As Time Goes By-Hank Davis (editor)

As Time Goes By

Hank Davis (editor)

Baen, Feb 10 2015, $14.00

ISBN: 9781476780528

“Gibraltar Falls” by Poul Anderson.  Five millennia before his birth, Time Patrol agent Tom fell in love.

“Triceratops Summer” by Michael Swanwick.  Vermont residents accept triceratops on roads and yards.

“The Chronoclasm” by John Wyndham.   Gobie insures tomorrows follow the future he knows.

“The Girl Who Made Time Stop” by Robert F. Young.  Roger meets Alayne from a planet orbiting Altair; she applies Aparicio stealing second.

“The Other Now” by Murray Leinster.  Jimmy buried his wife, but believes he can change the accident that left her dead.

“A Dry, Quiet War” by Tony Daniel.  War at the End of Time veteran Henry returns home to encounter feral cybernetics.

“Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders.  Doug sees a linear future; Judy sees a decision-making tree.

“The Day of the Green Velvet Cloak” by Mildred Clingerman.  Mavis meets traveling Titus at the Book Nook.

“A Wow Finish” by James Van Pelt.  Durance and Hoffman travel back in time to attend the opening of Casablanca.

“Backtracked” by Burt Filer.  Sally asks Fletcher why he backtracked ten years.

“So Little and So Light” by Sarah A. Hoyt.  She lands at 1066 Hastings seeking a time breacher.

“The Price of Oranges” by Nancy Kress.  Harry worries about his granddaughter being miserable when he sees her next week so he travels five decades ago for a solution.

“The Secret Place” by Richard M. McKenna. During WWII, he searched for the crystal, but found Helen.

“Palely Loitering” by Christopher Priest.  Myrkle and his family choose crossing the Tomorrow or Yesterday Bridges.

This beguiling anthology contains fourteen short stories with additional enjoyment coming from comparing how each decade starting with the 1950s to the present dealt with time travel thrillers.

Harriet Klausner

Enemies With Benefits-Louisa George

Enemies With Benefits

Louisa George

Harlequin KISS, Feb 15 2014, $5.99

ISBN: 9780373179169

In London as Christmas nears, reclusive Dr. Poppy Spencer feels alone since her three flatmates found significant others (see The Morning After The Night Before by Nikki Logan, Your Bed Or Mine? by Joss Wood and Sleeping With The Soldier by Charlotte Phillips).  However, the last person she wants to see club owner Isaac Blair, who knows her better than anyone, arrives at her apartment.

Poppy decides there are benefits to having Isaac crash her flat though she knows she will struggle to deal with the heartbreak comes next year.  Still they decorate her place for the holiday, get drunk together and have sex.  Poppy becomes melancholy knowing Blair soon will leave her, but he seeks a different end to their current Enemies with Benefits relationship.

This Flat in Notting Hill contemporary is a cheerful Christmas romance in which the leads have a history to overcome.  Even without any veering from the most obvious straight and narrow course, the storyline remains a warm holiday tale with readers rooting for the protagonists to make it.

Harriet Klausner

Sleeping With The Soldier-Charlotte Phillips

Sleeping With The Soldier

Charlotte Phillips

Harlequin KISS, Jan 15 2014, $5.99

ISBN: 9780373179145

In London, Lara Connor fears her plans to own the Notting Hill boutique lingerie market may collapse due to the noise pollution from the flat above hers.  Every night for weeks the incessant banging from upstairs interrupts her sleep.  All she knows is that this Alex Spencer is some of kind of war hero who never rests.

Since his return from theater, Alex struggles with PTSD that is at his worst when he goes to bed.  When the flatmates finally meet; her plan to confront him changes into wanting him.  He feels the same way, but accepts he is damaged goods; not good enough for any female especially the woman he loves.

This Flat in Notting Hill contemporary (see The Morning After The Night Before by Nikki Logan, Your Bed Or Mine? by Joss Wood and Enemies With Benefits) is a discerning drama as Charlotte Phillips captures the essence of a PTSD-ailing veteran’s struggle to readapt to civilian life.  The lead relationship augments the insightful look at the protagonist’s emotional disorder as the heroine initially assumes Alex suffers from affluenza until she finally understands her beloved brought home war demons eating his soul; however her comprehension only makes it harder on her.

Harriet Klausner

Full Tilt-Rick Mofina

Full Tilt

Rick Mofina

Mira, Jan 27 2015, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778317456

In Rampart, New York, RPD Detective Ed Brennan rushes to the hospital where a third degree burned mid-twenties white female dies after seemingly being tied up in a fiery barn on the vacant Rose Hill insane asylum cemetery.  Near the inferno the cops find an abandoned truck belonging to Carl Nelson, who left an apparent murder-suicide note.

Following her coverage (and active involvement) of a Texas child abduction case (see Whirlwind), Newslead rewards investigative journalist Kate Page with a position in their Manhattan headquarters.  The Children’s Searchlight Network calls Kate to tell her that the Rampart Police Department seeks someone who recognizes a tiny guardian angel charm identical to what she possesses.  Soon afterward Ed calls a hopeful Kate to inform her that a murder scene contained this piece of jewelry on a necklace.  Two decades ago, Kate survived a car accident in which her younger sister Vanessa and their foster parents apparently drowned.  Feeling guilt for not being able to hold onto her sibling, Kate leaves her young daughter with a friend and takes the train to Rampart.  Kate soon learns of the serial killings of multiple prisoners locked away for years inside Rose Hill by a brilliant psychopath.

The second Kate Page investigative mystery (see Whirlwind) is an adrenaline pumping chilling thriller from start to finish; with the case extremely personal.  The gripping storyline maintains readers’ attention throughout; as we increasingly anticipate the closing clash between the heroine and the serial killer, and also wonder (along with Kate) if Vanessa is one of the dead. 

Harriet Klausner

Waking The Dead-Heather Graham

Waking The Dead

Heather Graham

Mira, Jan 27 2015, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778317449

In 1816 Henry Sebastian Hubert enjoys “year without summer” off Lake Geneva with friends George, Lord Byron; Percy and Mary Shelley; and Claire Godwin.  As part of an artistic contest among the friends, Henry paints the haunting Ghosts in the Mind portraying a murder.

In present day New Orleans Danni Cafferty visits her friend Niles Villiers’ Image Me This Gallery.  Ecstatic Niles shows her why he is elated; he received 100 computer-generated giclee prints of Ghosts of the Mind in which the current owner of the original resides in The Big Easy.  Meanwhile former cop turned private investigator Michael Quinn returns from Texas to look into horrific harrowing homicides.  Soon Quinn joined by Cafferty start to wonder if the Hubert painting is the malevolent cause.

The second Cafferty & Quinn (and Wolf) urban fantasy (see Let The Dead Sleep) is a taut paranormal murder mystery with a powerful cast entrenched in a vividly haunting atmospheric New Orleans and a seemingly seeped in evil Swiss castle.  The case hooks readers from the opening nineteenth century Swiss scene and keeps its hold until the climatic confrontation.  Although that final face to face fight is marred by the killer’s boasting soliloquy (pet peeve of mine), this remains an enjoyable paranormal thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Echo Lake-Carla Neggers

Echo Lake

Carla Neggers

Mira, Jan 27 2015, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778317432

Former diplomat Vic Scarlatti retires to Knights Bridge.  He hires Sloan & Sons Construction to renovate his historical home that overlooks Echo Lake.  Ignoring the objections of her overly protective five brothers Heather Sloan leads the restoration.  Additionally due to unnerving incidents, Vic asks his friend Diplomatic Security Service agent Brody Hancock to investigate if someone threatens him; while his doubting protégé expands that to protecting his former mentor though that means going home to a place he swore as a teen never to return.

Adding to Brody’s infuriation at being back in his birth town is constantly running into the Sloan siblings who he loathed when he last resided here.  However more exasperating is seeing Heather almost every day as Brody is very attracted to her; she reciprocates but doubts he has any staying interest in her.

The fourth Swift River Valley romantic mystery (see Cider Brook, That Night On Thistle Lane and Secrets of the Lost Summer) is a pleasant second chance (loose definition) at love starring two total opposites.  The wintry Massachusetts background is picturesque as the audience will believe they are chasing Vic’s canine in the snow alongside underdressed for the weather Heather.  However, the appealing novel also feels overly busy with too many albeit well-written subplots distracting from the fabulous main storyline.

Harriet Klausner

It Must Be Your Love-Bella Andre

It Must Be Your Love

Bella Andre

Mira, Jan 27 2015, $7.99

ISBN 9780778317319

Documentary filmmaker Natasha Lawrence shows the subject of her latest project rock superstar Ford Vincent a clip she found from five years ago; just prior to his rise to music royalty status.  Natasha says that he is great every time he performs, but Ford was incredibly special that night.  By the way he looks at the screen now and on the video at the woman; Natasha encourages him to go after love.

Ford thinks back to when he and Mia Sullivan fell in love in Seattle, but she refused to accompany him on the road so their relationship ended when he left town.  Mature he realizes how stupid his demands with no compromise were and being on the highest level of the music pantheon pales next to being with his beloved Mia.  Thus he returns to Washington State prepared to sacrifice his career for his Mia.

The eleventh Sullivan romance (see Kissing Under the Mistletoe) is a marvelous second chance contemporary.  The lead couple is a fantastic pairing of opposites who struggle to find a compromise that will allow them to continue their respective vocations yet be together.  The Sullivan brood welcomes him and embraces their relationship while readers will sing “It must be your love or no love at all” (Etta James).

Harriet Klausner