The real summer heat is found @ your library

Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton

Publishers Weekly –

It’s a few more typical days in the life of Anita Blake, U.S. marshal and vampire hunter, and in her fast-paced if formulaic 21st adventure, that means an even balance of bloody police work and athletic preternatural sex. When Anita and her fellow marshals respond to the kidnapping of an underage girl seeking vampirization in their alternate St. Louis, they uncover a coven of rogue vampires whose terrorist fringe will put readers in mind of certain displaced contemporary cultures. The premise extends the series’ depiction of vampires as second-class citizens seeking equality in their human-dominated world, and illuminates the difficulties of Anita’s life as a mortal who takes preternaturals as her lovers. Anita’s interactions with those lovers are fraught with just as much tension as the violent S.W.A.T. assaults. There’s nothing here that Hamilton (Hit List) hasn’t done already, but there’s enough to sustain readers until Anita’s next escapade.

Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews

Kirkus Reviews –

Andrews' latest romance serves up a tale about love, duplicity and second chances in this entertaining novel set in the Deep South. Advertising executive Annajane Hudgens is both excited and nervous about her future. In five days, she'll be leaving her rural hometown in Passcoe, N.C., and traveling to Atlanta to start a new job and a promising life with her fiancé, bluegrass musician Shane Drummond. She has a few loose ends to tie up before she goes, including selling her loft and attending the marriage of rich and socially prominent Mason Bayless to beautiful and glamorous Celia Wakefield. Mason is the president of his family-owned business, the Quixie Beverage Company, and he also just happens to be Annajane's boss and ex-husband. Celia, a newcomer to the company with a mysterious past, may have won his heart in a few short months, but she's also managed to alienate Annajane and her best friend, Pokey, Mason's spirited and outspoken sister. When an emergency interrupts the wedding ceremony, Annajane discovers that leaving Passcoe might not be as easy as she envisioned. Her unresolved feelings for Mason resurface, and it appears that Mason may share those feelings. As Annajane grapples with her emotions and the truth about her former marriage, she finds herself pitted against the manipulative Celia and her hostile former mother-in-law, Sallie. Both have reason to want Annajane to leave town, but just how far will each of these women go to control Mason and, through him, the future of Quixie Cola and the Bayless family? Enriched with Southern charm, character and colloquialisms, the author creates an appealing story full of unique personalities and clever plot twists. Andrews delivers a satisfying read that will leave a taste as tangy, delicious and sweet as an ice-cold bottle of Quixie soda.

Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Publishers Weekly –

Singh brings her Psy/Changeling world closer to cataclysm in this engrossing 11th episode (after Kiss of Snow). Riaz and Adria, both dominant wolf changelings, have been burned in previous relationships: Adria is slowly recovering from a relationship with a male who couldn’t accept her strength, while Riaz still aches from being rejected by the woman destined to be his mate. As the Psy edge closer to civil war, Riaz and Adria are battered by politics, violence, and their compulsive attraction to each other despite their certainty that they cannot form a mating bond. The action is also driven by past protagonists whose romances continue to develop realistically. Singh handles the division with deft style, weaving threads of her previous tales into the looming conflict without ever neglecting the budding relationship. Perhaps more important for returning readers, she stays beautifully faithful to her own mythology, creating a truly satisfying romance and compelling action in one of her strongest episodes to date.