The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs #7)

The Mapping of Love and Death is the seventh book in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear.

Maisie Dobbs is an investigator and psychologist in early 20th century London. In her current case, the body of an American mapmaker is discovered in a farmer's field in France - along with the rest of the group of surveyors - who died in the Great War. A packet of letters with his body makes his parents think that there was a woman who knew him during the war. They would like to find her to hear stories of the last months of their son's life.

When Michael Clifton's parents travel to London to engage Maisie, the information they bring sets her on a path that will follow the life of Michael Clifton from the land he purchased in California to his decision to enlist in the British army as a mapmaker to his time in France when he met a woman with whom he fell in love.

During the course of her investigation, Maisie must endure the passing of her mentor - the man who guided her education and career from the time she was a maid in the house of Lord Compton. And for the first time since the Great War Maisie will find herself falling in love.

Winspear weaves a great mystery surrounded by changes in Maisie Dobbs - a character fans have fell in love with six books ago. Dobbs is a compassionate, loving woman with insight that most of us do not gain in our lives. And it is a joy to continue to read of her live in Winspear's books.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2010). The Mapping of Love and Death. New York: HarperCollins.

The Rembrandt Affair (Gabriel Allon #10)

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva is the 10th book in his Gabriel Allon series. Gabriel is an art restorer of the highest quality and a Mossad agent to keeps trying to retire.

The only thing that could pull him away from his cliff-side cottage, his wife Chiara, and a beautiful painting that needs his attention is the theft of a previously unknown Rembrandt. The painting was being restored quietly in Glastonbury, England when the restorer was killed and the painting disappeared.

But in the way of Daniel Silva's books, the painting is only one piece of a puzzle that will include international intrigue, murder, conspiracy, and more. Silva is a phenomenal writer whose books are addictive.

Read the series starting from the beginning with The Kill Artist.

Silva, Daniel. (2010). The Rembrandt Affair. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Dangerous Games (Tempting SEALs #2)

Dangerous Games by Lora Leigh is the second story in her Tempting SEALs series.
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Clint McIntyre and Morganna Chavez have been in love with each other for years. But they are still fighting the attraction to each other.
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During a DEA investigation, Morganna goes under cover at a ring of sex clubs to stop a new date rape drug that is being tested. Most of the women and men who have been slipped the drug have died. The others do not come out the ordeal much better off once the tapes of what was done to them hit the pornography market.
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While Morganna is at one of the club she runs into Clint who is a regular. When Clint finds out why Morganna is there he is both relieved and angry. He has always been protective of her and volunteers to help the DEA if she is reassigned to a desk somewhere.
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But Morganna's cover may have already been blown. She is in this game whether she wants to be or not. Now they must work together to prevent other women from being harmed. And Clint will need all of his Navy SEAL training to keep Morganna safe.
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Leigh has written a novel of hard core romantic suspense (bordering on erotica) that will leave readers wanting more.
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Leigh, Lora. (2006). Dangerous Games. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks.

First Strike (Chance #4)

First Strike is the fourth book featuring Rich and Jade Chance written by Jack Higgins and Justin Richards.

While at the White House for a personal thank you from the president of the United States, Rich and Jade Chance and their father John, learn of a plot by a rebel group in China. Unfortunately, they do not realize until too late to save the White House from being taken over by terrorists.

Now Rich and Jade must fight for their lives along with everyone else in the West Wing. The President and the football that controls the nuclear launch codes must be protected at all costs.

The Chance series is pure adrenaline from page one to the end. This latest book is no exception. Don't read these books if you don't like heart-stopping action.

Higgins, Jack & Justin Richards. (2010). First Strike. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Shadow Zone

Shadow Zone by Iris and Roy Johansen is the sequel to their book Silent Thunder.

Hannah Bryson is a submarine engineer. She has been creating subs for years now and has the opportunity to test her latest mini sub in the waters above Marinth - an underwater city that was recently discovered by her friend Melis.

The only large piece about the city of Marinth that is missing is how the city died out. Its ultimate destruction was a tsunami that put it under water but the dying of the people who lived there started long before the giant wave struck the island.

When Hannah finds a trellis that explains the end the city, she uses her sub to bring it to the surface. But Melis and Hannah are not the only people interested in something that could erase the life from a city. When the trellis is stolen on its way to the lab, Hannah calls on the only person she knows who is capable of dealing with any situation.

Together Hannah and Nicolas Kirov hunt down the trellis. The search will take them all over the world and to the edges of death in an attempt to stop an arms dealer from using the knowledge to create a substance that will kill all life in the oceans.

The Johansens have teamed up to write fast-paced thrillers that will have readers staying up late to find out what happens next. Shadow Zone is no exception.

Johansen, Iris and Roy. (2010). Shadow Zone. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Crashers (Crashers #1)

Crashers by Dana Haynes is the most exciting airplane related thriller since the last John J. Nance novel.

When a plane goes down just south of Portland, Oregon the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) sends a team to investigate. Dr. Tommy Tomzak is the first on the scene since he was in Portland for a conference at the time of the crash.

Other team members and rescue personnel join him at the crash site as they try to piece together the cause. The new version of the black box will give the team a full breakdown of all electrical and computer-related functions at the time of the crash.

With many branches of the story coming flawlessly together, Haynes weaves a seamless thriller that will have readers gripping the edge of their seats. I highly recommend this novel!

Haynes, Dana. (2010). Crashers. New York: Minotaur Books.

The Edge of Desire (Bastion Club #7)

The Edge of Desire is the seventh of book in Stephanie Lauren's Bastion Club series.

Christian Allardyce, the Marquess of Dearne, is the last of the Bastion Club members to marry. He was promised to marry Letitia Vaux before he went off to war, but she did not wait for him. She is now Mrs. Letitia Randall.

When Christian receives a note from Letitia. Her husband has been murdered and her brother Justin is being framed. Christian will drop whatever he is doing to help her - but will his old feelings get in the way?

Laurens's story telling has gotten more fluid as the Bastion Club series progressed. Some of the early books read like two stories - the romance and the mystery. Now, with the plot lines incorporated, readers of historical romance will delight in Larurens's books.

The final book in the series is Mastered by Love.

Laurens, Stephanie. (2008). The Edge of Desire. New York: Avon Books.

To Catch a Pirate

To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker is a light romance and an adventure on the high seas.

It is 1720 and Annalisa Townsend is traveling with her father from England to a Caribbean island where he is to set up a new English port when their ship is attacked by pirates. James Sterling spares her life for her ring and a stolen kiss.

One year later Annalisa's father is in prison on suspicion of working with the pirates to steal the king's money. Annalisa has traded in the money that was to be her dowry and purchased a ship. She is now hunting for James Sterling and Captain Crimson Kelly. She must get the money back and free her father.

When she brides the right person and is able to capture James Sterling she thinks she will make him lead her to Crimson Kelly's famed island where he buries his treasure.

But James Sterling has other plans for their time together.

To Catch a Pirate is an appropriate cross-over book for teen readers looking for a pirate romance.

Parker, Jade. (2007). To Catch a Pirate. New York: Point.

Forever Blue (Tall, Dark and Dangerous #2)

Forever Blue is the second book in the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series by Suzanne Brockmann.

Blue McCoy, a member of SEAL Team Ten's elite Alpha Squad is taking leave to go back to the town he grew up in - Hatboro Creek, South Carolina. He will be attending the wedding of his step-brother Gerry to his (Blue's) high school girlfriend Jenny Lee Beaumont. Blue is not looking forward to the wedding.

But when he gets to Hatboro Creek he sees the only person in town he was hoping to see - Lucy Tait. She was a freshman when Blue was a senior and she is just about toughest woman Blue ever met. They met when most of the boys baseball team was beating Lucy up for making the team. Though they were never really friends, Blue has always wondered what happened to her after he left town to join the Navy.

Lucy Tait is the newest, and first female, member of the Hatboro Creek police department. When someone is killed
and Blue is the main suspect she is assigned to the case. The evidence points to Blue but it is all circumstantial. Will Lucy be able to save the man she has had a crush on since she was fourteen?

Brockmann is a master of the romantic suspense novel. She seamlessly weaves the mystery of her plot in with character development. Anyone who believes the stereotypes about romance novels being poorly written with no plot would be proven wrong by reading any Brockmann novel. She is awesome.

Brockmann, Suzanne. (1996). Forever Blue. New York: Mira Books.

Prince Joe (Tall, Dark and Dangerous #1)

Prince Joe is the first book in Suzanne Brockmann's Tall, Dark and Dangerous series which features the Navy SEALS of Alpha Company.

Veronica St. John has a difficult job ahead of her. Her fledgling media consultation / PR firm (she is the only employee so far) has the job of making the prince of a small European country look good. The country needs US support to extract the oil field just discovered. Veronica has put her career on the line for her best friend, the prince's sister.

But the prince is a royal pain. He is pompous, flashy, and not great on camera. When his first public appearance on US soil ends in an assassination attempt, Joe Catalanotto is called. He looks remarkably like the prince.

Now it is Veronica's job to take a Navy SEAL and make him act like a prince.

Brockmann is a master at the romantic suspense novel. This was her first book with a Navy SEAL - now the majority of her novels are about SEALs or retired SEALs, including her Troubleshooter series. Her books are great, fun reads that will entertain readers until the last page.

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Brockmann, Suzanne. (1996). Prince Joe. New York: Mira Books.

The Search

The Search is the latest book by Nora Roberts. It is a romantic suspense that will appeal to dog lovers.

Fiona Bristow lives on Orcas Island, part of the San Juan islands off of the coast of Washington. She lives with her three Labrador retrievers and trains dogs for a living.

She has lived on Orcas for almost eight years, ever since she escaped from a serial killer and he killed her fiancee for revenge. She went to Orcas to stay with her step mother and fell in love with the island.

Now her life is as she wants it. She has peace and quiet and her dogs for company. Until Simon Doyle brings his new puppy to be trained.

Aptly named, Jaws, is eating everything he can get his little, sharp teeth on and Simon is at his wits end. He just moved to Orcas and his mother got him a dog for company. Not only did he not want a dog, but Jaws is disrupting his work as a woodworker. Simon is less than thrilled to find out that dog training is actually dog and human training and that he cannot just drop the dog off until he is fixed.

As Simon, Jaws and Fiona get to know each other, a copycat killer is restarting the killings that the man Fiona escaped began. Now old feeling and fears are being brought up that she thought she had dealt with before. And it appears that the new killer will correct the mistake the first one made by letting Fiona get away.

Capturing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the love and energy of many dogs, Roberts has created a novel that readers of the genre will love.

Roberts, Nora. (2010). The Search. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Jump

Jump by Elisa Carbone is an adventure story with a kick and a message.

P.K. is about to be sent to boarding school. She is not a bad kid, but she gets bad grades. She would much rather focus on rock climbing than learning to take standardized tests.

Before she can be sent to the new school, she decides to run away and climb. Her friends won't go with her but a new guy at the gym volunteers.

Critter would love to go on a climbing adventure. He has been climbing for years and has nowhere else to be. He just escaped from a psych ward.

Together they will travel across the US toward some of the best climbing rock. Along the way, Critter will teach P.K. to live in the moment.

This book rocks! It is a well-written, action-filled look at rock climbing but also points out that it is okay to take risks - fear is in the future which does not yet exist. It packs a punch like Speak or Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson but doesn't leave readers in tears.

Carbone, Elise. (2010). Jump. New York: Viking.

Beyond Seduction (Bastion Club #6)

Beyond Seduction is the sixth book in the Bastion Club series by Australian author Stephanie Laurens.

Gervase Tregarth, Earl of Crowhurst, is called away from London back to Cornwall, by a series of pranks and vandalism. When he arrives back at the Crowhurst castle, he discovers that his three younger half-sisters are being the trouble.

His sisters were luring him back home because of a fear that if he married a London lady they would be sent away to live with a great aunt. Gervase makes a bargain with them - he will look at any local lady and consider her for marriage based on a list of criteria - including compatibility (his loophole) - assuming he will not find anyone.

When his sisters point out Madeline Gascoingne - a woman he has known for years - he realises that in her role as acting Viscount of Treleaver Park until her brother is of age - he overlooked her gender.

The romance story is woven with a line of suspense that grows throughout the novel. Including everything from smugglers to French spies, this edition of the Bastion Club series will thrill romance readers and suspense lovers alike.

Laurens, Stephanie. (2007). Beyond Seduction. New York: Avon Books.

The Ark (Tyler Locke #1)

The Ark by Boyd Morrison is in the same genre as The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, but it is so much better.

Archaeologist Dilara Kenner is on a dig when a family friend begs her to come home and meet with him. During their conversation, her friend is killed. Something her missing father, also an archaeologist, discovered not only proves the existence of Noah's Ark, but could unleash a disease that could cause billions of deaths.

Suddenly someone is trying to kill Dilara. She escapes the first attempt and heads to find Tyler Locke, a man whom her friend mentioned. On her way there a second attempt on her life is thwarted.

Together Tyler and Dilara must figure out what is happening, avoid the many assassination attempts against them, and save the world from a mad man who wants to cleanse the world like G-d did in the time of Noah.

Read Alike authors for Boyd Morrison include James Rollins, Lincoln Child, Jeremy Robinson, and Jeff Long to name a few. The genre -thriller, suspense, science to the extreme, non-stop action - is exciting and The Ark is a great addition from a new author. His second book is due out this fall.

Morrison, Boyd. (2009). The Ark. New York: Touchstone Books.