If you had told me two years ago that I'd be hooked on a series of paranormal romantic suspense novels, with titles set in the Victorian era, the present day and the future on some other planet, I'd have told you ... something extremely rude that I don't want to post on the blog. Yet when a new Amanda Quick Arcane Society novel crossed the circulation desk the other day, I scarfed it up, took it home and read it that night.

My recent return (after several decades) to reading romances is a whole other post that I SWEAR I WILL ACTUALLY WRITE ONE DAY. But today is not that day. However to my surprise, I have found myself, as I said, hooked on this Arcane Society series that venerable romance diva Jayne Ann Krentz writes under her own name (for the present day books), Amanda Quick (for the historicals) and Jayne Castle (for the future different planet titles which I will confess I haven't read any yet). This is not Great Art but Krentz is a seasoned hand at likeable characters and plots that trip right along without setting off the bullshit meter. For me, at least. This latest is a fine entry and like I said, I ripped through it in an evening. Which meant I stayed up way too late but such are the perils of picking up titles like this on a school night. I really should save them for weekends when I can ignore all the other stuff I'm supposed to be doing. This one gets an AB.

Speaking of romance, I would just like to point anyone who's read this far to the website Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, which is a great example of reader/reviewers who both love their genre but hold no illusions -- and have high standards for the writers. For a special treat check out this recent review of a Diana Palmer book. For an extra-special treat check out this review by the same reviewer of a book that currently vies (in my mind) for Best Romance Title Ever: Pregnesia. (She's pregnant ... but she has amnesia! Pregnesia!) Still, I'm not sure that tops my all time favorite romance title, which I also discovered via a Smart Bitches review: The Playboy Shiekh's Virgin Stable Girl. I immediately assumed they had made that up but I looked up the book and it really does exist. Shame on you, Harlequin!