loyal, protective of those she loves, and defies him at every turn, challenging his certainty that his heart is dead. 

Ensnared 
Following a hasty marriage and perilous journey to Scotland, Marion harbors no illusions that her new husband loves her. Still, her heart cannot resist the noble, brave warrior, and she cannot suppress the hope that she has finally found where she belongs. However, the harder she tries to fit in with the clan and gain Iain’s love, the farther away her dreams drift. Iain is more than willing to give his respect to his courageous wife—her kisses and caresses even ignite his blood and demand his passion—but he refuses to give up his heart. That is, until enemies near and far threaten to take Marion from him. Now the demons that haunt him can only be conquered by surrendering body and soul to Marion, if only it’s not too late… 

This was my first book by Julie Johnstone. I have no idea how her books have escaped my attention up to now but I can assure you it won't happen again. Set in medieval Scotland, When a Laird Loves a Lady is a fast-paced, action-packed story filled with intrigue and betrayal. It's also a passionate, poignant romance between a bold, loyal, and loving young Englishwoman who yearns for a family that will love her and not view her only as a political pawn and an honorable Scottish laird who buried his heart with his late wife and has no intention of ever loving again. Put it all together and you have a story that grabbed me from the beginning and kept me flipping pages until I reached the final, sigh-worthy, conclusion, long past my bedtime.

Ms. Johnstone has a gift for bringing her characters and the time in which they lived to life in vivid detail, immersing readers into a world filled with joy, despair, and danger. The intrigue, the battles, the deep emotion; I experienced it all right along with the characters. Johnstone has assembled a rich cast including many supporting characters who are fairly begging for their own stories to be told. I don't know how many books Ms. Johnstone has planned for her Highlander Vows series but I can assure you that however many she writes, I'll be first in line to buy them! 

~PJ 

Do you enjoy medieval romances? What's your favorite historical romance era? I'm gifting one randomly chosen person who leaves a comment a Kindle copy of When a Laird Loves a Lady. 

Review - - The Friends We Keep

The Friends We Keep

By Susan Mallery

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: February 23, 2015

Susan Mallery returns to Mischief Bay, California, with the stories of three friends whom readers of The Girls of Mischief Bay will recognize: Gabby Schaefer, Hayley Batchelor and Nicole Lord.

Gabby’s twin daughters are ready for kindergarten, and Gabby is counting the days until they are in class and she can resume her law career. A chance to use her knowledge, albeit only twenty hours a week, ranks just slightly above bathroom privacy for reasons to rejoice over returning to work. But just when Gabby’s life promises to become even better, her fifteen-year-old stepdaughter shares news that throws the family into chaos. Andrew, Gabby’s perfect husband, reveals his flaws, and their different reactions to the family crisis threaten the stability of their marriage. Can Gabby and Andrew find their way back to each other?

Gabby is not the only one whose marriage is in trouble. Hayley, who has suffered a series of miscarriages, is still obsessed with bearing a child. Ignoring her doctor’s advice and her husband’s concerns, she is determined to pursue a prohibitively expensive treatment regardless of the cost to her health, physical and emotional, and to the couple’s financial well-being. Rob refuses to cooperate with what he is convinced is self-destructive behavior. When Hayley persists with her plan, he leaves. Hayley is devastated by what she sees as his desertion, but is she willing to give up on what she wants most to save her marriage?

Nicole is finding life after divorce an improvement over her unhappy marriage, but dating again is not easy. Her fitness business is flourishing, and her six-year-old son Tyler is healthy, happy, and devoted to Brad the Dragon. When the creator of Brad the Dragon, Jarius Sterenberg, becomes not just a name associated with the popular children’s series but also her son’s personal hero and a major presence in Nicole’s life, she is afraid to make a commitment. If her son’s own father has no qualms about withdrawing completely from his son’s life, how can she trust another man not to abandon Tyler and not to break her heart?

Gabby, Hayley, and Nicole support each other through these crises, offering a ready ear, honest words, and plenty of hugs. Mallery is at her best in this nuanced portrayal of female friendship.

The women are likeable, and their problems are rooted in the real rather that in manipulative melodrama. Their lives are multifaceted, and Gabby’s relationship with her stepdaughter and Hayley’s relationship with her sister add interest to their stories.  The men in their lives are different from one another in profession and personality. I considered that a real plus after having read some multiple story novels in which the male leads all seemed to be generic heroes.

I count myself a Fool’s Gold fan, but Mallery’s women’s fiction titles rank even higher with me. The romantic element is strong enough for The Friends We Keep to appeal to Mallery’s romance fans, but it is the friendship that links these women in credible and heartwarming ways that is the heart of the book. If you are a reader who appreciates women’s fiction/romance hybrids, I suggest you add this one to your list.

~Janga 

Review - - Read Bottom Up

READ BOTTOM UP: A Novel

By:  Neel Shah and Skye Chatham

Publisher: Dey Street Books

Release Date: April 7, 2015

READ BOTTOM UP is a relationship 101 told solely from a series of texts and emails between the hero and heroine, and their respective best friends. 

Elliot meets Madeline at a restaurant opening where she sees him talking it up with some beautiful girl.  His ex.   But when Elliot bemoans his past relationship with said ex to his friend, David, David encourages him to move away from his past dramas and to make an effort with Madeline, whom Elliot thinks is both smart and funny.  

And so it begins:  the tentative first email, the invitation out, the first date, the better date and so on.  And at the same time, every take on the progression of Elliot and Madeline’s relationship is analyzed through Madeline and her best friend’s conversations, and Elliot and his best friend. 

It’s a unique structure that actually works because once the reader gets the hang of only digital correspondence telling the story, it’s consumable in one sitting.   And there is something quickly consumable about no narration. 

What's more, there are some clever witticisms and hilarious one-liners: 

From David (hero’s bff) to Elliot (hero):

“You’re not allowed to describe girls as ‘cool’ after Gone Girl.”

This type of fun, casual conversation abounds in the relationships between the main characters and their friends.  But that leads me to my first complaint:  I found the novel’s friend relationships more interesting than the romantic.  I’m still not convinced, however, that READ BOTTOM UP is a romance, though the entire plot is weaved around the anatomy of romantic love. 

That romantic love, though, does forge through a somewhat weak though realistic conflict.   The conflict IS weak but when I say “realistic” that is also a compliment because there are moments of such clear romantic truth, anyone who’s ever been in a relationship will nod their heads.   

Here’s one such romantic truth:   boy can’t understand why girl is pissed and backs off thereby pissing off girl even more though girl was originally pissed at boy’s lack of effort, etc.  You see?  And from the reader’s perspective, you can see how boy thinks girl is too shrewish for the beginning stage of their relationship and also what a knucklehead boy is for not being emotionally grown up enough to acknowledge the relationship’s potential.   Oy on all sides.

I did find the most interesting exchanges occurring between Madeline and Emily versus the men.  The female perspective is where the most meaty analysis transpires, and maybe because I’m a woman, I find it most intriguing.  Who knows?  But the depth of character resides with the women in this book.

On the other hand, I very much like the hero’s best friend, David.  He is an emotional grown up.  The hero, however?  

Let me just say the very nicest feelings I can drum up for Elliot are tepid. TEPID!  But he’s our hero so I want him to step up though, perhaps, he doesn’t need to step up.   Perhaps READ BOTTOM UP is significant because of its apparent mispairing.    
  
I won’t tell you how it all plays out though I will say, in the end, I would recommend READ BOTTOM UP.  It’s absorbing.  Do I hope the authors move forward with the same email/text structure for many more books to come?  No.  Once is fun but once is enough.  More is green beer:  it’s fine to drink it once a year, say, on St. Patrick’s Day, but every other day it’s just some sort of contrived (albeit clever) kitsch. 

But the book does work.    

In your experience, do you ever find yourself rooting for an HEA (happily ever after) for a character you don't like very much?      

~J Perry Stone

Review - - The Rain Sparrow

The Rain Sparrow

By Linda Goodnight

Publisher: Harlequin HQN

Release Date: February 23, 2016

Hayden Winters, author of a string of bestselling thrillers, hopes that his stay at the Peach Orchard Inn in Honey Ridge, Tennessee, will be just what he needs to complete his next book. He gets more than he expected when the spirit of Thaddeus Eriksson, a Yankee miller who migrated to Honey Ridge after the Civil War and after the deaths of his wife and daughter in a house fire, invades his dreams. Hayden’s own past haunts him, but the lives of Thaddeus, Josie Portland, and Abram, a former slave, become increasingly real to him, more substantial than the fiction that he has woven into his own biography.

Carrie Riley is a loving sister, a good friend, and a compassionate person. She is also a woman filled with fear. She is afraid of storms, afraid of flying, and afraid of venturing beyond Honey Ridge and her job as librarian. A single scandalous incident from her past has left her wary of anything that draws attention to her and of any man to whom she feels an attraction.

            If she ever married, and the jury was still out on that unlikely event, she wasn’t looking for tingles. She wanted a friend, a man who would discuss books and work beside her in charities and hold her through the storms of life, both figuratively and literally.

Hayden and Carrie meet late one night during a violent thunderstorm. He is looking for a cup of coffee, and she is hoping to find someone else in Peach Orchard Inn awakened by the storm. When eleven-year-old Brody Thomson appears, a fugitive from the storm, they befriend him. Carrie recognizes him as an after-school regular at the library, and Hayden sees in the boy a younger version of himself, a battered child who prefers “camping out” to what awaits him at home. From this point on, the lives of these three are intertwined. They care about the boy and are soon caught up in the mystery of Brody’s mother’s disappearance years before. They are caught up too in their growing feelings for one another, but Hayden believes he can never share his past with anyone, and he is convinced sweet Carrie deserves better than he can give her.

Meanwhile, Thaddeus, Josie, and other long-dead characters and the events at the grist mill loom large and vital in Hayden’s dreams and in his head. He feels compelled to write their story even though he never expects to publish it as far removed as it is from the stories that have made him rich and famous. He and Carrie will be called upon to exhibit the same courage that characterizes Thaddeus as they confront their own challenges.

Goodnight proved in The Memory House, one of my favorite books of 2015, that she could blend the present and the past in a seamless tale that captures the reader’s sympathy and imagination. She does so again in this second Honey Ridge novel. I was engaged with all the characters and as eager to see the scarred Thaddeus and angry Josie find happiness as I was to see wounded Hayden and fearful Carrie conquer their demons and achieve their HEA. Seeing the main characters from The Memory House, both past and present, in the midst of their HEAs was a bonus.

In The Rain Sparrow, Goodnight gives readers another novel that is both historical and contemporary, both mystery and romance, both intriguing and rewarding. I am eager to see what’s next in this series, and I give the second book my unqualified recommendation.

 ~Janga

Review - - The King's Outlaw

The King's Outlaw
A Conquerors and Outlaws Novella
By Kris Kennedy
From the anthology Captured by a Celtic Warrior
Release Date: February 16, 2016

Saleté de Mer, Northern France
1193 A.D.

Tadhg O'Malley, an Irish outlaw, is on a mission of vital importance; tasked by the imprisoned Richard the Lionheart to return the jeweled dagger of Jerusalem to safety in England and keep it from hands that would use it to usurp the rightful king. One step ahead of his enemies, Tadhg has traveled from the Crusades in the Holy Land to Northern France and has only to cross the channel to England to complete his mission but that last leg of his journey may prove most difficult of all.

Magdalena "Maggie" the Tailor has a built a successful business despite the male dominance and corruption she is forced to deal with to bring her goods to market. She is not looking for a man to complete her life, thank you very much, but when Tadhg rescues her from the assistant port reeve's unwanted advances, she is immediately attracted to her handsome savior. He sees her as someone he can use to escape her small port city before his enemies find him and by involving her - without her knowledge - puts Maggie, and everything she has worked so hard to build, in danger.

When his enemies close in, Maggie's life is turned upside down and she is forced to flee with Tadhg, working together to thwart them. Desire flares and feelings deepen to something that could be lasting if not for the fact that her life and business are in France, his heart is in Ireland, his mission must come before all else, and, if the bad guys succeed, they won't live long enough to even have a chance.

I have a deep fondness for medieval romances, strong, sexy, Irish heroes and the women who are their match. Kris Kennedy is a master at creating all three. I've been a fan of her writing since reading her Golden Heart Award winning second book, The Irish Warrior six years ago.

"The King's Outlaw" is a fast-paced, sizzling story of loyalty, betrayal, adventure, and love and with its Irish hero, perfect reading for St. Patrick's Day!

~PJ

"The King's Outlaw" is part of the boxed-set anthology, Captured by a Celtic Warrior. The set also includes "Taken by the Highlander" by Eliza Knight, "Stolen by a Highland Rogue" by Vonda Sinclair, and "Her Wicked Highlander" by Jennifer Haymore.

Review - - How to Woo a Widow

How to Woo a Widow: a digital novella
By Manda Collins
Self-Published
Release Date: February 23, 2016

As a young man, Anthony Ogilvy, Earl of Leighton lost his heart to his best friend’s older sister but Portia Bascombe had her heart set on another. Heartbroken by her betrothal and drowning in guilt over his part in an accident that brought scandal and tragedy to her family, Anthony took himself off to the continent to battle Napoleon. Thirteen years later, a chance encounter reunites the pair and Tony realizes his feelings for the lovely widow are stronger than ever.

Widowed by the death of her philandering husband two years earlier, Portia isn’t anxious to repeat the marital experience but can’t help but be attracted to the grown-up Tony. Desire between the two sizzles but the obstacles to the happy ending Tony desires are many. There’s the six-year age difference between them, the scandal of Portia’s brother’s death in an accident for which Tony blames himself, the fact that Tony’s mother is determined to marry him off to a fresh-from-the-schoolroom innocent, and a pesky suitor of Portia’s who refuses to give up. Then there’s Portia herself. Will the feelings deepening between them give her the courage to ignore the critics and claim her happiness?

At 56 pages, this novella is a tasty snack between full-length books from Collins; a quick, but satisfying, read with engaging characters, a sensual love story and a twist that I didn’t see coming. It reminded me of just how much I enjoy Collins' wit and well-developed characters and of how much I'm looking forward to the April 5th release of the next book in her Lords of Anarchy series, Good Dukes Wear Black. 

~PJ

Today's Special - - Sheila Roberts Treasure Hunt Giveaway

Please join me in welcoming the lovely, and always funny, Sheila Roberts! Sheila is gearing up for the April 1st release of her next Life in Icicle Falls book, Home on Apple Blossom Road and a very special pink envelope treasure hunt that's taking the internet by storm. 

For more information about Sheila and her books be sure to visit her website and like her Facebook page.  

Hi Sheila! Welcome back to The Romance Dish! Tell us what’s new in Sheiladom.

Sheila:          Besides my recent “landmark” birthday? I threw my annual surprise party for myself. The beauty of throwing your own birthday party is that you get to make up the guest list, and you can make it as long as you want! My girlfriends and I spent the afternoon consuming champagne and cake and playing games. I am the queen of charades."

PJ:                That’s one of the things we love about you, Sheila. You’re always all about fun!

Sheila:          And now I have some fun news for readers!

PJ:                Some hints, maybe?

Sheila:          Okay, hints: apples and pink envelopes and a treasure hunt for readers.

PJ:                Details. We need details.

Sheila:          What better time to have a new book out titled HOME ON APPLE BLOSSOM ROAD than spring? The apple trees are blossoming up here in my home state of Washington, where apples are somewhat like currency. (A neat factoid: Washington produces more than half the apples grown in the U.S. But back to the pink envelope and treasure hunt business . . .)

In this latest book in my Icicle Falls series, which goes on sale March 22, Colin Wright and Mia Blair return home to honor the passing of a woman dear to their hearts—Colin’s grandmother, Justine. And surprise!  Justine has left them a mysterious joint inheritance. To find out what it is, they have to go on the treasure hunt Justine designed before her passing, a treasure hunt that takes them down memory lane in Icicle Falls. You see, Justine was convinced their young love didn’t die all those years ago when they both made foolish choices. This could prove a challenge for Colin and Mia, since not only are these two not lovers these days, they’re not even friends. But, boy, does that treasure hunt do a number on their emotions and take them back to very memorable times in the local apple orchards. 

PJ:                 What do pink envelopes have to do with the story?

Sheila:           I so love treasure hunts, and I thought it would be fun, to promote this book, to  launch a treasure hunt just for my readers.

                                             

Here’s how it works. When readers click on that pink envelope above, they’ll be taken to a special, non-public page on my website, where they will find a clue as to what the grand prize is. In addition to that secret prize, I’ll give away VISA cards worth $100, $50 and $25 after the final clue, Clue 6, is posted. All a reader has to do to enter is provide her name and email address. At the same time, if she wants to sign up for my reader list, she may, but that’s optional. And each time a reader finds a clue, she can enter—a total of six times. The clue posted above is the third!

PJ:                 Fun! How will readers know where to find the other clues?

Sheila:          On my Facebook page. I’m posting the locations there, because the Internet is a Very Big Place. I don’t want readers to have to search hard, even if this is a treasure hunt!

PJ:                So the book’s about coming home. That conjures up all kinds of possibilities, especially if a former lover is still hanging around . . . and not attached.

Sheila:          Yes, you hear all the time how people wind up with their high school sweethearts, how they somehow get second chances at the love they messed up in their youth.

PJ:                What do you think the attraction of a first love or a young love is? It seems universal.

Sheila:          These people from our youth know what we’re made of; they share fond memories of how we grew up; they share the same values, and they won our hearts back when we were innocent and so full of love.

PJ:                I know you’re happily married to Gerhardt, and he’s a sweetheart. But was there a first love you want to tell us about? What happened to him?

Sheila:          Actually, there was. I was engaged before Gerhardt came along. Sadly, Mr. Almost Right cheated on me, thus revealing a rather large character flaw. Of course, I was terribly sad when that relationship ended, but I wound up with my super hero Gerhardt. I truly traded up!

What about you, PJ? Do you have a first love story to share here?

PJ:                 Ah, first love. I remember it well. Mine was a summer love when I was a teenager but he went home at the end of August to begin his first year of college in Texas and I remained in Michigan to finish high school. We stayed in touch and tried to revive the flame when he came back for a visit two years later but, alas, it wasn't meant to be. Still, I have lovely memories of him! 

                      But back to you, when was your first kiss? Your first date? Do you still know the guys?

Sheila:          Oh, my gosh, I remember my first kiss. Off we went after our date to a scenic parking spot, where I thought we were going to cozy up and enjoy the view. Imagine my shock when my date got me in a lip lock and stuck his tongue in my mouth! I’m afraid it was more of an “aaack!” moment than a romantic one. Yes, I know. Can you say naive?

Now back atcha, P.J. What about your first kiss, your first date?

PJ:                Who’s interviewing whom here? *GRIN* Perhaps our readers would like to tell us their first kiss stories. One randomly chosen person who leaves a comment will win the special prize package you offered—an early published copy of HOME ON APPLE BLOSSOM ROAD—and . . .

Sheila:          And a DVD of the original Peggy Sue Got Married movie!

PJ:                Again, you’re all about fun!

Sheila:          Thanks, PJ. I hope your readers enjoy HOME ON APPLE BLOSSOM ROAD—and the treasure hunt! Reader friends, click on that pink envelope clue above now and join the fun! You may enter to win the treasure hunt through Monday, April 11. The winners’ names will be drawn at random on Tuesday, April 12. And—hint, hint—readers just might want to read the excerpt of HOME ON APPLE BLOSSOM ROAD on my website.

PJ:                Thank you, Sheila. See you around the apple orchard!

On Second Thought

Mackenzie’s Mountain

By Linda Howard

Publisher: Avon Impulse

Release Date: March 1, 2016

(Originally published as Silhouette Intimate Moments #281, 1989;

reissued by Harlequin MIRA, 2000)

 

Linda Howard’s classic 1980s romance, Mackenzie’s Mountain, is newly available in digital format. Her hero, Wolf Mackenzie, is a half-breed rancher ostracized by the people of tiny Ruth, Wyoming. An outsider in every sense, Wolf was convicted as a serial rapist several years ago. Although he was eventually cleared of all charges and released, he is still a rapist in the eyes of the community whose members are already prejudiced against him because of his “otherness.” The Mackenzie ranch is located on a mountain outside Ruth, and Wolf’s contact with the town and its citizens is minimal.

Mary Elizabeth Potter is an old maid schoolteacher, complete with spectacles, a cat named Woodrow, and a body and heart untouched by the rapacious males her aunt warned her against. When she discovers that Joe Mackenzie, a sixteen-year-old at the top of his class, dropped out of school two months ago, Mary determines to reclaim him. Her first visit to the Mackenzie ranch does not go as she expects. A Savannah, Georgia, transplant, Mary is unprepared for Wyoming winters. When her car breaks down and she is forced to walk to the ranch. She is in the first stages of hypothermia when she is rescued by Wolf Mackenzie.

At first sight, Mary and Wolf are less than impressed with one another. Mary is put off by his sheer size: “He was big, and she instinctively disliked that. She disliked the way big men looked down at her, and she disliked being forced by sheer physical size to look up at them.” Wolf takes one look at her and stereotypes her: “He’d never seen anyone who looked more like a schoolteacher than this woman.” At second sight, they fall quickly and deeply into lust, a response that they both find disturbing. Their feelings soon deepen into love.

Wolf knows that with any association with him Mary risks her reputation and the respect of the community. Her insistence on tutoring Joe to give him a shot at fulfilling his dream of flying is already risk enough. But while Mary may look like a mouse, she is a lioness in her convictions.  She defends her right to tutor Joe, and she refuses to ignore the town’s racist treatment of Wolf and his son. When a rapist strikes again, Wolf is immediately suspected, but Mary, certain of his innocence, is indignant at the ingrained prejudice of the town and the compound injustice of their suspicions. And she is willing to take on the whole town and risk her own life to see that Wolf is cleared and the guilty man is found.

Mackenzie’s Mountain is definitely old-school romance, glaringly lacking in political correctness, but it has been winning the hearts of readers for more than twenty-five years. One indication of its perennial popularity is its appearance on AAR’s top-100-romances polls in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013. The lead characters are unforgettable. Wolf is a warrior: “In his veins ran the blood of two of the most warlike peoples in the history of the world, Comanche and Celt.” He’s also a sensualist, and the scenes in which he introduces Mary to carnal pleasures sizzle. No generic sex scenes exist in this book. In each such scene, the reader is aware of these particular characters--who they are individually and who they are becoming together. Mary is the plain heroine who is beautiful to the hero. She has a difficult time believing that Wolf is interested in her: “I know I’m not an attractive woman, certainly not the type to stir a man’s—er, savage appetites.”  One of the many reasons I adore this book is that Mary, despite her lack of experience, possesses courage, physical and moral. She and Wolf save each other.

Although the novel is a contemporary, it has the feel of a historical. Some readers see the throw-back quality as a weakness. This may be particularly true for readers encountering the book for the first time in 2016, but it in no way lessened my enjoyment on my latest rereading. Readers who share my fondness for epilogues will turn the final pages with a sigh of satisfaction, and those who share my addiction to series will be delighted that Joe Mackenzie’s story (Mackenzie’s Mission, 1992, SIM #445)  will be reissued by Avon Impulse on April 5, 2016. Howard also wrote stories for the other Mackenzie offspring: Mackenzie’s Pleasure (1996, SIM #691), Zane’s story; “Mackenzie’s Magic,” a novella that offers the story of Maris, the only Mackenzie daughter (originally published in a 1996 Silhouette anthology, Christmas Kisses); and A Game of Chance (2000, SIM #1021), Chance’s story. I don’t know if Avon plans to reissue the rest of the series, but they are all already available in digital format. The last one was a three-star read for me, but I enjoyed all the others. As for Mackenzie’s Mountain, it’s been on my keeper shelf since I first read it in 1989, and my most recent reading just confirmed my discernment in placing it there.

 ~Janga