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★ Death’s Daughter
S.A. Barnes puts a paranormal-horror spin on an engrossing romance in Death’s Daughter, first in The Children of the Old Ones series. The story stars Jocasta Trelane, a college student and member of a nonhuman race with magical powers. As a renounced descendant of Death, Jocasta feeds off of her classmates’ disappointments and misgivings as opposed to their life force—and there’s plenty to keep her satisfyingly full in this academic setting. The trouble that unfolds as her father’s world bleeds into her college campus is told in vivid, cinematic detail. Barnes slowly builds a fascinating world and introduces characters with ambiguous or hidden motivations. Readers’ frustration will likely mirror Jocasta’s as she grapples with three questions: Who is behind the killings at her college? Can she fix this alone? Who is an ally, and who is an enemy? There’s romance in the guise of a sexy teaching assistant and an even sexier stranger, but the satisfying ending is without a conventional happily ever after, perhaps held back for a later installment.
First and Forever
A pair of young adults navigate local fame and what might be love in First and Forever, the latest sports romance from Lynn Painter. When Minneapolis Coyotes football fan Duffy Distefano is caught on the stadium cam in an altercation with the team mascot, public sentiment turns against her. As she attempts to salvage her reputation, she ends up on a local talk show with none other than talented Coyotes hottie Connor Cunningham. Sparks fly, chemistry bubbles and, in the rom-com way of things, a fake-dating scheme is arranged to save Duffy from the city’s ire and cement Connor’s place on the team. Cute dates and growing mutual admiration are a given, but so are the dark clouds lurking on the horizon. Told in alternating first person, this delightful tale of Connor and Duffy coming together will leave rom-com readers smiling.
The Last Lady B
In The Last Lady B by Eloisa James, an impoverished Regency-era beauty becomes the fourth wife of a septuagenarian who promises to provide her beloved sister a dowry. All goes as expected for Evie until they travel to the family’s haunted abbey in Scotland. Evie somewhat looks forward to encountering ghosts, but to her dismay, she finds other staples of a gothic novel: a madwoman, a hidden daughter and her husband’s other secret—a long-established and long-in-the-tooth mistress. Thank goodness Evie has her pet piglet, treasured personal maid and a handsome, enigmatic solicitor with whom to sort this all out. Told in Evie’s amusing first-person voice, this tale of snow, specters and wolves includes intriguing mystery and gasp-inducing danger. Readers will want the good guys to win and the bad guy to get his just deserts, and James doesn’t disappoint. She also doesn’t forget to include her trademark delectable descriptions of fashion that are as entertaining as her incorporation of literary traditions in this fun and funny historical romance.