meaningful discussion, spiced by slow-building steamy physical intimacy, until
the truth of Lily’s past potentially ends
their hopes for the future. Their love for
Rose, who is a realistic four-year-old rather than a plot device, adds another dimension to their relationship and escalates the
reader’s emotional investment in their
fate. Frampton superbly balances passion
with humor, avoiding cliché through rich
characterization. The result is warm,
kindhearted, and utterly delightful.
Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency. (Dec.)
The Rake’s Handbook
(Including Field Guide)
Sally Orr. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $7.99
mass market (352p) ISBN 978-1-4926-0211-8
In Orr’s pleasant Regency romance debut, Ross Thornbury writes The Rake’s
Handbook, which makes him famous—
and infamous—as a libertine. He escapes
to the small town of Macclesfield to build
a foundry, settle down, and perhaps regain
his respectability. Elinor Colton, recently
widowed, owns land that Ross’s business
needs, but she is concerned about the environmental and human costs of his venture. Ross and Elinor’s sensual and emotional connection is tested by their opposition in business, as well as by the risk to
Elinor’s reputation if she’s seen associating with Ross. Elinor is still in mourning
for her husband, and relatives on both
sides pop up to cause trouble. Orr’s style
is vivacious and her characters are interesting, but a penchant for repetition and
the flat narration of important information weigh her light comedy down irreparably. The conceit of the handbook is
unique and clever, but it never plays as
great a role in the narrative as its placement in the title suggests. Agent: Nicole
Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Nov.)
The Accidental Countess
Valerie Bowman. St. Martin’s Paperbacks,
$7.99 mass market (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-
04208-8
Bowman draws on the identity confusion capers of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest in the charming second entry in her Playful Brides Regency
series (after The Unexpected Duchess). Capt.
Julian Swift, an untitled second son who
served in the Napoleonic wars, returns to
London in the autumn of 1815. Cassandra
acters and snappy patter, although at
times she struggles to keep all of the balls
in the air. Murphy’s demon-haunted
world can be a terrible place where inno-
cents suffer, but also one where the dead
may hope for justice from beyond the
grave. (Nov.)
★ The Future Falls
Tanya Huff. DAW, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-
7564-0753-7
Continuing the adventures of the powerful ladies of the Gale family, the third
Enchantment Emporium contemporary
fantasy (after 2011’s The Wild Ways) focuses on the Wild Power, Charlotte Marie
Gale. Charlie hears the music of the
world, and a series of magical coincidences puts her in the path of Gary Ehrlich, a
bouzouki player who just happens to
know the secret of the apocalypse. The
immensely powerful women who propel
this story could easily be overwhelming
and even melodramatic in their casual exercise of immense magic, but the cosmic
scale of their dilemma and each character’s unusual individual abilities make
this a step into a new world only gently
framed by our own, rather than a painful
stretching of the familiar. With geeky in-jokes, dynamic leads, convincing romantic complications, and a threat that is
both unusual and wonderfully convincing, this is an enchanting example of contemporary urban fantasy. (Nov.)
Tainted Blood
M.L. Brennan. Roc, $7.99 mass market
(320p) ISBN 978-0-451-41842-5
This wickedly clever sequel to Iron
Night will appeal to readers who hunger
for fantasy that’s dark but not too frightening. As Chivalry Scott mourns his 19th
wife, his brother Fortitude, the series
hero, struggles to figure out who murdered a powerful were-bear. Battling the
blood lust of vampiric transformation, he
must play politician, confront a growing
conspiracy of power-hungry Faeries, and
resist seductive shape-shifter Suzume
Hollis’s teasing advances. Rapid-fire prose
and intimate characterization infuse stock
mythic figures with pertinence and attitude. Fortitude is an enthralling good boy
going bad, struggling to merge monstrous powers with humility and wisdom.
An outsider among humans and his psy-
chotic vampire family, Fortitude doesn’t
even know himself. His exhausting jour-
ney inward injects psychological integrity
into mounting suspense and explosive ac-
tion. Self-referential comedy and operatic
tragedy make sexy bedmates, enhanced by
lush atmosphere and sharp dialogue.
Brennan’s smart, sassy, and seductive
vampire mythos injects fresh blood into a
lethargic subgenre. (Nov.)
Project 1882
Martin Shirley. CreateSpace, $8.95 trade paper (178p) ISBN 978-1-5006-0532-2
David Harker is a British engineer instructed to reverse-engineer alien technology during WWII. He quickly becomes
consumed with trying to learn the technology’s secrets while surrounded by a
cast of cartoonish American, Soviet, and
Nazi agents. David’s relationship with his
wife appears to be an attempt to humanize the characters, but it only draws attention to the lack of logic underlying their
actions and relationships—or the plot itself. Sloppy research and poor writing, including what looks like extensive thesaurus use, further hamstring the story. The
main idea recalls the pseudoscience of
Zecharia Sitchin, whose fans might enjoy
this look at his theories of ancient astronauts against a WWII background. This
debut’s one saving grace is its brevity,
though that prevents Shirley from adequately addressing many of the plot
points he introduces. (BookLife)
Romance/Erotica
★ The Duke’s Guide to
Correct Behavior: Dukes
Behaving Badly, Book 1
Megan Frampton. Avon, $5.99 mass market
(384p) ISBN 978-0-06-235220-0
This charming 1840 English historical
launches a series from Frampton (What
Not to Bare). Marcus, who has been Duke
of Rutherford for only six months, gives
up aimless debauchery when unexpectedly confronted with fatherhood. He swiftly
hires a young woman named Lily as tutor
to his daughter, Rose. Marcus seeks purpose in life, while Lily hopes his patronage will boost her employment agency for
unfortunates. Their mutual attraction intensifies through sparkling banter and
